My Mother's Daughter: A #tbt Story

Hello Internet! I’m Mel: 31 year old female who lives with her boyfriend and three dogs.

My day job is a college registrar—so I am hyper detail oriented and thinking of a million things at once. I own a cute stone cottage outside of Nashville, TN that was built in 1937. It’s small, but there is room for Jason to have his hobbies and for me to CRAFT. And that’s what I hope this blog will bring to you, I little slice of my humor and quirky life but mostly my love of all things hand and homemade. Sewing is my ZEN right now, but I may sprinkle in a few other fun things—I hope I don’t lose you along the way.

I was raised by a crafty mother. She handmade many of my dresses in the 80’s and 90’s and after my sister came along, it was a wonderful opportunity for her to play matchy-matchy.

I, of course, hated this game after I got to a certain age. The Easter of 1993 was a particularly memorable occasion.

Really any religious holiday was an excuse for a new abundance of lace, eyelets, bows, ruffles and such.

I inherited my mother’s love of crafting and her creative spirit. I’ve had a sewing machine since I can remember. Mom and I made a pillow for my kindergarten teacher. She taught me how to crochet and I made blankets for my dolls. Throughout my whole childhood and adolescence I would have bursts of craftiness, but I vowed to never go “full tilt” with my sewing. I would never wear my own creations! Never dress my kids in handmade strangeness! But I suppose that is just like a kid thinking they know everything… 

 My mom found this magnet on my fridge and edited it. She covered the S-word and made a little “Yeah” tag to go over it.

I laughed so hard when I found it days later—typical mom behavior. But in so many fun ways I have turned into my mom. I LOVE to craft! I don’ t have kids to torture with my sewing, but if I did, they would wear dresses and rompers that I handmade. (Sidebar: the 80’s and 90’s were an unfortunate time for fabric prints—at least ones my mom had access to pre-internet, so I cut her some slack there). And why would I do that to my kids? Why do I do it to my dogs? Because it’s fun! And hella cute! And crafting is my happy place. When my sewing machine and I aren’t arguing about tension settings, we can have a wonderful Saturday together. I also have never been one to follow a pattern of any kind. I still can’t read crochet speak. So my creations feel extra special to me because they came from a thought that I worked on until I saw it out into fabric, yarn, paper, wood, whatever! 

 So, this blog post is a Throwback Thursday for my mother, Shelly Jean. We aggravated the mess out of each other when I was a kid (and sometimes still do), but I’m glad I have her. She gave me something that is my refuge.

My artistic talents come from her. I have a sewing machine (or 3) because of her. I craft because I can and because my mother showed me how to work with my hands 25+ years ago to make beautiful and love –filled things. Thank you, Momma! I’m not a spitting image of you, but we are similar in ways that make me happy and help me manage the stress of my daily grind. 

 I hope you all will keep coming back to see all the fun things I make, both on my sewing machine and with my can-do attitude. When I’m not posting here, you can find glimpses of my silliness on Instagram @melsischamp . I’ll post my current projects ASAP. I love what I have going! Thanks for reading!

 xoxo, Mel