Tell us a bit about yourself (name, location,
affiliations, personal stuff).
Thanks for the invitation and best wishes of the season to all! I'm Shayne Jelavic but I mainly answer to Maisy these days. My label, MaisyBrown, is named after my puppy-fox red heeler cattle dog. I live on acreage in a semi-rural area, just north of Sydney, Australia, between beach and bushland, with my daughter, my partner (BusterMcGee), the two red heelers and a bunch of birds. I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome so my life-style is highly managed. I had a brief stint modeling when young and briefly attended tech to study fashion, but never completed the course. I danced when younger, embarking on a full-time dance course on leaving high-school, which I had to give up due to illness. I then went on to study Modern Languages at University. It was at that time I discovered Japanese martial arts with which I became totally obsessed. I lived in Japan and Spain for several years. I began making clothes for myself, my Barbies and my teddies when I was a little girl, and have collected vintage clothing since I was about 14.
What is the first thing you can remember making
by hand? How and why did you make it?
I made my first mini-dress out of one of my mother's old jumpers when I was 6 or 7: I cut it off, belted it at the waist with pretty scrap fabric, donned a pair of her old pantihose, slipped on a pair of her sandals then took myself for a little twirl outside to show off my creation. It was 1968 or 69: at that time, my favorite song to dance to was "All Along the Watchtower" by Jimi Hendrix, my favorite drink was green GI Cordial, and my mother had only recently combed out her beehive to switch to the Marlow Thomas flip do.
What inspires you? Where do your ideas come
from?
The female form itself is a constant inspiration to me - I want to celebrate it! I think my mother was a big influence on my obsession with clothes. She was terrifically glamorous, but also crafty and talented; she'd been to design school and had modeled, then later had a small business making cocktail dresses for the local ladies. I picked up a lot of what I know just from watching her. I adored all her dress-making paraphernalia - the smell of oil paints, the T-squares and french curves, the huge rolls of architect's vellum she used for drafting and even allowed me to draw on, and all the amazing fabrics which, given it was the 60s, were over the top lames, brocades, flocked taffeta, shot silks, organdies and so on. That aesthetic very much still influences me - I'm not at all hip! I was lucky in that she always made me beautiful garments; I remember wearing fashionable mummy-daughter ensembles to go to the Saturday matinee in town, both of us with matching gloves, shoes, and purses. My mother would draw mannequins for me on cardboard, which I'd then cut out and design paper clothes for - home-made paper dolls. She had a special friend who was a dress designer, who made a huge impact on me - he was so urbane, colorful, and exciting. He would wear a pink and white pin-striped suit, and he had a black poodle named Beau Brummel.
I've loved old films and old-time glamour from a very early age, and my notions of how to dress and accentuate the female form are heavily influenced (in my imagination at least) by all those wonderful costumers, like Adrian, Edith Head, and Givenchy dressing Audrey Hepburn (a match made in heaven)! Other inspirations are: Poiret, Diaghelev's Ballet Russe, Nijinsky, Cocteau, Fellini, Leslie Caron, Marilyn, Doris Day, Brigitte Bardot, Lauren Bacall, Sophia Loren. I find vintage foundation garments very stimulating to my imagination.
What are your favorite materials?
I prefer fabrics with body rather than soft and slinky ones, as I like to be able to correct and refine the figure and you just can't do that with knits or really fine, drapey material. I like to create a silhouette. I use a lot of vintage textiles, which I collect, although I sometimes find it hard to actually cut them! I recently made a corset skirt with matching tie from vintage tie silk, for example. I adore vintage cottons whose quality is far superior to today's fabrics. I like working with linen. I really enjoy using furnishing fabric for clothing, like chintz and polished cotton, and turning vintage embroidered tablecloths and doilies into clothing, too.
What have been the most valuable lessons learned from other artists on Etsy?
I'm continually picking up lots of really valuable info from other etsyians. Most importantly, while admiring the huge talent and communicating with all these amazing creatives here, I've learned to value my own unique take on the world, to appreciate the skills I've developed over the years, and not to be afraid to put myself out there. I'm grateful for the support and encouragement I get from other etsyians, too.
Why should people buy handmade?
While recognizing they have their place and do make our lives easier, I generally dislike mass-produced goods, which to me lack the spirit, refinement, wholeness and unique nuances one finds in hand-made, individually produced items. William Morris is my absolute hero - he was the ultimate DIYing dynamo! - and I live by his famous quote, " Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful" (my 13 year-old who'd rather shop at Target finds it exasperating). I believe in buying locally where possible, and/or directly from the maker or grower, which is generally much kinder to the planet and also makes for a nicer energy or vibe in the home. That's why I love etsy!
What features/services would you most like to see on Etsy?
I can't think of anything else etsy needs to do, really, other than what it is already so spectacularly doing. Any problems I've come up against have mainly been a result of my own ignorance of how to best use the site - the forums always set me straight.
Apart from creating things, what do you do?
Besides parenting and attending to life's basic necessities, making is pretty much my entire life - I'm a bit OCD like that (and I wonder how I got CFS!). Like most people here at etsy my partner and myself are "makers" through and through: we languish and pine if we can't make stuff! I embroider, needle-point, rug-hook, strip furniture, make curtains, draw, applique, make a huge mess, and lots of other stuff. I'm totally committed to hand-made and DIY. I read graphic novels for relaxation. Yes, that means comics - my evil husband is my supplier. I collect teapots and old editions of Dickens. Red heeler cattle dogs are working dogs, so I do spend a bit of time several times a day running our dogs over the 2 acre yard, to keep them fit and relaxed. And me too, I guess.
Read any good books lately?
I just finished reading Miss Dove by Frances Gray Patton, a very finely crafted and sentimental tale from the 50s; and Image Comics' Invincible comic series.
In ten years I'd like to be...
In 10 years I'd like to be doing more of what I do now, but better, more of it, and more organized, and possibly with cohorts. People tell me I need to send my designs off-shore to be manufactured if I ever want to get anywhere - the thought makes me physically ill! I like the idea of staying boutique, hand-made, and being able to maintain the quality and control I have now. But maybe with minions - I could do with some minions (I'm contemplating training up the offspring in exchange for pocket money).
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