A new year begins! Welcome 2025!

It’s a new year here at Maggie May Clothing and as always, we are excited to see what 2025 will bring!

2024 marked our 30th anniversary! Can you believe it? We had BIG PLANS to celebrate, but 2024 sure had different plans for us!

After a record breaking previous year, 2024 started out a bit slow, but picked up in the Spring. We launched our 30th anniversary celebration and began laying the groundwork for a home sewing historic dress pattern collection! Surprise!

In the Spring, we doubled our indigo farm plot and set up an interpretive stall at the first annual Great War Expo at Sgt. Alvin C York State Park. In the summer, we demonstrated Victorian millinery making techniques at Historic Rugby’s British Festival, and led an indigo/natural dye workshops for the Junior Apprentice program at Historic Exchange Place. And our farm became a certified Monarch Butterfly Waystation!

We FINALLY launched our collection of historically inspired lifestyle goods under the brand name CALICO BALL. This one we started back in 2020 but was tabled due to the pandemic. This collection currently features naturally dyed textiles, vintage inspired jewelry, and natural body products. I also helped my son launch Working Dog Tea Co (a collection proprietary blends of organic loose leaf teas and tisanes created here on our Tennessee farm!) It’s been a smashing success! All these historically inspired lifestyle goods, including Working Dog Tea Co, can be found on the MMC website!

By Fall, projects began to slow down even more and it remained very quiet for the rest of the year. There were various factors that led to a “less than enthusiastic end” to 2024. So while 2024, wasn’t quite the project year I hoped it would be, it was a year that brought us closer to our community, gave us the opportunity to work on ideas that had been on the back burner for a while, and provided some very necessary time to reflect on the future and direction of Maggie May Clothing.

Welcome 2025! Maggie May Clothing is still here!

Let’s revisit some of plans set in motion in 2024 by our 30th anniversary celebration and use them as direction for the new year!

-> A variety of ready made/ready to ship garments and accessories for those who need things a bit sooner than our average 3-4 week turn around time.

With the excitement buzzing around Jane Austen’s 250th birthday, this year we will focus on building ready made Regency Era-1830s dresses and bonnets! These garments will not only bring exciting new designs to the Maggie May Collection, it will also alleviate lengthy wait times for custom made pieces. It’s a win-win for all of us!

-> NEW! Launch a line of home sewing patterns based on your most loved designs!

In the summer of 2024, I sent out a survey asking you which of Maggie May Clothing’s most popular designs you would like to see home sewing patterns for. (If you are subscribed to our newsletter, you received this in your inbox!) Thank you so much for your fantastic feedback! After determining which designs you love best, I started shopping professional digitizing and grading services. This is where we currently are on this project. Once patterns are professionally graded, I am going to need pattern testers to try out various sizes of preliminary sewing patterns and provide feedback before we launch! Anyone interested? Let me know!

What you need to know + Changes for 2025:

  1. Fabrics available in our GREIGE GOODS COLLECTION will now be limited to the stock we have on hand. Fabrics will NOT be reorder able. Sadly, I was notified at the end of the year by our local fabric mill that after over 100 years in business, it has ceased production as of December 31, 2024. This local connection is going to leave us without a supplier for greige goods like our muslins, buckram, batiste, voile, etc.
  2. UPS is increasing SHIPPING FEES AGAIN and has canceled their contract with the USPS. While UPS is still our preferred carrier, we are working to implement two shipping options for you to choose from:
    • UPS– faster, more reliable delivery times but higher shipping prices.
    • USPS– slower delivery times but lower pricing. Only option for US P.O. Boxes and International Orders (see more below)
    • International orders STILL ship via the USPS. No choice on carrier. All VAT, duties and import fees to be paid by the client regardless of location.
  3. Maggie May Clothing is a human- centric business! Therefore, it will always be me (Susan Jarrett) writing the articles about Fashion & History (including all presentations or lectures) and Blog posts. Sorry, AI will not be writing history here.
  4. Fastest way to get in touch with us? EMAIL US! info@maggiemayfashions.com or sales@maggiemayfashions.com. We always try to respond within 24 hours to your enquiries!

Here’s to a New things and Old for 2025!

Let’s make something Be-YOUtiful™ this year! -sj

About Susan

My interest in historical costume began at a very early age. I knew by age 5 I wanted to be a designer. Over the years I have been fortunate enough to turn my passion into a full time business. You can find my costumes onstage in NYC, on the big screen, and in museums around the globe.