September 09, 2018
Sew me tender....the collection full of love!
Hello! I haven't been around much this summer, due to the kids' holidays and preparing the new collection... and it's with the same mixture of joy and apprehension that I reveal the next patterns that will be available in October. 
But let's start with the "story" of this collection... because it has a very special importance for me. Maison Fauve has been my adventure for 3 years, my slightly crazy dream that continues from season to season. But this lovely dream takes up a lot of space on a daily basis, my family shares the doubts as well as the good times. And my husband is in fact more and more invested in my small business (collecting the patterns from the printer, going to the post office on the days when I am at the office, helping me to package... the fun side!). But above all, he always has an opinion on the clothes, the choice of fabrics, and his eye counts when it comes to deciding on a detail, a cut. I wanted to invest him even more in Maison Fauve by suggesting that we imagine a piece for men together. Initially this collection was supposed to contain as many patterns for men as for women, but we have to be reasonable: my nights are already too short, and developing a pattern for the men's wardrobe is an important job for me who never sews for men ;) We decided together to focus on a timeless item in the men's wardrobe: the shirt. We had to think about the cut, supported without being too fitted, and also about the little details that would bring all its singularity to the pattern. And it is the pretty "broken" collar revisited English collar, as well as the buttoning under flap that seemed to us to bring all its originality to the model, without too much eccentricity. 
My husband was very precise about the proportions he wanted, and I suggested different details to give the shirt a very neat look: all sewn in English seam (seam allowances included in this sense and very detailed board), with a flat fold in the back, back cutouts, topstitching, the famous collar of course, but also a pretty cuff with a capuchin tab. And the button tab is in 2 parts so that you can, if you wish, contrast the fabric of the tab and the collar for a "fake tie" effect. The Sparrow shirt was born! The first version that I show you here is all white, in the purity, sewn in a magnificent cotton with small herringbones from Eglantine and Zoé (whom I thank with all my heart, because we discussed this first men's model a lot, and Zoé chose to accompany me by offering in her new collection magnificent cottons particularly suited to shirts! A thousand thanks my pretty for lending me a hand!!!). 
The other models are in the pipeline, including a jacket, and if I see that you are really interested in the men's patterns I might offer them to you during the winter! My initial idea, when several men's models were being considered, was to play on a men's and women's wardrobe with pieces that complement each other, not necessarily mixed clothing, but whose styling would have a unity. This beautiful men's shirt therefore has its counterpart in the women's collection: the Swallow shirt . The women's blouse has a much looser cut, a gathered back under a yoke, the shoulder line is dropped for a slightly boyish look, but the signature details of the men's model are still present: the broken collar and the buttoning under a flap. And since the weather is still very nice and warm, the pattern can be sewn in a sleeveless version (and I should point out that there are 2 different patterns on the board, I took care of the details, the armholes and the cut of each version). The denim-style tencel version (from Pretty mercerie) reminds me of the outfits worn by the pretty Charlotte Gainsbourg in her younger years, and if that wasn't the inspiration for the pattern, it struck me when I tried it on! The Vichy version is more classic (but a little rest in the wardrobe is good too). 
The second women's pattern is the Sailor overalls . My huge huge desire this winter (I'm arriving after the war of course) was an overall, but not in the 1st degree of the overalls. I am only moderately casual in my way of dressing, so I thought about how to make an overall that is not quite an overall, or more simply an overall that looks like me. I went for knotted straps, feminine detail, easy assembly, no need to look for special haberdashery supplies... I went for it. For the front, I thought about it for a while, the front with pocket or bib was too obvious a code for the overalls, I decided to play on a front that crosses, with a string of buttons (the buttoning is mainly for decorative purposes, no need to undo it to put on the overalls). The back, on the other hand, completely follows the codes of the overalls. And then the question of the bottom arose...my prototype was a pair of straight, not very loose pants like the ones I'm showing you here. 
I found my overalls perfect like this, but despite all my work on the latest collections is to offer you a pattern that allows you to make several clothes. I hesitated between a skirt and shorts, I started by prototyping the shorts, and I liked the result so much that I didn't push any further, my beautiful Sailor overalls were ready! 
