Born into a crafting family, Brittany Merrill has always had a passion for creating, but now she finds herself honing in on her skills with textiles. The 25-year-old from Winder, Georgia now resides in Marietta and aspires to become many things in her life, but her biggest dream is to have a curated online vintage shop.
Brittany is a multi-generational artist – Her family tree consists of a stain-glass artist, a florist, an oil painter, and her father is a carpenter. You could say that making things with her hands is in her blood – specifically her maternal grandmother was a sewist, focusing on hand-sewing with plastic canvas.
“When I think of her, I can still see the image of her sewing those silly plastic grids in my mind,” Brittany says. “All of this to say, I was born into a family with a lot of crafty women.”
Though the genealogy explains how it came so naturally to her, Brittany never learned any of her skills from the women in her life. They had all passed away before she was old enough to figure out her passions. She adds that her mother is probably the “least crafty woman on the planet,” so she did not really have much contribution other than encouragement and love.
Brittany has been creative ever since she was a child. She’d be outside collecting ingredients for “paint”, building fairy houses, or drawing in coloring books. When she got to high school, she built a pen pal group which helped her build her community all across the country.
It wasn’t until she wanted to learn how to make her own clothes that Brittany decided to try sewing. Completely self-taught, she researched and studied the art of clothing design from YouTube and online blogs, and ultimately, her parents gifted her a sewing machine on her 21st birthday.
“I love the art of deconstructing a garment idea and then bringing it to life,” Brittany states. “Sewing is seeing a large flat sheet of fabric and then creating it into something three-dimensional. I never get tired of it – even if my project doesn’t turn out like I’d hope, I never feel like quitting.”
In her day-to-day life, Brittany has worked many jobs that inspire her creativity – a florist, a nanny, a wedding gown designer, an influencer – the list goes on and on. She currently works at a specialty home store in Vinings, GA that sells anything you can think of that could go in your home.
“I am genuinely inspired by being around pretty things,” she says. “I love seeing the trends and seeing all of the new products we carry in stores. Those items, color palettes, textures, and designs really transfer into my creative life as well… I truly believe all the jobs I have had will at some point give me every single that I have ever needed to build my own brand.”
Utilizing social media as a tool, Brittany has built a community that has been supportive of her goals and dreams. They help her think outside the box and come up with new ideas. She says that “once inspiration hits and the item has been created, sharing it is just the icing on the cake.”
Although her dreams are constantly evolving, Brittany’s current goal is to create a curated online vintage shop while growing her own platform to encourage women just like her. Her love for teaching would seep into her own personal platform, selling her own digital sewing patterns and filming detailed instructional videos. The online vintage store would have capsule home collections curated around a theme, and it would also carry one-of-a-kind items that you would never find anywhere else.
“I spend hours sourcing for the perfect items for my personal home, and I want to share that with others,” Brittany explains. “I also love timeless, feminine, delicate lace, and silk items, and having a continuous variety of those types of clothing items is a must!”
She is in constant communication with her ideas, journaling and curating the right formula to achieve her goals. Brittany is currently learning the art of Sewing Pattern Design and just recently got her certificate in Surface Pattern Design. This ultimately means she can make her own repeating patterns for fabric. She is striving to have both of these classes be “like second nature.”
“I think it’s important to set dates for yourself because then you can work backwards to make them happen,” she states.
Brittany is eager to see where her passion takes her. She strives to utilize her skills to further her career and build her platform to also encourage others in their craft.
Keep up with Brittany and follow along her journey on TikTok and Instagram!