“Fashion and art are really big interests of mine. I like having clothing that is different than other people’s and doing different things with my clothing. I felt like stores weren’t offering things that I wanted. There would be clothes that were partially what I was looking for but not exactly. [For example] I am not a big fan of random words on my shirts so after shopping and thinking ‘I do not want this’ I thought, “Why not just make something that I do want?” It’s fulfilling because I make the designs myself and no one else has it.

I feel like a lot of people are doing different things with fashion and I think that’s especially prominent right now. You see it all over Instagram, girls wearing unique things, crazy makeup, stuff like that so I thought a lot of people [at Mercy] would be really interested in my designs. If I feel comfortable in this clothing and I think it’s cool, why not let other people get in on that? I have customized a bunch of socks for people and several types of shirts, also [designs] on the legs of sweatpants. I definitely want more people to find out about this. I think that would be super cool. I hope to start making bigger designs on different pieces of clothing like jackets or jeans.

I taught myself how to do it [by hand] because I was so interested in sewing, and when I was younger I used to sew with the machine. I was always intrigued by sewing, so I decided I would just try this out. If it turned out bad I would try again. It depends on how big the design is and how many colors, but it can take me from 2-8 hours to finish a piece. My favorite part is just trying new things. I love coming up with new things and then showing people.”