Artist Spotlight: Melissa Galbraith

Photo by Melissa Galbraith

Melissa Galbraith is the fiber artist behind MCreativeJ. She creates nature inspired hand embroidery kits, patterns, teaches hands on workshops, and is also the author of three hand embroidery books. 

Let’s take a deeper dive into the artist and her work.

What first drew you to embroidery, and how has your relationship with it evolved?

My relationship with hand embroidery has evolved over time. I first learned to embroider from my mom when I was elementary school age. I will admit I was far more into coloring than embroidery at the time, because I didn’t really have the patience. 

As an adult, I found myself working a job in digital communications and missed the tactile experience of making by hand. At the time I was living in a tiny apartment with my now husband and didn’t have much room for craft supplies, so I looked for something that was small and portable. Embroidery came to mind, and I gave it a go. 

In adulthood, I’ve found embroidery to be much like coloring, but with a needle and thread. I had to teach myself a lot and look things up, but a few of the basic foundations my mom taught me came back as well. I love being able to create textures, explore patterns, and bring sculptural elements to life. 

Now, I’m a full-time embroidery artist and I get to teach other makers how to embroider too.

Photo by Melissa Galbraith

How do you approach the design and creative process when beginning a new piece?

I pull much of my design inspiration from nature and travel. A cluster of trees while walking my dogs might spark inspiration, or a landscape while visiting Arches National Park. I try to keep my mind open while not pushing it to create something. 

Once I’ve noodled on a design, and taken some admittedly terrible iPhone reference photos, I’ll create thumbnail sketches. I start small and iterate on the design. Once I have a design I want to move forward with, I’ll scale it up to size and make additional adjustments. At this point, I might make notes on color ideas, fabric choices, and stitches I’d like to use in the design to bring it to life and add textures. Then I get to embroider!

These days, many of my designs are turned into kits or patterns, so as I embroider, I take step-by-step photos and make detailed notes about the process. Sometimes I’ll stitch a design a second time to ensure everything is right with the pattern. After that it’s back to the computer (you can’t really get away from it, even as a fiber artist!) to digitize the design, and create the instructions and packaging. 

What inspired the themes or textures in 3D Botanical Embroidery & Stumpwork?

My newest book, 3D Botanical Embroidery and Stumpwork comes out this fall and it’s all about 3D plants that you can wear and display. The inspiration for this book pulls from a wide variety of references. 

While I’m working in my studio, I love to listen to murder mystery audiobooks and true crime podcasts. My favorite murder mysteries are from the golden age (think Agatha Christie) when poisons were common. Many of these poisons come from plants that look innocuous. This is why my book features many poisonous plants. The book also features medicinal and carnivorous plants, so it’s not just poisons.

Additionally, around this I was seeing a ton of micro crochet pop up. I cannot crochet to save my life, but I wanted to figure out how to create something similar with embroidery. This led me to explore more stumpwork, Brazilian, and Indian style embroidery techniques that use wire forms, padding, build with treads to create volume, and play with beads.

Over the next few months, that felt a little bit like a fever dream, I dove headfirst into combining these different techniques to figure out how to bring the poisonous, carnivorous, and medicinal plants to life. I loved figuring out how to make a plant wearable, 3D, and translating it from real-life into thread. I hope you will too!

Photo by Melissa Galbraith

Are there particular materials or techniques you’re especially drawn to?

As I’m sure you’ve guessed by now, I love texture. I love creating it and exploring new stitches to create new textures. Much of my work is filled with different stitches and techniques because I’m always exploring new ways to bring the nature around me to life.

Additionally, I also love trying new materials. While I have some favorites, like my Nurge beechwood hoop and longer darning needles for stitching. I also enjoy trying new types of threads and fabrics, beads and sequins, and other materials. The beauty of embroidery is that you can stitch on almost anything with almost anything!

How does embroidery connect you to other aspects of your life — identity, culture, mindfulness, etc.?

I originally picked embroidery back up to reconnect with tactile experiences and break away from technology. The mindfulness and joy of creating are why I’ve continued.

Now that I teach hand embroidery to other makers, I also love that it connects me with community. I see people who have never touched a needle and thread before learning a new skill. I see people’s eyes light up when a technique or stitch clicks for the first time. And I get to see the magic of connection over crafting.  

What advice would you offer to someone just beginning their embroidery journey?

For those of you just starting to embroider, have fun! It doesn’t need to be perfect. The great thing about embroidery is that it’s just fabric and thread, so it can be easily undone and tried again. You’ll get better along the way, figure out what stitches you like (or don’t like) and learn to create what you enjoy.