Kindly Woven Artist Feature: Melissa Dayton

Some places stay with you: the quiet of a morning garden, the way light filters through trees near the coast. For artist and designer Melissa Dayton, those memories are more than inspiration, they're the heart of her work. They're stitched into everything she creates, forming a language of line, texture, and tenderness.

With Wren, her first woven blanket for Kindly Woven, Melissa brings that language to life in fiber. The design is thoughtful and quiet, a reflection of the coastal woods and sun-dappled gardens that shaped her early years. It's a blanket that feels like a page from her personal story . . . layered, comforting, and meant to last.

Meet the Artist

For Melissa Dayton, art has never been a separate part of life, it’s how she’s always seen the world. Her creative roots trace back to a childhood on a small island and in the woods of coastal Connecticut, where weekends were spent racing sailboats and observing the way light plays on water. Encouraged by a family of artists and antique collectors, Melissa grew up surrounded by beauty, story, and a reverence for the handmade. After formally studying art and interior design, she built a life creating murals, children’s portraits, and spaces steeped in history and warmth.

Now based in New Jersey, Melissa designs textiles and wallpapers that feel deeply lived-in, grounded in memory, layered with meaning, and always reflective of place.

Why Woven?

Melissa’s affection for textiles goes back to sewing pillows with her mother and admiring her grandmother’s handmade slipcovers. “By high school, I was making my own curtains and clothes,” she recalls. “That early connection to the tactile and the handmade shaped everything that came after.” The transition from painting to woven design came with surprises, but it was a welcome challenge. “With woven design, texture becomes part of the artwork itself. The yarns create their own kind of brushstroke.”

Seeing her artwork translated into a woven form felt like a turning point. "It was such an unexpected joy," Melissa says. "Blankets have always been one of my favorite things." She adds, "To see my artwork woven into something so personal and tactile was incredibly special."

Design Inspiration

Wren, her blanket for Kindly Woven, is rooted in the woods and waters of Melissa’s childhood. A landscape where chickadees call, hydrangeas bloom, and wild vines tangle in the light. The pattern evokes her parents’ sunken garden: a magical corner of slate, koi, and overgrown beauty that felt like a secret world. “That garden, and the way nature quietly layers itself—birdsong, stone, shadow, bloom—inspired this pattern. It’s a piece of home.”

The Creative Process

Collaborating with Kindly Woven gave Melissa the space to merge artistry with intention. She learned to consider scale and detail in new ways, adapting her painter’s eye to the woven form. “It’s so different from print,” she says. “There were surprises, but they only deepened my appreciation for the craft.” The result is a piece that feels both nostalgic and alive, a gentle tangle of branches and birds that invites reflection.

Final Thoughts

"I can’t wait for people to unbox these blankets and feel the quality in their hands," Melissa says. "There’s something so special about that first moment—when you realize it’s not just pretty, it’s personal. I truly believe these will become heirloom pieces."

She hopes Wren becomes the blanket someone always reaches for, whether it’s wrapped around a child, offered as comfort during a hard season, or given as a lasting gift. "Something to give at a wedding, or to say ‘I see you. I’m with you,’" she adds.

And perhaps most importantly, it’s a design that carries her name. After having work used without credit in the past, this collaboration holds particular meaning. "Art is like a fingerprint. It comes from the heart; it reflects the artist’s soul and story," she says. "To have my name on this—to pass it down, to share it—it’s a gift."

You can explore Melissa’s work, including her Signature Line of wallpapers and fabrics, at melissadayton.com and follow her creative world on Instagram at @melissadaytonart.

Explore the Collection

Wren is available now—woven in the USA, designed with heart, and meant to be held close. Discover this piece and others in the Kindly Woven Collection, where every blanket is a story in thread. Explore the collection →

To see more of Melissa’s world, visit melissadayton.com or follow along on Instagram @melissadaytonart.