Today on the Craft Industry Alliance podcast we’re talking about stitching and doll making with my guests, Salley Mavor and Mimi Kirchner.
Salley Mavor creates 3-dimensional works of art that tell stories with needlework and found objects. She embroiders, wraps, embellishes and paints different materials and then hand stitches them together.
Salley’s book of nursery rhymes, Pocketful of Posies, is one of my family’s favorite books.
Her pieces are presented as tableaux in bas-relief, with scenery, props, and characters assembled on a fabric background in shadow box frames. Salley lives and works in her home studio in Falmouth, Massachusetts.
If you’re not familiar with Salley’s work, her video, Rabbitat, is a wonderful introduction.
Mimi Kirchner makes fine art fabric toys. Inspired by classic children’s tales and the Americana style embodied by sailors, lumberjacks, and circus performers, each piece is meticulously crafted with hand-embroidery and applique details, using a variety of materials including reclaimed clothing, vintage, and new fabrics.
These tattooed dolls have become one of Mimi’s signature pieces.
Mimi’s artwork is seen and sold around the world. Her works have also been licensed for children’s toys for Land of Nod, Christmas ornaments for West Elm, and have been featured in many books and magazines. Mimi lives and works in her home studio in Arlington, Massachusetts.
Mimi and Salley are old friends. Here’s Mimi visiting Salley’s studio, showing her latest licensed dolls in the Land of Nod catalog.
Salley and Mimi have been friends for decades and it was so wonderful to have them on the show together to talk about their careers as textile artists.
If you’re not familiar with Mimi’s work, her Etsy Handmade Portrait is a wonderful introduction.
During our talk, Salley refers to:
- The Way Home, and the many other books she’s illustrated
- this post in which she describes how she determines which projects become patterns and which don’t
Mimi refers to:
- Sign of the Dove, an artists cooperative in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she and Salley first met
- her PDF patterns available in her Etsy shop
- her ornaments with West Elm and dolls produced by Land of Nod
And, of course, I ask Salley and Mimi to recommend great stuff they’re enjoying right now.
Salley recommends:
- Kirsty Elson
- A Child’s Dream Come True (including this special basket providing all of the materials needed to make the projects in her Wee Folks book)
Mimi recommends:
- Scribd
- Daring Greatly by Brene Brown
- Quiet by Susan Cain
You can listen to the show by clicking on the arrow below, or subscribe in iTunes or Stitcher and listen on the go. If you enjoy the show, tell a friend about it. Thank you!
This episode is sponsored by Creativebug. Use the code NAPS at checkout to receive a free 1-month subscription. Watch as many classes as you’d like and support the podcast at the same time. Thank you!
Thanks so much for having me Abby- it was great!
Thank you so much for sharing Mimi’s and my work with your sewing savvy followers! I’m writing from a hotel in Scotland!
You’re welcome. Have a great trip!
It’s the little rabbits that have my heart! I couldn’t help but notice Salley’s apparently excellent eye sight. I sew by hand and do embroidery and I have to take my glasses off (short-sighted) and peer from a far too close distance as I am also long sighted and my reading glasses for working at a normal distance don’t work well enough for me to see the stitches properly. It means I can do intricate work but it is far from comfortable and means I don’t see an all-over-view as I work. It is so nice seeing Salley sitting so relaxed as she does her wonderful stitching which is absolutely beautiful. I am in awe! I found the which projects become patterns posts very interesting – I think you directed us to that in a newsletter. Off to listen to the podcast now.
Great point! Salley, we admire your eyesight. I wear glasses with a very strong prescription.
What a great podcast! I have been following Mimi for as long as I can remember and was always so inspired by her work and courage to really do her own thing in the doll-making/sewing/craft world long before it was trendy. I loved listening to what she had to say about her journey and process.
Our family also enjoyed a Pocket Full of Posies. I also am completely smitten (obsessed) with Salley’s Self Portrait: A Personal History of Fashion. I’m tempted to drive to Woods Hole to see it.
Thank you to the three of you for such an inspiring podcast.
That’s a great piece by Salley.
Oh my god im so excited about this! I’m gonna save this podcast like it’s my last cream cake and huddle up on my sofa and guiltily devour the whole thing. I’ve been obsessed with Salley Mavor since I saw her rabitat video.
Yay! Thank you so much.
Oh Wow. This was quite enjoyable and right up my alley. Salley and Mimi are like my sages of wisdom in the sewing and whimsical world. We could all learn a thing or two from the way they live their lives. I feel exactly the same way, I don’t totally fit in conventionally, but I have to make – all the time- to truly be happy. Thanks for the great content!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Jenny!
Lovely podcast episode ladies. It was great hearing you all talk about the differences between making for art and making to teach, I’d never really thought about it that way before but you articulated it so well (especially in Salley’s post!)
Salley also mentioned a faerie house exhibit on the Cape this summer and as a local listener I’d love to know more details, I didn’t see anything here in the show notes or on Salley’s site.
Thanks for asking about the fairy house exhibit. It will be June 28 to August 30 at Highfield Hall in Falmouth MA. I hope you get a chance to come see it!
Hi Abby, I just happened upon your podcast and I am so excited! The conversation with Salley and Mimi spoke to me. Thank you for sharing and I can’t wait to listen to more during the warm days of summer while I work on projects.
I’m so glad you enjoyed this episode, Laurie! Thank you for listening to the show.
I have admired Sally’s work for years. I too grew up sewing and loved to make dolls as a girl, and in college continued to make them. I ventured off to weaving and didn’t make dolls until I had my daughter, when she was small we had such fun making fairies from your book, Wee Folk.
I just felt like you were my friend, Sally. I have always admired all of your work, and could just eat up your beautiful illustrations.
Abby, I love your podcast. I love to listen to the artists you interview, and you have such a nice way of keeping the conversation going naturally.
Thank you so much for listening, Lucy!
SQUEAL! I love these 2 artists! Thank you so much for the interview. I have been following them for a long time. I actually have Salley’s 80’s fairy kits and how-to books. I ordered from A Child’s Dream for Waldorf doll supplies, and they have gorgeous quality supplies. Overdyed toile was genius- the tattooed lady has been my favorite, both edgy and nostalgic at the same time. I recognized those items of Mimi’s in the catalog and wondered how Land of Nod got her stuff (how could they tell her NO 😉
Request: can you interview Mimi (yes, another Mimi!) Hirsch who makes fantastic wool art hangings (and cuddly dolls) – she sells on etsy Mimi’s Designs and does charity work for an orphanage. I saw her wool paintings up close at a show and they are exquisite. Thanks!
I really enjoyed listening to this podcast. When the podcast was over I immediately went to my online libraries to find the authors mentioned to reserve any of their books. The Felt Wee Folk by Salley Mavor came in, and I fell in love. The book and dolls are charming. I am (unsuccessfully) trying to locate all the materials locally, but will need to buy online, to make some of these dolls. I think my granddaughter will love them. I can’t wait to get started.
Thank you for listening to the show, Susan. I’m so glad to hear that it was inspiring to you.