International Women’s Day is celebrated on 08 March. In honor of the day, I want to share the story behind my “Women Inventors” section of my store.
Same old story
When I started my store, I wanted to do shirts with famous quotes cheekily remixed for makers. For example, Descartes’ famous “I think, therefore I am” becomes “I make, therefore I am” (or “Facio, ergo sum” for you Latin nerds).
I quickly noticed, tho, that all of my quotes were from men. So I started to look for good quotes from famous women I could remix for makers.
I did find a bunch of really good quotes. But then I felt the quotes were too good or powerful to alter. So that path kinda fizzled.
Celebrating women makers
Then I started thinking of famous women inventors and began looking for patents from these women. Patent designs mesh well with my hand-drawn illustrations of maker tech, so I searched for interesting patents, especially those with visually appealing illustrations.
Of course, I had to have patents from Beulah Henry and Margaret Knight, two very prolific inventors. I have more than one design from each of them. And, no women inventors collection is complete without Hedy Lamarr – spy, actress, and inventor of the algorithm behind the secure communications we still use today.
I also have a design based on the very first patent in colonial English America, by Sybilla Masters, from 1715. Of course, she had to file under her husband’s name, as was the law at the time (and for a long time after). But he was gracious enough to openly note, and tell others who asked, that it was her invention.
While all the patents I have* are interesting in their own way, one I’d like to especially point out is by Ellen F Eglin, who invented a clothes ringer. She didn’t think white women would buy something invented by a black woman, so she sold her invention to a man who filed the patent and commercialized the product. In my design, I set this right by crossing out the name on the patent and adding the rightful inventor: Ellen F Eglin.
Maker’s gonna make
In my search for women inventors I was amazed at the range of inventions, saddened to see what these women needed to overcome to secure the rights to their inventions, but appreciative of the path these women have blazed for other women inventors.
I intend to keep looking for more women inventors and highlighting their genius. And I hope my shirts also inspire young inventors.
One last thing: I do have two quotes that are perfect for makers.
Hedy Lamarr’s quote “Improving Things Comes Naturally To Me” captures that ingrained maker habit to see something and then tinker with it to make it better.
The other quote, from Beulah Henry, probably the most prolific woman inventor, ever, clearly explains her maker drive: “I Invent Because I Cannot Help It.”
Check out all the shirts in the video below, or visiting the store (link).
About the design style
Each of the designs are a page from the patent. As I mentioned, I try to find something visually appealing. Alas, newer patents are more formatted, text heavy, and digitally illustrated, losing some of that hand-drawn appeal one sees in older patents.
As for the look, per my style, the bulk of the design is in white, with particular highlights in blaze orange. As best I could, I highlight the name and date of the invention, and the name and signature of the inventor.
*Seventeen as of 08 March 2026
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