Vivien Moyes: Celebrating Britain’s Textile Heritage
Vivien Moyes is a sewist based in South East London whose work is driven by a lifelong fascination with printed textiles. Eight years ago, that passion inspired her to start creating bags and accessories from vintage fabrics, giving birth to her brand, McBee.
Vivien in her sewing room.
We caught up with Vivien at the tail end of an intense run of Christmas markets, to hear her thoughts on patterns, fabrics, and her enduring connection to Britain’s rich textile heritage.
Here is her story, in her own words.
An Early Love of Sewing and Textiles
My mum made nearly all my clothes when I was little. She used to make me dresses and shorts and things.
I remember at the school gates, coming out of primary school aged about six, the mums would say to me: oh, that's a pretty dress, did mummy make it? And of course, being an ungrateful child, I just wanted to have the same clothes as my friends!
My mum had grown up in the war, she was used to repurposing things and making things out of curtains. All her dresses from the 1950s with the huge gathered skirts… that’s a lot of fabric to make little shift dresses for a 6-year old! Her mum was a brilliant dressmaker as well, she came from a family of tailors.
So, sewing was a little bug in the family, and it got passed down to me. And now, one of my daughters works in costumes… so she’s caught the bug as well!
I always loved making things. When I was little, we had books in the house about sewing and handicrafts and things, so I used to just love mucking about making things. We never had the materials they suggested in the books and there wasn't that much money around, so I just had to make do with whatever I could find.
A publication about crafting came out in the early 70s called Golden Hands. My dad worked for the printing company where it was printed, so he used to bring copies home. Golden Hands was an absolutely amazing influence on me. They had lessons for knitting, learning crochet, and each month would be the next step. My mum got rid of them when they moved house and I couldn’t believe it! I recently found them on ebay and bought the whole set.
From Print Designer to Vintage Fabric Creator
I got a degree in textiles back in the early eighties, and I worked as a print designer for a studio. So, I’ve been interested in print for a long time. Patterns always fascinated me, even when I was little, looking at wallpaper and seeing how the same motif would come again and again.
But then, as the British textile industry took a nose dive and there weren't really very many opportunities anymore. So, I just ended up doing jobs here and there to fit in around the kids, mostly working in schools. But after a while, I needed to get back to some sort of design work.
Over the years, I’d picked up bits of fabric, mostly from the sixties and seventies, things that were nostalgic for me from the era that I grew up in. And I'd pick up whole curtains and things and just have them in a stash, not sure what I was going to do with them. And then I started making shopping bags and I gave some to family and friends, and they loved them. I had people stopping me saying: where did you get your bag?
So, about eight years ago, I thought I might just start a little sideline doing this. And that's how it started. I called it McBee because that was my nickname in school, as my maiden name is McBennett.
Celebrating British Fabrics: A Love for Vintage Prints
I have a real nostalgia for the fabrics. There were some absolutely phenomenal pattern designers in the sixties and seventies, like John Wright, Collier Campbell, Pat Albeck, Grace Sullivan, but they didn’t always get a name check. The British textile industry was just amazing then, and the quality was superb. The dye stuffs that they used for printing were excellent and still so bright. It sounds really corny, but I just think these old fabrics have got soul compared to lots of what we see now.
They’ve inspired people like Orla Kiely. We’ve had a lovely resurgence of those kinds of prints, which give a nod to the past but also have a contemporary feel.
But for me, nothing beats the real thing.
Sourcing Unique Vintage Fabrics
I look for older things, and it can be quite time consuming. They’ve become so popular since COVID, they’re harder to find now at reasonable prices. Some sellers specialize in them and what they charge can be really outrageous. To me, that just loses the whole spirit of it. What I love is finding a pair of old curtains that are sun damaged down the edges, but the middle section is still good. That’s what I’m interested in.
I used to pick things up in charity shops, thrift shops, carboot sales. Now they’re more likely to be found on eBay. There are a couple of sellers on Instagram who are really good, Donna Flower Vintage Fabrics and Vintage Fabric Forever.
And sometimes people get in touch because they’ve been in granny’s loft and they found treasure. It’s amazing when that happens. I sometimes buy mixed lots, and there may be a few contemporary pieces among them, but I always try to find ways to use those too. I might use them for lining, or I donate things, like to the local Make Mee Studio. Somebody will have a use for it. I don’t like to waste anything.
How Vintage Fabrics Shape Handmade Designs
I design my bag shapes. I don't like to just use patterns that are out there, because I quite enjoy drafting my own patterns. They’re all quite simple. I won’t want any fancy bits and buckles on my bags, I just want to showcase the fabric.
It’s really the scale of the fabric print that dictates what I’ll make with it. With bigger prints I’ll make bigger things. I'm doing these cross-body sling type of bags. You can feature quite a good size of fabric on those.
And then, of course, inevitably, you end up with smaller bits. So, you do end up making smaller items. I never want to throw any scraps away, they all get used somehow.
Life After Christmas Markets: A Look Ahead
The markets were good. I’ve still got some stock left because I always make too much. And some of my new bags have just been dropped at The Hill Trader, which is nice.
As for what’s next for me, I always like to develop a couple of new items in the new year. I’m looking at a few different styles of bags at the moment. It’s important to have new things to offer people, and that keeps me interested as well. The early months of the year are nice in that there aren’t many markets so it’s time to experiment and look into new ideas.
My other big project is to get my website shop back off the ground again, but it’s so time consuming because every piece is different. And I like to add a bit of information about the fabric.
I think the story behind fabric and where it's come from is both interesting and important.
Follow Vivien Moyes on Instagram and visit her McBee website.
Know someone working with materials in exciting, sustainable ways and/or making a difference in their community through craft? We’d love to feature their story. Get in touch at hello@destasher.co.uk.
