Mother Stories
Meet Ace & Jig Designer and Mother Of 2, Jenna Wilson
Written by James Kicinski-McCoy
Photography by Jaclyn Campanaro
May 7, 2014
If you’re anything like us, you’re a huge fan of earthy-cool, textile-driven label Ace & Jig. So, we thought it only right to introduce you to the two amazing mamas behind the line, starting with Jenna Wilson. The newly single mother of Adah, age 3, and James, age 5 (and cats Tonka and Smudge), recently moved from Brooklyn to settle on the West Coast, in Portland. See her creative space (filled with awe-inspiring fabrics) and motherly musings, right here!
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"Creative, chaotic, and joyful. Beloved textiles are overhead and underfoot. My walls and floors are a palette for the kids' creations, like our prism window, weavings, fabric tent, and a rotation of structures made from boxes (currently it's a giant robot Empire State Building). We were living next to Prospect Park in Brooklyn during Hurricane Sandy and collected hundreds of fallen sticks after the storm. So, we also have a lot of things made of sticks. In fact, most of what surrounds us is made of things we have found on our journeys and travels. We are always off on spontaneous adventures as a threesome."
Jenna wears an Ace & Jig onesie in Meteor. Her son James wears an Ace & Jig Kids button-up in Mackinac, Hanes t-shirt, and Levi's jeans. Her daughter Adah wears a vintage dress.
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"Life as a mom is amazing. My heart bursts with love. We laugh, we sing, we dance, we repeat. They teach me so much about being a better human being. I am so thankful to be a mom. It's busy, it's a lot of work, and I love it all. The only bad part is the worry. I worry about these two little people so much, especially when I travel without them. As for my shopping habits, I shop less and spend more."
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- "Since moving to Portland, I'm thinking more about ways to make it easy to be more earth friendly in the home. I have a bunch of cute little washcloths and tea towels from the market in India that I keep in a canister for spills and sticky hands, which has eliminated the need for paper towels."
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- "Definitely! It's so much more fun now, and much less controlled. It's more chaotic, but more happy, too. The kids give me an excuse to do all sorts of fanciful things with the living space. They think of the whole house as a showcase for their ideas and art, and I love it. When I look around me I see the product of hours of joy, laughter, and love, and it's wonderful."
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- "The living room. After I moved in, a friend correctly pointed out that my living room is really a gigantic play room. But it's a play room for me, too. I don't miss having a more formal living room/sitting area. When adults come over, we hover around the kitchen counter drinking wine and chatting, which is the best anyway."
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- "When I moved I got rid of a bunch of furniture, including our couch. The kids destroy these things and they take up space. Instead of buying a new couch, I made a bunch of pillows from Ace & Jig and vintage textiles for floor lounging and play."
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- "Being textile-obsessed, I am always trying to incorporate parts of my textile collection into the home. These are my favorite things. You find them underfoot, on the walls, beds, tables, and windows. My pillows of Ace & Jig and vintage textiles are much loved and so useful. Our fabric fort made of old tablecloths and Ace & Jig fabric is a favorite of the kids. I also love my curtains made of old nautical signal flags. They are great because I just clipped them onto rings and hung them up on the existing rods, which skipped the need to sew anything, a tip courtesy of Cary, my business partner."
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- "I have a few family treasures in my home that are truly loved. My kitchen cabinet was my maternal grandmother's and the deeply grooved cutting board shows all those years of cutting homemade bread for her 8 kids in her farmhouse in Saskatchewan. I also have my paternal grandmother's old steamer trunk which voyaged with her from Scotland to Canada so many years ago. Now it's filled with part of my textile collection."
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- "James was named after his paternal grandfather who died right before he was born. His middle name, Ian, is my brother's name. Adah is the old-fashioned way to spell Ada and we just pulled it from a book. Her middle name, Rosemary, is my aunt's name.Ace & Jig was named after our first-borns: James (initials JIG) and Alice (initials ACE, Cary's daughter)."
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- "I like to avoid anything that is too precious or requires a warning label. If the kids can't go near it, forget it. I love nice things, but for now my kitchen table is scarred with ink and glue and that's okay. Now that the kids are 3 and 5, I've loved being able to set up different stations around the house that are easy for them to access. It's so great to see how independent they are becoming."
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- "I have empty baskets at each end of the stairs. I toss toys in these as I pass by and use them to tote all the odds 'n ends up and down. I have about 20 pairs of scissors and a giant canister I keep them all in, and ditto with pencils, tape, and anything I find myself searching for. When I moved I made an oath to try to avoid the junk drawer pitfall and so far it's working."
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- "My kids shared a room in our tiny apartment in Brooklyn and grew to love the closeness. Now that we have moved, they still share a room even though they don't need to. Like the rest of our home, their room is a reflection of the three of us. The rag rug on the floor is a favorite of mine, it's a handwoven item that I found years ago. Adah's comforter is made of Ace & Jig fabric and James' papier-mâché planets hang from the ceiling. Adah has a low hook where she can keep her expanding jewelry collection. Oversized cubbies and bins make it simple to keep toys tidy. I installed inexpensive spice racks on the outside of their bunk beds to solve the problem of where to put books and water bottles at night."
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"James is the kindest mini-professor. He creates these elaborate blueprints for machines, it boggles my mind. He is also the most thoughtful, empathetic, and honest person I have ever encountered. He speaks plainly and from the heart and his words always have meaning.
Adah is wickedly charming and so delicious. Her personality is infectious and fun all the time and she reminds all of us to enjoy the present. She has a huge heart and is so tremendously loving. She is magnetic."
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- "I recently found an old card-filing cabinet in a vintage shop, which I transformed into a Lego storage system. Toy storage is always a challenge and this has been ideal! James loved filing away all of his creations and labeling the drawers."
