What’s your favorite flower?” asks Kayleigh Anne of Nesting Doll Embroidery during our chat.
I panic. Flowers are a big theme in Kayleigh’s work. Surely I can’t say daisy. It feels too ordinary, too familiar.
No such thing with Kayleigh.
“I’ve been really into the chicory that you might see on the side of the highway,” she says. “It’s often overlooked, but how resilient and amazing is that flower? And what a beautiful color blue.”
Honoring the extraordinary in the ordinary is what Kayleigh does across her embroidered wall hoops, photo frames, hair clips, broaches, bookmarks, handheld mirrors, earrings and more.
“I like to make functional things that are beautiful,” she says.
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There’s something inherently tactile about embroidery, too. The art invites you to reach out and touch it. Your fingertips want to trace the tiny knots and stitches that give each petal, leaf and stem its texture and dimension.
That sense of connection is part of what drew Kayleigh to the craft. She has been creating with her hands since childhood. Her mother and grandmother taught her to sew when she was just 4 years old on a Peter Rabbit sewing machine, and she’s been a maker ever since.
While attending the Fashion Institute of Technology, Kayleigh learned the technical side of creating handbags and shoes. After graduation, she pursued that path, but something was missing. “I wanted to create my own designs,” she explains.
Now, Kayleigh is rarely without an embroidery project in tow. She needs to keep up with a lot of custom orders as well. Each commission carries a story. She’s embroidered likenesses of family homes that hold years of memories and beloved pets with big personalities, as well as newborn keepsakes marking the beginning of a new chapter. She’s even added flair to pairs of Chelsea boots.
For Kayleigh, those stories are just as important as the finished pieces.
Kayleigh Anne of Nesting Doll Embroidery, posed in front of a Goldy Way backdrop.
“I feel lucky to be a part of that. It’s something that they want to have forever,” she says. “And a lot of times, I end up understanding why it’s so important to them.”
Even the materials Kayleigh uses carry a history of their own. She uses repurposed fabric and thread, drawn to the texture and imperfections found in older materials.
“I try to be mindful about what I’m consuming,” Kayleigh says. “Vintage fabric has so much character. They wouldn’t make it with these bumps anymore. Everything would be printed on now.”
By the end of our conversation, I realize there was never a wrong answer to her question about my favorite flower. For Kayleigh, beauty isn’t found only in the rare or remarkable. It’s in the delightfully unassuming: the chicory blooming beside the highway, the worn texture of vintage fabric or the terracotta brick of your childhood home.
