Mel Mercille is a St. Louis maker, teacher, and lifelong creative whose curiosity about craft has never once slowed down.

It started early. As a middle schooler, Mel was already deep into scrapbooking and creative writing — making things, telling stories, finding ways to put something of herself into the world. In her twenties, expecting her first child, she taught herself to knit and crochet. What began as a practical project became something much larger: a realization that making things by hand was genuinely special. That spark of curiosity hasn't stopped burning since.

Mabel Handmade was born during maternity leave after her youngest daughter arrived — and the name itself carries the most important story. Mabel is a portmanteau of her two daughters' names. Every broom made, every journal bound, every stitch placed carries that in it.

Today, Mel works across a wide range of disciplines. Her primary focus is the trio that defines Mabel Handmade: handcrafted brooms in broomcorn, arenga, and tampico fiber; bargello needlepoint with its bold geometric patterns; and hand-bound journals and sketchbooks made using traditional bookbinding techniques. But the curiosity that started with a pair of knitting needles hasn't stayed put. Mel also works in knitting, crochet, weaving, spinning, leatherworking, and handmade greeting cards — proof that once you understand what your hands are capable of, it's hard to stop asking what else they might do.

Mabel Handmade brooms will be available soon locally at Anchovy Book Co. on Cherokee Street and at Union Studio in Webster Groves. Mel teaches broom making, bookbinding, and bargello needlepoint workshops at The Studio at Bowood Farms in the Central West End, bringing traditional crafts to new makers across St. Louis.

She works out of her studio in the turret of her 1890s Victorian home in historic Tower Grove East — a space that is equal parts making room and gathering place. On one evening of each month, the studio fills with friends and fellow makers for Maker Night, an evening of creating, sharing, and the particular kind of conversation that only happens when everyone's hands are busy.

Making, for Mel, is not a hobby or a side project. It's the thing that feeds her soul. And at the heart of it is a simple belief: that something made by hand has the power to make the person who receives it feel genuinely special.

That's worth making things for.