Friday Feature!

Friday Feature

MaeFlowers & JuneBugs

We love our boutique owners and would love for you to know them better!  Every Friday, we will showcase a different shop owner.  First up is Krista Lueders from MaeFlowers & JuneBugs.

Tell us about your business.  What led you to where you are today?  

I've always loved Renaissance Faires and fairies.  A few years ago, when I started taking my kids to the faires, I couldn't find any quality Renaissance clothing for them.  So I made my own.  The business idea formed from there, and over the years, it's morphed into fairy costumes and now just the fairy wings.  

The Original Fairy Wings

You have some pretty amazing and unique designs.  How you get inspiration for your creations?

I've always been obsessed with fantasy, especially fairies.  One of my favorite artists is Amy Brown, who has created some of the most amazing fae creatures I've ever seen.  I've been inspired by her artwork in the past, but I've also started creating my own fairies, as costumes for my daughter and I.  

Pixie and I at the Texas Renaissance Festival, 2012

Using only one word, what does sewing mean to you?

Escape.  When I'm working on a project, reality tends to not exist.  If I'm having a bad day, or I'm stressed, spending time with my sewing machine really helps.

A new take on the Original Wings, the Double Wings, available by custom order

How did you get into making fairy wings?

When I found some fairy wing embroidery designs, I knew I had to have them.  Once I had them, I wasn't satisfied, I had to do more than just embroider them onto a shirt or jacket.  I had a McCalls costume pattern for a fairy and in included fairy wings that used Velcro to attach to a bodice.  So, I just took the embroidery designs to the next level, sized them up as big as my machine would go and the fairy costumes were born!  But I got tons of requests for wings that could be worn without a full costume.  I realized that I did kind of limit myself by only having them available with a full costume.  That's when the stand-alone wings were created and since then, I've turned my focus to just those.  My daughter, known as Pixie, helps me sometimes pick out color combos and the Dragon wings were a product of my son feeling a little left out and wanting some wings of his own, "but not fairy wings, Mom!!!"  

Dragon Wings for Gamer

Where do you see your shop being in the next 5 years?

My ultimate goal is to have my own shop at the major Renaissance Faires in Texas, where I'm from.  I'm already on my way to seeing that come about, I will be a vendor at the first annual Texas Fairy and Fantasy Festival from October 11-13, 2013 in Cisco, TX.  Maybe in a year or two, I'll be able to start getting into some of the Renaissance Faires.  

Pixie in the Elven Court Wings, with matching wrist cuffs