SS17 from Mae & Co.

It's been a busy spring with lots of new items being designed and made, as well as lots of great markets. I was ecstatic to continue working with photography Raelyn Ramey this season. Not only did we get to shoot in her new studio that's got gorgeous light, we also were able to come out to my farm and get the kids busy catching frogs and splashing in the pond. 

Fiesta Fun Blog Tour

Hello and thanks for coming over to hang out with me and talk about one of my favorite fabric companies with me on my birthday! Today I'm hitting the big 3-0 and am ready to enjoy another decade of my life, much of which includes sewing. 

So, let's get started talking about the gorgeous AGF line Fiesta fun and the fabrics I chose for outfits. 

There were a TON of fabrics to pick from which are designed by Dana Willard and I struggled a bit choosing which I'd like to use for my daughters. For my youngest who will be turning 3 in May, I chose the pretty pink Citrus Sunset in woven because Skye adores all things pink and I knew it would be a print she'd see in her closet and ask to wear over and over.

Looking Back: FW16

We're nearly caught up and today we'll look at what's currently out for FW16 - these items can be found in my online shop Mae & Co. until they're sold out. 

Looking Back: SS16

Hello!

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. I've spent the last two days in pajamas fighting against a cold. Lots of tea, honey, and homemade soup. Regardless, I'm excited to push forward and look back at my Spring/Summer 2016 collection. 

Looking Back: FW15

Hi! I'm back again to show you the second collection I created for Mae & Co. FW15. 

Looking Back: SS15

Good afternoon! I've been meaning to get back into updating my blog so that it has some fresh content, though it's always been a struggle to keep up with - which became more difficult after beginning Mae & Co. 

January Peplum & Izzy Dress in Red White and Blue

Hi! Here with a recap of last month's holiday apparel, which was 4th of July of course! I tend to decide ahem, last minute, to create outfits for the kids. Lucky for me, Archer wanted nothing to do with it and insisted he would NOT like matching shorts for it.

I started with an Izzy Top/Dress for Skye - this free pattern has been a useful one. I've created quite a few of them including faux fur ones for winter as well as summer ones in light airy fabrics. 

Racerback Dress in Teepees and Fringe + quick tutorial

Hi! 

I wanted to jump on and share with you a quick and easy way I've discovered to change the bottom hem of my dresses into fringe. I've been really liking the look that fringe gives with it's movement, but I wasn't sure if I could create the clean precise strips and I wasn't interested in buy fringe trim and hoping that it washed well. 

But, I found a quick and easy solution that I can reuse over and over again. 

See? 

Eleena Dress Tour

Violette Dress in Purple Unicorns

Another busy week! I had my last holiday market of the year, the Market Day Merry Market, and did some sewing for my family and friends this week too. I'll be sharing the first with you today, the Violette Dress by VFT in purple unicorns was put sewn up for my daughter Lily. I normally sew her a "fancy" dress this time of year for all the holiday gatherings and special events we attend. Grandma also gifted her with a special night out to dinner + tickets to the broadway show "The Wizard of Oz." 

A Very Happy Handmade Halloween: Sleeping Beauty, Wolverine, & A Baby Bear

Ah! I've been gone for so long, I wasn't sure I'd be able to jump back into blogging again! I've certainly missed sharing my handmade items with you guys, but I'll admit that the stress of photographing and writing posts wasn't. I also began selling my clothing and the constant promotion of my brand has dominated much of my "free time." 

BUT, here I am. Back and ready to share my 2015 Halloween handmade costumes. 

Mae & Co. SS15 Releases

How silly of me to have forgotten to show the last items released for Spring and Summer. I've be working endlessly to place items in local shops (locations have been updated under the Mae & Co. tab above!).   While I really enjoy custom orders, they are super time consuming and many times I'll spend hours on end communicating with customers who never purchase. It's totally part of the process, but for my families sake I'm moving into pre-made lines rather than custom orders. In a way, this is a big move for me. I NEVER thought I'd enjoy sewing 5 vests in a row, though once I began working this way I found it pretty gratifying. Yeah, it takes me much longer than one item, but when I'm all finished and have FIVE items hanging up, it's pretty cool. 

Alright, the last two items I released for spring are super cute. The first is another take on the vest that I've sewn quite a bit. This pattern rocks, it fits slim and looks so trendy dressed up or down and my son loves telling me that he's going to dance with a girl in a big dress and lipstick when he wears it. Totally fitting, right? haha!

Watercolor Dress Remade

Who would have known that the Watercolor Dress I made for Lily last summer would become one of the most adored pieces. It's gotten so much attention on my FB group that I've created two more in size 2t for a customer.

The Top Posts of 2014

This year I was having trouble wrapping my brain around the whole Round-up of 2014 thing. Last year I had fun doing The Best of the Worst 2013 where I pulled out all of the bloopers from 2013's photoshoots. This year I was planning to skip it because I couldn't think of anything new that wasn't an overwhelming task. Let's be honest, now that I have myself a busy toddler and a baby under 1yr, time is not something I have in excess. So today when I was scrolling through my newsfeed during a shockingly long streak of uninterrupted free time, I came across the idea of rounding up your top 7 posts in 2014- Readers choice. I love it! What a great way to show you guys what YOU like and also to get some insight into what makes this place fun for the readers. Shall I venture to say this is definitely going into my thought process about goals for 2015?? 

7. Project Run and Play: Let's go to the Movies

Brindille & Twig Bodysuits version 1 and 2

Before I get to these ...

I'm going to start with a list. 

I really like lists. I make them in my head when walking around. I am most likely to hand you something written in list form. I make multiple lists per day on scratch paper I find in my house. Even simple things like "do laundry" or "unload the dishwasher" get listed because checking off things from a list is satisfying to me. It keeps me focused and goal oriented and so I think it'll help me expand in my writing here on the blog as well.
So here goes my first list, I think you will all need it as much as I do.

 5 Reasons Why Winter Isn't Total Hell:

Holiday Dresses for Mae & Co. 2014

This year is my first when it comes to selling handmade clothing. Instead of creating a bulk lot of dresses for the holiday I decided to try something different. I created sample dresses and took orders from there, which seems to be working out pretty well. I think it's really helped with keeping me from being overwhelmed and I also feel creative about what I'm making. Something I don't want to lose while moving to the business side of sewing. 

I chose to use the LLK Best Dressed Girl pattern for my holiday dresses. 

If you follow me on IG, then you've likely seen at least one of them before. 

All Spice Blog Tour

Sew Geeky - Studio Ghibli Totoro Dress

Studio Ghibli - they make some of my favorite children's movies& when I saw that this was the theme of September's Sew Geeky I was ON BOARD. 

Pattern Parcel #5 - The Mimi Dress in Blue

If you hadn't realized by the title, I'm participating in the tour for Pattern Parcel #5!

Sewing for the store-front shop: Saffron Twirl Dress in Pink & Orange Elephants

Why have I been so busy lately? 

Well, aside from the fact that we homeschool, have a new baby, are renovating a house, and are in my husbands "busy" season at work (yeah there's ANOTHER reason as if I needed one!) ...