I made many versions of this pattern to test the rendering in many fabrics: silk gabardine, denim, prince of wales (this one comes from Pretty mercerie) and finally I really really wanted to try tweed, many haberdasheries are offering very beautiful ones this year, and I remembered that I had a huge tweed coupon bought on sale 2 years ago at mondial tissu...it is quite flashy with its silver threads, but I thought that the short overalls would really play down this fabric and I am really delighted with the result I love it a lot!!! To stay in the codes of tweed-coconut like-passion Chanel-Karl the boss clothing...I sewed pearl buttons from Pretty mercerie too. I really like these buttons, I bought a lot of them, but they are heavy and the tail is very long so a bitter failure on fine fabrics like for a shirt, on the other hand here the thickness of the tweed lends itself well to it, I am delighted! My beautiful Dahlia blouse (antediluvian version that I love so much with a devoured silk velvet from Cousette) completes this look and my Narae sandals that I love so much... party girl outfit (hum hum ...) validated :) 
And to close this collection, here is the Sybil dress , which jumps head first into femininity! An almost square crossover neckline, pretty play on inserts that can be enhanced with piping, a slightly loose cut, pockets... it is very feminine, very comfortable, comes in a blouse, adapts to different levels of sewing if you do without the inserts (the bust is lined). I just love it! Sewn here in Atelier Brunette double gauze, it is spectacular in the long version! But a beautiful light wool, a fine velvet, a cotton... anything is possible! For inspiration, we go to the Bennett sisters, we branch off to Downtown Abbey, we project ourselves into a revisited babydoll and here we are. 
So why do the bosses have these little names? Sparrow and Swallow , 2 pretty bird names that directly refer to my husband and I, we are 2 tattooed and we chose to ink pretty birds on ourselves, sublime swallows for my man, a pair of wings on my ankles and a goldfinch on my back (but Sparrow or sparrow sounded better with Swallow or swallow ;) ). For the overalls, I went for Sailor , a little sailor look that goes well, and then in the imaginary of the tattoo, the sailor is covered in it. And the beautiful Sybil ... we leave the world of tattoos to go back to my other obsession: Sybil is the cheeky and determined little sister of the Crawley family (Downton Abbey addict hello!!!), a femininity that does not let itself be told. We are not in the 1st degree of the period dress either, but a little retro charm is found here. S wallow, Sparrow , Sybil , Sailor ....do we understand each other?! And this collection, this men's and women's wardrobe, is a new step for me. And I wonder about the identity of Maison Fauve. Sew me tender is the name of the collection, and I wonder if my brand could not evolve towards this name which is less confusing than Maison Fauve... It is risky to evolve the name of a brand, we risk losing people along the way, and my brand is still very young...if you have an opinion on the matter I take all your suggestions! I hope you will like this collection, release of the patterns for the end of October, I will give you an official release date very soon and on this occasion you will be able to discover other versions of the patterns, the assembly tutorials, in short I have work in perspective. And I leave you with the pearls of this photo shoot .... see you soon! 
But let's start with the "story" of this collection... because it has a very special importance for me. Maison Fauve has been my adventure for 3 years, my slightly crazy dream that continues from season to season. But this lovely dream takes up a lot of space on a daily basis, my family shares the doubts as well as the good times. And my husband is in fact more and more invested in my small business (collecting the patterns from the printer, going to the post office on the days when I am at the office, helping me to package... the fun side!). But above all, he always has an opinion on the clothes, the choice of fabrics, and his eye counts when it comes to deciding on a detail, a cut. I wanted to invest him even more in Maison Fauve by suggesting that we imagine a piece for men together. Initially this collection was supposed to contain as many patterns for men as for women, but we have to be reasonable: my nights are already too short, and developing a pattern for the men's wardrobe is an important job for me who never sews for men ;) We decided together to focus on a timeless item in the men's wardrobe: the shirt. We had to think about the cut, supported without being too fitted, and also about the little details that would bring all its singularity to the pattern. And it is the pretty "broken" collar revisited English collar, as well as the buttoning under flap that seemed to us to bring all its originality to the model, without too much eccentricity. My husband was very precise about the proportions he wanted, and I suggested different details to give the shirt a very neat look: all sewn in English seam (seam allowances included in this sense and very detailed board), with a flat fold in the back, back cutouts, topstitching, the famous collar of course, but also a pretty cuff with a capuchin tab. And the button tab is in 2 parts so that you can, if you wish, contrast the fabric of the tab and the collar for a "fake tie" effect. The Sparrow shirt was born! The first version that I show you here is all white, in the purity, sewn in a magnificent cotton with small herringbones from Eglantine and Zoé (whom I thank with all my heart, because we discussed this first men's model a lot, and Zoé chose to accompany me by offering in her new collection magnificent cottons particularly suited to shirts! A thousand thanks my pretty for lending me a hand!!!). The other models are in the pipeline, including a jacket, and if I see that you are really interested