Flying Hen Studio Caps!

Welcome to The Flying Hen Studio!

Here are some details of the current cap collection and a few words about my methods and motivations for making them. These caps are meant for everyday wear. A cap is your signature, the last thing to put on before leaving the house and a defining feature of your street silhouette. Nevertheless, a cap should be completely practical: weather-wise and comfortable, just the thing to help you out the door into your day. Versatility, function, and easy care are the signatures of Flying Hen Studio style. 

My goals in designing and redesigning these caps over the last 5 years are simple:

1. To create a closer and closer approximation of 'the perfect cap' for the indoor and outdoor everyday wear of folks in my community, that is to say: people whose daily lives include exposure to changes in the weather; multiple work tasks such as retail, restaurant, childcare, agriculture and academia; various modes of transportation (i.e. these should fit smoothly under bike helmets); and usually include social and or artistic events for which one would need something snappy, as well.

2. I make every possible effort to streamline the production process so that I may both pay myself a livable wage for my work and offer them at an affordable price. Outside of my work in the Flying Hen Studio, I work as a nursing assistant, student, and mother of two: every moment counts! Simplicity in design and production helps me maintain the fine balance between compensating myself for my work and keeping the price affordable to my comrades.

3. I work to provide alternatives to sweatshop capitalism in my small atelier by paying myself a livable wage, by participating in my local economy, and by using primarily free, found, thrifted and recycled materials. There is plenty of good cloth available from secondhand and local sources for all of our needs. Truly.

I hope you enjoy these pictures of my work taken by Michael Sundue, aka DJ +5 of the Flying Hen Studio soundlab. To see the work in person or make a purchase, please visit The Bobbin in our beloved Old North End neighborhood of Burlington, Vermont.

O.N.E. love!

Your local cap designer,

Rebecca Mack aka DJ Mothertrucker

When two shirts become one...

I do love the Slow Design process of envisioning, sketching, planning, pattern drafting, deconstructing and recycling materials,and finally realizing the design in its unique and given circumstance.  Equally am I drawn to, and frequently fall into, a more fluid squishing of elements on hand; projects whose genesis is the extra cup of coffee, whose realization is fated by a moment's contents of the studio, and worn home just in time to make lunch for small boys.

This garment is of the latter tribe, the Frankengarment. Pieces synthesized for their own good. The most-of-a-western blouse was in a lucky pile I received from Paper Moon Project as she packed for her return to Los Angeles. Into it I gathered a strip of Heather Ross bicycle print fabric and much of a cotton gauze shirt, once upon a time worn for fieldwork by my vegetable-farming husband.

Cap of the Day!

Forsythia yellow, reverses to a grassy green brocade: Today's special at The Bobbin. $45!

Flying Hen celebration flags

a life filled with:

1 minute slideshow: "Mothertrucker's Favorite Machines"

Here's the first installment of an audio-visual project I began years ago and envisioned as a book, with a companion record, like we 30-somethings had when we were kids. I still hope to press and print the project someday. Meanwhile, I realized that the blog is a perfect format for sharing my work in progress. Enjoy, and please, comment!

Inside, Out

Wow! It's 4 above zero and w-i-n-d-y here in Burlington. I'm uploading MP3s of mixtapes past as Classic Hits and I prepare to record the next one. Here are some pictures from inside and outside the studio.

A Better Fit!

Learn how to alter those thrift shop scores to fit you just the way you want...

Intermediate Alterations class

with Flying Hen Studio designer Rebecca Mack

2 to 4 pm

Wednesday, December 30th

at The Bobbin, 299 N. Winooski Ave, Burlington, VT

call 802-862-7417 to register

$40

Down with white supremacist capitalist patriarchy! Up with Slow Clothes!

Fall Skirts Workshop

Let's sew cozy skirts for fall! I'm leading a workshop at The Bobbin on Wednesday, October 21, from 2 to 4 pm. We'll start with a basic A-line pattern, tailor it to fit you, and add volume and flair to your taste. You take home a custom pattern, and your new skirt! $60 includes all materials for one skirt and a warm, afternoon lesson in the lovely Bobbin. The Bobbin is located at 299 North Winooski Avenue in Burlington. Call 802-862-7417 to register.

After All Designs... aprons

Here are the latest aprons from After All Designs, made up in lovely, 100% cotton fabrics. Wearable, washable, livable, lovable aprons from my mama's stitching studio right here in Burlington, Vermont!

The Boys' First Embroidery Lesson

There's nothing like watching young (tiny) boys handle a needle and thread for the first time to make a mama feel that all is right in the world, for a moment.

the crushable sun hat!

This mock up satisfies all my sun hat pattern requirements: shady, cute, doesn't hit the back of the neck, and crushes up to fit in your pocket! The fabric is block-printed cotton muslin with a broadcloth lining, modeled here by long-time friend of the Flying Hen Studio, Megan O'Brien.


Looks like I'll need to make a couple up for sale. I wonder how fast I can ride my bike without it flying off my head...

New Ramble Caps!

A new batch of caps from Flying Hen Studio is available now at The Bobbin, in celebration of The Ramble! Come on down; they're open until 5 pm. (Then you can wear your new cap on the Ramble Bike Ride, which starts in front of the Flying Hen Studio on Decatur St at 5!)

A Better Fit!

I'm teaching a class in altering garments, tomorrow at the Bobbin. That's Tuesday, June 9 from 2 to 4 pm. 

We'll be going over the basic formula of fitting garments and methods of alteration. Bring something to alter and we'll get started! $40 fee includes instruction, materials, workspace and tool rental!

The Bobbin is located at 299 N. Winooski Avenue (corner of Archibald) in Burlington. Call 862-7417 to pre-register.