While Andrea Eastin’s sewing and design studio features an ever-changing group of students, her role as an educator is the same.
Eastin created Fair Fit Studio two years ago with a passion to teach different people the art of surface design techniques, fashion design and how to explore their own creativity.
“My goal is that people get the chance to learn an applied craft and have another avenue for creative expression,” Eastin said.
The title Fair Fit incorporates Eastin’s creative endeavors, as her clothing lines and studio are under thename.
Fair Fit Studio operates out of the first floor of her Mid-City home, as her first private space wasn’t a good atmosphere for her classes.
The initial private studio was located upstairs in a garage apartment Eastin used as a garment studio and wasn’t easily accessible, which led to Eastin and her husband to convert the first floor of their condo into a work space.
Eastin started her sewing career at a young age, teaching herself when she was 6 years old and making her own clothes by age 11.
Later, she received a BFA in painting and drawing from the University of Iowa and an MFA in fiber and material studies from the Art Institute of Chicago.
While working on her graduate degree in Chicago, Eastin created a garment curriculum to teach sewing and how to make clothing.
She continued this as a part-time job for the couple years she lived there before moving back to New Orleans. But at the time there were no openings, so she turned back to designing.
In the years since completing her MFA, Eastin designed two clothing lines and her work was featured in several local exhibitions, including New Orleans Fashion Week as well as internationally at L’age Dior de Pop in London and Rebuilding New Orleans in Leiden, Netherlands.
Eastin also worked as a costume seamstress on the set of “Pitch Perfect 2.”
But Fair Fit Studio didn’t come into fruition until after Eastin completed a Fair Fit menswear collection with the help of LSU interns from the fashion program.
“I realized I was offering them a full curriculum,” Eastin said. “They worked with me, and I’ve been trained at the college level to teach those things, and I thought it could really be opened to the public.”
Eastin channels her knowledge and experience into her classes while making sure they’re compact enough to fit into busy schedules and making the content easy to grasp no matter someone’s personal experience.
“There’s nobody that would compare to Andrea,” said Lenore Feeney, Eastin’s student for more than a year. “She knows how to do shortcuts for everything. She can tell you how to read a pattern but, better yet, how to make your own.”
In a studio equipped with different sewing machines, students gain a well-rounded approach to sewing and the fundamentals of it.
“I took a class for the first time last week,” Carolyn Moore said. “I had been looking at it for over a year and finally got the courage to go, and I’m so glad I did. It was amazing.”
As far as future plans go, Eastin said she wishes to focus solely on the studio and growing it to meet students’ needs.
“I’m not interested in commercial space right now at all, that’s why we keep it very private,” Eastin said. “This is a passion and it’s a great business, but if I had a commercial space, the pressure would be on to continuously fill the classes and have them at big groups.”
Though Eastin is not interested commercial space now, she said she wouldn’t be opposed to it in the future if the business continues to grow and it became obvious it would be supported that way.
Eastin can be reached at fairfitstudio.com. 

Gallery • 12 Photos

Nicholas Martino

Fair Fit Studio, created by Andrea Eastin, provides private lessons in sewing and designing on Friday, Sept. 25, 2015, in mid city.