in the men's patterns I might offer them to you during the winter! My initial idea, when several men's models were being considered, was to play on a men's and women's wardrobe with pieces that complement each other, not necessarily mixed clothing, but whose styling would have a unity. This beautiful men's shirt therefore has its counterpart in the women's collection: the Swallow shirt . The women's blouse has a much looser cut, a gathered back under a yoke, the shoulder line is dropped for a slightly boyish look, but the signature details of the men's model are still present: the broken collar and the buttoning under a flap. And since the weather is still very nice and warm, the pattern can be sewn in a sleeveless version (and I should point out that there are 2 different patterns on the board, I took care of the details, the armholes and the cut of each version). The denim-style tencel version (from Pretty mercerie) reminds me of the outfits worn by the pretty Charlotte Gainsbourg in her younger years, and if that wasn't the inspiration for the pattern, it struck me when I tried it on! The Vichy version is more classic (but a little rest in the wardrobe is good too). The second women's pattern is the Sailor overalls . My huge huge desire this winter (I'm arriving after the war of course) was an overall, but not in the 1st degree of the overalls. I am only moderately casual in my way of dressing, so I thought about how to make an overall that is not quite an overall, or more simply an overall that looks like me. I went for knotted straps, feminine detail, easy assembly, no need to look for special haberdashery supplies... I went for it. For the front, I thought about it for a while, the front with pocket or bib was too obvious a code for the overalls, I decided to play on a front that crosses, with a string of buttons (the buttoning is mainly for decorative purposes, no need to undo it to put on the overalls). The back, on the other hand, completely follows the codes of the overalls. And then the question of the bottom arose...my prototype was a pair of straight, not very loose pants like the ones I'm showing you here. I found my overalls perfect like this, but despite all my work on the latest collections is to offer you a pattern that allows you to make several clothes. I hesitated between a skirt and shorts, I started by prototyping the shorts, and I liked the result so much that I didn't push any further, my beautiful Sailor overalls were ready! I made many versions of this pattern to test the rendering in many fabrics: silk gabardine, denim, prince of wales (this one comes from Pretty mercerie) and finally I really really wanted to try tweed, many haberdasheries are offering very beautiful ones this year, and I remembered that I had a huge tweed coupon bought on sale 2 years ago at mondial tissu...it is quite flashy with its silver threads, but I thought that the short overalls would really play down this fabric and I am really delighted with the result I love it a lot!!! To stay in the codes of tweed-coconut like-passion Chanel-Karl the boss clothing...I sewed pearl buttons from Pretty mercerie too. I really like these buttons, I bought a lot of them, but they are heavy and the tail is very long so a bitter failure on fine fabrics like for a shirt, on the other hand here the thickness of the tweed lends itself well to it, I am delighted! My beautiful Dahlia blouse (antediluvian version that I love so much with a devoured silk velvet from Cousette) completes this look and my Narae sandals that I love so much... party girl outfit (hum hum ...) validated :) And to close this collection, here is the Sybil dress , which jumps head first into femininity! An almost square crossover neckline, pretty play on inserts that can be enhanced with piping, a slightly loose cut, pockets... it is very feminine, very comfortable, comes in a blouse, adapts to different levels of sewing if you do without the inserts (the bust is lined). I just love it! Sewn here in Atelier Brunette double gauze, it is spectacular in the long version! But a beautiful light wool, a fine velvet, a cotton... anything is possible! For inspiration, we go to the Bennett sisters, we branch off to Downtown Abbey, we project ourselves into a revisited babydoll and here we are. So why do the bosses have these little names? Sparrow and Swallow , 2 pretty bird names that directly refer to my husband and I, we are 2 tattooed and we chose to ink pretty birds on ourselves, sublime swallows for my man, a pair of wings on my ankles and a goldfinch on my back (but Sparrow or sparrow sounded better with Swallow or swallow ;) ). For the overalls, I went for Sailor , a little sailor look that goes well, and then in the imaginary of the tattoo, the sailor is covered in it. And the beautiful Sybil ... we leave the world of tattoos to go back to my other obsession: Sybil is the cheeky and determined little sister of the Crawley family (Downton Abbey addict hello!!!), a femininity that does not let itself be told. We are not in the 1st degree of the period dress either, but a little retro charm is found here. S wallow, Sparrow , Sybil , Sailor ....do we understand each other?! And this collection, this men's and women's wardrobe, is a new step for me. And I wonder about the identity of Maison Fauve. Sew me tender is the name of the collection, and I wonder if my brand could not evolve towards this name which is less confusing than Maison Fauve... It is risky to evolve the name of a brand, we risk losing people along the way, and my brand is still very young...if you have an opinion on the matter I take all your suggestions! I hope you will like this collection, release of the patterns for the end of October, I will give you an official release date very soon and on this occasion you will be able to discover other versions of the patterns, the assembly tutorials, in short I have work in perspective. And I leave you with the pearls of this photo shoot .... see you soon!