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- "I love hand-me-downs. I try to stock all the basics from friends' castoffs and am fanatical about passing down my kids' stuff. Then I supplement with a few special pieces from our kids' line and a few others. I love the Wolfechilde stuff and the Japanese kids' brand Trico Field is my most favorite. The label has a shop in Soho. My most common splurge on kids' clothes tend to be super-soft, simple underthings, and basics from Petit Bateau and Flora and Henri."
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- "Tough question. I'm sure I don't begin to measure up to my mother. She is so strong. She grew up on a farm in the prairies of Canada and has worked hard every day of her life. Her capacity to love and care for others is tremendous—she is one of those people that will go the extra mile, or ten extra miles, for anyone in need. "
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- "I adore all of the things made by the kids. A favorite has to be the hand-painted pasta bowls, which we eat out of every day."
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- "Being on my own with the two kids and having my own business means that anything that saves time and energy is big. I keep a laundry hamper in every room, even the kitchen, so piles of clothes are no longer an issue. Yes, undressing often happens in the kitchen, especially when your daughter likes to make dresses out of tea towels."
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- "Ace & Jig. Vintage and menswear from a variety of sources. Tsumori Chisato—pure whimsical creativity. I love sneakers—Converse, Nike SB. Dieppa Restrepo. I'm loving all the artisan-made items you can find now, it's always great to discover something thoughtful."
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- "It's by Don Freedman and it's from the 70's. He was an iconic fiber artist of the time."
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- "The living room (play room), kitchen, and bathroom."
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"Ace & Jig is a reflection of my and Cary's personal style. We share a love of textiles, so it revolves around this love story. We are moms, so it's comfortable and easy, and with pockets. We like unique and beloved things, so you see that it looks and feels special, and different from anything else out there. We loathe waste and thus these pieces we make are ones that you can keep and wear year after year.
I'm not big on makeup, but kind of obsessed with skincare. Some of my favorites: Tazorac, it's the best anti-aging thing. Rodin Olio Lusso makes my skin dewy. Teamine eye cream is cooling and supposedly deletes dark circles. Nia24 products smooth skin. Aquaphor is my winter and lips staple. I've tried all the non-petroleum options and nothing works as well. And Weleda Calendula Oil is almost as good as the Rodin, I use it when I run out."
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- "We love to go on spontaneous adventures. I'm a fan of public transport, since my driving is a work in progress and I never drove in NYC. We often chart a course around town by train, bus, trolly, tram, and streetcar. Sometimes that's the whole trip—just a big round-robin around town. James loves trains, so it's exciting. He chronicles these trips in his train journal. Other times we head to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, it's truly amazing!) or walk to one of the cool historic movie theaters in Portland. We've done a million museums (Portland Art Museum is great and has a kids tour, though the "Tours for Fours" program at the MOMA is still the group fave), fort building in Laurelhurst park, the roller and ice rinks, the Chinese garden, the haystacks at Cannon Beach, and Sauvie Island. We also love to go on adventure lunches, like dim sum in Chinatown or conveyor-belt sushi. We are new to Portland, so there's still so much to see and do."
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"For me: I'm coveting a pair of men's work pants from Imogene + Willie, a shop here in Portland. And I'm always looking for a new pair of patched Japanese jeans, home stuff, and more blazers.
For the kids: They really don't need anything but I'm sure Adah would tell you she would like more floor-length dresses. She has several vintage ones and she's obsessed."
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- "I have been collecting textile remnants since I was a teenager. My favorites have come from Etsy, eBay, and flea markets around the world, including the Rosebowl, Brimfield, the Brooklyn Flea, and Clignancourt, Portabello Road."
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- "I'm currently living in Ace & Jig overalls. Our trousers and skirts are also perpetual faves—they make jeans seem terribly uncomfortable. I have a piece of really functional men's outerwear that I got from Pilgrim Surf Supply that work so well all year round. I love dresses and have a load of them, but often I find myself feeling boyish in pants and tees, button-ups, blazers, and oxfords. White shirts of every variety—tees, men's shirts, little vintage button-ups. My kiddos and I love our hats from ALL knitwear. Dieppa Restrepo's, espadrilles, or sneakers are always on my feet. And there are so many great vintage shops here in Portland for soft tees and crew-neck sweatshirts. I've found several at Palace and Rad Summer that are both walking distance from me. For dresses and skirts, I'm loving anything in a midi-length, like our Ace & Jig cliff dress and reversible midi-skirt from spring '14."
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- "In the morning I can't wait to get on with work and escape into it. In the evening I can't wait to get back to the kids and put work aside."
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- "How greatly my life would change, and how okay I would be with that."
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- "I've loved textiles since I was a child. Cary and I met as fashion design interns over 10 years ago and when the time was right, we decided to make our own stuff and do something we were truly passionate about. We set about making our own yarn-dyed woven cloth. We really never dreamt that anyone else would be into it, but the response has been wonderful."
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- "Designing is always the best part. The rest is really, really hard and it's the majority of the work. As for exciting news, we are thrilled the collection will be in Barneys for the first time this summer. We are a brand based on local shop business and we love that and are proud of it, but it's great to have Barneys on board now, too."
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- "This is not an option for me currently and I try not to worry about it. Next year, when James is in kindergarten, I will have one day a week with just Adah and I am looking forward to it. If you're going from one to two, prepare for chaos and know that you will be a different type of parent to your second-born, and that's not a bad thing. "
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- "Everything. Literally."
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Jenna’s onesie is so cute and perfectly goes with her beautiful bare feet! Picture #27 is my favorite. Her smile is so winsome and her long, slender toes are so gorgeous! I can tell Jenna has led a barefoot lifestyle, her feet look so healthy and lovely!