We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Melissa Galbraith a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Melissa thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

The project I’m most proud of is my embroidery book, How to Embroider Texture and Pattern. This is my first book and it covers 20 landscape inspired embroideries filled with texture, pattern, and pop up stitching.

I knew I wanted to write a book for a while, but didn’t know where to start. Finally, I set a goal for myself to figure it out. After much research, pitching my idea to publishers, and rejection/no response, I finally had a publisher say YES.

While my idea changed slightly from pitching to publication, I loved being able to design landscapes that represented special memories, experiences, and travels. Being able to explore a wide variety of stitching as well as share my embroidery knowledge with others was empowering and exciting.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Melissa Galbraith is the fiber artist behind MCreativeJ. She was born and raised in the desert of Washington state where her mother instilled a love of making things by hand at an early age. Melissa shares her love of nature through whimsical and modern hand embroidery kits, patterns, workshops, and her books, How to Embroider Texture and Pattern and DIY Embroidered Shoes.
 
Melissa was reintroduced to hand embroidery after finding her desk job monotonous and needing a creative outlet. She loves that embroidery is like coloring with a needle and thread. Melissa found that many craft enthusiasts also wanted to learn how to embroider but were daunted by where to start. Thanks to this and a love of teaching, Melissa began to share her hand embroidery knowledge.
 
Melissa’s embroidery kits make it easy to learn a new craft for makers of all skill levels. She enjoys seeing makers fall in love with the needle arts, especially that magical ah-ha moment of learning something new.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

As a teaching artist, I love being able to share my knowledge and skills with others. It’s exciting and inspiring to see makers, creatives, and crafty interested people wanting to give hand embroidery a try. I love when I see someone in a workshop have an ah-ha moment and fall in love with hand embroidery.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

I love finding groups that offer teaching and hands on experiences so that I can learn and apply those ideas, concepts, and tutorials to my business. I’ve found Proof to Product and the Craft Industry Alliance to be helpful resources.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mcreativej.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mcreativej/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MCreativeJ/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@mcreativej
• Other: Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/McreativeJ/

Image Credits

Photos by Melissa Galbraith of MCreativeJ