Lexi Mire is a photographer and embroidery artist living in Jacksonville, Florida. In 2016 she taught herself embroidery using YouTube tutorials and in 2017 opened her Etsy shop. She now creates completely unique custom embroidered hats and bandanas and it’s one of her jobs. When she’s not stitching, Lexi works in a wedding photo duo with her partner Jesse.

How did you get into embroidery?

I first became interested in embroidery when I bought my first denim jacket and wanted to find some really fun floral patches online. I was looking through Instagram hashtags and came across an image by StitchWitchCo. I was so excited by the idea of making my own floral patches that I went out to my local craft store, grabbed a bunch of supplies, and hankered down with some YouTube videos. I ended up doing my first three embroidery pieces on that jacket and a vest. Here’s my very first one, it is so rudimentary now looking back and it took me forever! 

What are your favourite stitches and why?

I mostly use the chain and back stitch. I am not really a complicated embroidery artist and do a lot of things a little wacky so these are two easy stitches that can be used in so many different ways to create lines and value.

What stitches would you like to learn?

I should probably finally learn how to do a French knot; I’ve been avoiding it because when I first started I was really bad at it. 

What other textiles would you like to explore?

I would love to hand make banners I love the ones from the Secret Holiday & Co and do some machine embroidery mostly for myself, not really for sale. I have this problem where I find a new hobby and always turn it into a job so I think if I move forward with some other creative endeavour I will have to be really intentional about saying no to selling it. 

What kinds of images or drawings do you like stitching and why?

My favourite things to work from are scientific botanical illustrations! I mostly embroidery flowers and sometimes am given a request for a flower I’ve never seen before. Looking at photographs can be helpful, but it’s really nice that the botanical illustration has already made the flower two dimensional for me, it sort of reduces it down into its quintessential parts. Looking at those always helps me see the steps I need to take to turn a custom order into an embroidery design. 

Where do you buy your materials, thread and equipment from?

Mostly Michaels! 

How do feel about sharing your work on Instagram?

It’s really fun! I always get really awesome feedback on Instagram and it’s been such a blast making new friends through embroidery as well. I never realised embroidery had a huge community behind it but now I am following so many awesome artists who do embroidery and related crafts and I am inspired daily! After discovering this whole world, it’s like Instagram has cracked open for me and I am in awe at how many wonderfully talented people are sharing their work there.

What other ways do you promote your work?

I promote my work locally by selling my hats at local arts markets. It’s really fun meeting the people who want to buy your handmade pieces!

Do you ever get worried about people copying your designs?

Yes and no. Embroidering flowers is in no way unique to me. People were doing it before I was even born. I do feel like I am developing a distinct style that I haven’t seen before on Instagram, so I can tell when something is inspired by that. But I learned embroidery through mimicking other artists’ work. That’s how everyone learns. I would be disappointed if someone was replicating my work and selling it. But if they were using my pieces as inspiration or to practice, I would understand that. I do hope to release patterns one day so that people can learn using my designs!

Who are some of your favourite embroidery artists to follow?

Kelly Ryan, Tessa Perlow, Irem Yazici and Sam Meldridge.

Lastly, what do you love about embroidery?

I grew up really being passionate about art but also being mediocre at drawing and painting. I discovered photography as a teenager and it was my true love for so long after that. It really defined who I was as a person in my life and my career. Finding embroidery, and realizing I had a talent waiting to be developed was such a relief for me in so many ways. I was beginning to feel like a one trick pony and felt like my creative energy was fizzling out. But this has taught me that we have no idea what creative magic we’re capable of until we try something new! And that there may be many other art forms I will fall in love with some day. 

Follow Lexi on Instagram, shop her work on Esty and check out her website here