Where It All Began: Why I Started Right Side Out

For years I wanted to turn my love of fashion and sewing into something more than a passion project. Right Side Out made that dream a reality.

My passion started as a child. From the moment I could escape the baggy 80s sweaters my mom put me in, I loved fashion. I loved the ability to express personality without a word. The colors, the fabrics, the silhouettes - it was all so fun!

Around these same times, I was learning something else. At age 10 I got my first sewing machine. I felt a mix of excitement, intimidation, and impatience. Examples of creativity surrounded me. I saw my grandmother’s stunning watercolor quilts, the timeless dresses she’d sewn for my mother, and the elaborate costumes my mom was constantly producing.

Under my mother’s guidance, my first sewing project was a pillow - one side plain cotton and the other a shimmery night sky. The night sky had bits of metallic flecked among the fabric. The finishing hand stitches were crudely done. But I was unbelievably proud and attached to this little pillow. At that young age, I was already hooked. For the very first time in my life, I felt I was meant to do something.

But just a few years into my sewing journey I entered the dreaded teen years. I grew into a mess of lanky limbs and was slow to look "womanly". As an adult, I’m tall. My arms and legs are lanky. During the fragile teen years, clothes were no longer pure joy. Some of them made me feel like I didn’t belong. Like my body was wrong. To this day, I still have moments where fashion makes me feel like my body doesn't fit in. My body will never be "normal" or "average". And I know my experience is not a unique one.

But what has always been a bright light for me? Sewing. Designing and sewing garments that bring me the joy children have when picking out, and wearing, their favorite outfit. Imagine a jubilant child getting to put on their favorite dinosaur t-shirt. I can still get that feeling. And I believe others have a right to feel that as well, no matter how many years into their life they are.

Sewing something custom puts the recipient back in the driver seat. They get fabrics and colors that bring them childlike joy. They get a silhouette and fit that is literally made for their body. They and their body get to belong.

I am so excited to give a gift to others that sewing and designing has been giving me since 10 year old Erin took that first stitch.

Erin - Founder of Right Side Out