I am so happy to officially announce two of our newest team members! Stephanie and Michelle have both been on our testing, blogging and admin teams for some time. I know you have seen both their beautiful faces, not only here on the blog, on the site, but often in our Facebook group too. They now are more involved in the “behind the scenes” and we are all so excited to have them! Stephanie will be assisting me with both pattern and tutorial work, and Michelle is training to be our official Baby designer! Read more about them and welcome them below:
Hey everyone! I’m Stephanie. Married to my hairstylist hubby and mama to our two kids, a boy and girl. My mother in law is a lifelong seamstress, so my hubby knows all about fabric and patterns being everywhere. He gets it! You may recognize me and my family from around the group and may have seen me around the blog mashing patterns, but I’m so happy to be able to start helping the Mermaids more! This is a dream come true! I have always been a super fan of Made for Mermaids since I discovered them.
My grandmother taught me how to sew when I was 8. She would take me to pick out fabric and patterns and would help me along the way. Those are some of my fondest memories as a child, sewing with my Nana. She still wears 100% handmade to this day, and even makes my grandfather twin with her in matching handmade button ups! They’re the cutest!
I later took Fashion class in high school. It wasn’t enough to really spark any serious sewing interest. At that point, I only thought of sewing as something I did with my grandmother and a class where I made awful pajama pants and zipper pouches! It wasn’t until I was pregnant with my daughter in 2014 that I decided that I could make my own circle nursing pillow cover. The ones they had at the store weren’t always the cutest. I dug my machine out of storage and decided to look online for a tutorial or pattern. That led me down the Pinterest rabbit hole and not only did I make the nursing pillow cover, I found all of these little dress and bummie patterns that sparked my first interest in sewing clothing! That rabbit hole only got deeper as I was led to Facebook, where I discovered Peglegs, mommy and me patterns, and a whole world of knit fabrics! Something that was so new to me; until then, I had only sewn woven. My first pattern from M4M was the Megan romper, and the Mommy and me Mya bundle. I WAS HOOKED! My daughter and I were constantly twinning! M4M had their first Top Tester contest in 2016. I entered with this Megan romper, and won runner up and a spot on the tester team! I’m sure Ruby is the real reason I won, but I like to think it was me! Haha, look how tiny she was!
The rest really was history! I jumped right into testing! Starting with Quinn!
I have been an active tester since then and have been on the blog team for a few years now. Made for Mermaids have always been a really big part of my sewing life and I am so thankful for this opportunity! My little girl is growing up, but our mommy and me twinning outfits are still going strong! She loves her mama made and is ready to start to learn to sew. I’m so thankful to have this hobby that I share with my grandmother and will pass on to my little girl and boy!
I can’t even begin to explain how excited I am to be joining Made for Mermaids! It’s basically been a secret dream of mine since I joined the sewing community. I never thought it’d actually happen but here I am! I’m an Oregon girl and love everything about this state! I love hiking through the mountains, the snow in the winters, and the coast is basically my healing place. My little family consists of my husband, two sons, a baby girl, a dog, a cat, and 4 chickens.
Art has always been a huge part of my life in every form. If it’s crafty- I’m there. Photography is one of my favorite art forms and has been a huge part of my life for a long time. My love started in a dark room in 8th-grade yearbook class where I learned all about photography and developing my own photos. I continued on my photography journey with planned shoots, working in camera stores, and even a small photography business shooting senior photos, couples, weddings, and pets! After high school, I went to trade school to become a massage therapist (my “real” job) which I still do. I also became a personal trainer during that time which meant photos took a back seat and designing workouts and baking became my creative outlet.
Fast forward to marriage, a move, and my first baby I found myself pretty alone with a lot of time on my hands. We had decided to cloth diaper my first Son and I really got the itch to try my hand at making some as they were pretty expensive. I borrowed my mother in laws old sewing machines and dusted it off. Watched a couple of youtube videos and I was off. I fell head over heels in love and addicted! I started with diapers and then went to clothes for kids. For some reason, I have an affinity for skulls- (I think it has to do with falling in love with Pirates of the Caribbean long ago) so I started making cute skull clothing for my son. That turned into a successful Etsy business and is what brought me to the fabric and pattern world.
Patterns for Pirates and Made for Mermaids were my first dabble in sewing something for me. Once again- hooked! I was in awe all the beautiful sews and photographs the teams took dreaming of someday testing for them. One day I saw P4P was having a next top tester contest and I knew it was my chance! I came in third place and got added to the tester pool and was loving every minute of it.
Kourtney was my first official M4M test and it really sparked the photography lover in me again so I was getting the best of both worlds- sewing and photos! Obviously, I continued sewing up all these amazing patterns but always longed for the option to do mommy daughter tests. My husband comes from a long line of boys so I never thought that’d be me. Whelp I’m so glad I was wrong because my sweet little “Snow White” baby has stolen all of our hearts and my sewing time! I’m sure you’ve seen her in the group. After years of sewing for my boys, I’m having a blast sewing for her and can’t wait to continue by helping bring you all new beautiful baby patterns!
Leave a Reply