Melissa Hinnant: Be True To Yourself

Our guest today is Melissa Hinnant, co-founder and president of Grace and Lace. Melissa lives in Austin, Texas with her husband Rick and their three children – Sienna, Jett, and Livia.

In 2010, five months pregnant with a little girl, Melissa and Rick received devastating news that without surgical intervention, Melissa would give birth to their daughter within 24 hours and she would not survive.  Melissa was rushed into emergency surgery, and she spent the remainder of her pregnancy on strict horizontal bed rest. The days were long, she couldn’t sit up, and she needed something to do with her hands. She began crocheting a tiny baby blanket, spurring in her a desire to sew, sew, sew!

For two weeks Melissa lived in the hospital until doctors could no longer stop the labor. Her very tiny, but oh-so-perfect, baby girl was born. With lungs not yet developed enough to survive on her own, the Lord took her straight to Heaven. Though heart-wrenching and devastating, Melissa believes that out of this great tragedy has come her greatest victory.

Melissa’s love for sewing and all things knit continued to grow. Late in the fall of 2011, she made her first pair of lacey leg warmers. Everywhere she went, people would stop and ask her where she got them. She put them up for sale online and in a matter of days was overwhelmed with orders she could not possibly fulfill on her own!

Now, just a few years later, Grace and Lace has become a full-blown women’s apparel company with trademarked designs, a full studio and warehouse, and friends and family as staff. A portion of every sale goes toward building orphanages in India!

Check out today’s episode, “Grace, Lace, and Creative Space”, and hear the story of an incredible mama who knows that beautiful things come together one stitch at a time.