
Hey y’all, I’m Melissa the writer, teacher and designer around here.
You can contact me at mellysews(at)gmail.com
(I don’t actually go by Melly; it just sounded better with “sews” – Mel-lis-sa = mel-ly-sews, get it? Or not, it’s too late to change the blog name now at any rate).
Here’s me talking about sewing, which is one of the great loves of my life.
Other places you can find me:
Sometimes I still have to pinch myself to believe that creating this site and my pattern shop, Blank Slate Patterns, is my job. I mean, I get to sew a lot! I get to make the things in my imagination reality for myself and give others that ability! I get to design fabric (I design for Riley Blake). I got to write a book y’all! How cool is that? BTW, you can browse my patterns or purchase my book by clicking on the images below.
I’m mom to a daughter and two boys, wife to a Texas high school football coach (the Coach you might see me mention sometimes), and a former theatre teacher. We love living in Austin, Texas.

Besides sewing, I enjoy acting, reading, writing, directing, and riding horses much more than I love bikes.
You can contact me at mellysews at gmail.com