A Family that Crafts Together Stays Together: 4 Generations of Makers
(Photos: Baby Jives Co.)
Jahje Ives learned to sew from her mother at the kitchen table. “My mom made clothes for me and clothes for my dolls,” says the crafty maker of delightful children’s mobiles.
"When I was about 8 she gave me my first sewing lesson." Her mother gifted her a Bernina sewing machine when she turned 18.
Ives recently found her three-year-old daughter Elodie sitting at her sewing machine. Elodie’s little feet dangled high above the pedals.
"Mama," she announced, "I need to work."
"When your feet reach the pedals!" Ives replied.
Ives’ mother learned to sew from her mother, a quilter. “I grew up with one of my grandma’s handmade quilts on my bed. When Elodie was born, I made a crib mobile with fabrics inherited from my grandma,” she says.
Related story on Yahoo Makers: Don’t Trip! No-Sew Hem Hacks
(Photo: Baby Jives Co.)
Ives has a BFA from University of the Arts in Philadelphia and an MFA from Tyler School of Art. After she graduated she exhibited her drawings and sculpture in a few galleries and taught drawing and video. She began combining her sewing skills with her talent for art and sculpture when she was pregnant with Elodie’s older brother Gavril, now 6.
"While finishing up his nursery, I was inspired to break out some fabric I’d been hoarding and turn it into a bird mobile. I was literally nesting," she laughs.
Ives adores fabric. So when friends admired Gavril’s mobile, she made a few more. Soon, she opened a shop on Etsy. Now she sells most of her mobiles on her own website, babyjives.com. The name comes from a combination of her husband’s name with her name – Joe and Ives.
"We didn’t know if Gavril was going to be a boy or a girl, so we referred to him as Baby Jives while I was pregnant," Ives explains.
Ives has made her name for herself off and online. She is a featured artist in West Elm’s local business program. In addition, her work has been chosen by tastemakers at Great.ly and sells at Project Nursery. Plus, Ives’ fantastic blog presents great ideas for nursery room design with eye-catching lifestyle photography.
(Photos: Baby Jives Co.)
Ives wants her mobiles to become lasting parts of a child’s life. “So a child can have a relationship with a piece of artwork,” she says, “and incorporate the mobile into their imaginative play.” In her studio (one of the bedrooms in her Philadelphia home), Ives hand sews her mobiles from natural materials and builds them to last.
Nature and the magic of childhood inspire her. After a day chasing butterflies with Gavril in the botanical garden, she designed a butterflies and roses mobile. The cloud mobile with little hearts raining down came from the simple notion of showering a child with love—a sentiment sewn by the women in her family for generations.
Also on Yahoo Makers:
Also on Yahoo Makers:
Let Yahoo Makers inspire you every day! Join us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.
