‘I can’t believe you made this’ – Boannie Riggit bairns clothes prove huge hit
Andrea Abernethy swapped nursing for sewing after taking career break
A NURSE who swapped needles for a sewing machine has seen her homemade children’s clothes business explode in popularity.
Andrea Abernethy has put her day job at the NHS on hold to pursue a full-time career with Boannie Riggit, which she started herself after reigniting a love for sewing in 2023.
The mother of three started making clothes for her own bairns after finding that homemade garments were “exceptional” in quality compared to what she could buy.
Spotting a “gap in the market”, Abernethy was urged by friends and family to take her creations to the world.
And after securing support from Business Gateway – including a start-up grant – Boannie Riggit has gone from strength to strength, with clothing flying off the shelves of Lerwick retailer Anderson & Co.
Abernethy told Shetland News that she rediscovered her love for sewing after signing up for a workshop in December 2023.
“I’ve had a sewing machine all my life, but life got in the way,” she said.
“I’ve always been creative – I would make the bairns’ Halloween costumes or odd things like that, but never really much more.
“I’d always wanted to make bairns’ claes but didn’t really know where to start.
“I went on this refresher course and in 2024 I started making claes for the bairns and friends and family that had bairns.”
They were stunned by the quality, and said they told her she could be selling them to other people.
“They just couldn’t believe that I had made it,” she said. “Folk would say, ‘I can’t believe you made this!’”
After her first market stall in December 2024 she found a local stockist in Anderson & Co in April last year.
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“The orders were just constant,” she explained.
Abernethy said she found immediately that she could “hardly keep up with the orders”, through both her own business and through the Lerwick shop.
When she came to build up her stock for the Christmas craft fair last year, she said she realised that something would have to give.
“I was thinking, ‘I have full 12 hour day’ at work, but that’s a whole day I canna sew.
“I was trying to build up my stock for the craft fair while still working, stocking up Anderson & Co and keeping up with claes made to order.”
And with three bairns of her own on top of that, Abernethy said she realised it was “all just a bit much”.
She decided to apply for a one-year career break from NHS Shetland in November 2025, and said she was “very grateful” to the health board for agreeing.
Looking back on the past year, Abernethy said it has been “crazy but also so good”.
“I enjoy it so much – I would sew all the time if I could,” she said.
“I just seem to go to a different place. It’s like a stress reliever.
“Even when I was still a nurse, and when it was really stressful, I could just go into the sewing room and switch off. The jobs were just complete opposites.”
Abernethy said sewing became such a big part of her life that she asked her dad to convert part of her garage into her personal sewing room.
“It’s good to have an actual room for it so it doesn’t take over our whole house, although it still does,” she laughed.
Abernethy and Boannie Riggit have had a big helping hand from Business Gateway to get up and running, and she was full of praise for its support.
“A few crafty friends had recommended the Business Gateway start up grant,” she said.
“They asked me for a business plan and financial forecasts but I’ve never had a business before, had no business experience, so they helped me through that.
“I applied for the grant in November 2025 and 10 days later they approved it.”
That has allowed her to buy a “more professional” sewing machine and to commission an artist to create bespoke animal designs for her to use in her clothing.
The rest of the money has been used to create a website for Boannie Riggit, which is still in progress.
“Business Gateway have been really helpful, they regularly phone me up to ask how things are going,” she added.
“They’ve given me help with everything from social media analysis to copyrighting stuff.”
Asked if she will return to work with the NHS next month, Abernethy said she was “keeping an open mind about what the future holds”.
And she added that she hopes to eventually have Boannie Riggit clothing on sale in retailers on the mainland.
“That’s definitely something I’m working towards.”
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