The Turquoise Tiki began as a hobby when its founder, Rachel, began looking for a new hobby to pass the time and a way to enjoy Etsy along side one of her best friends. In 2010 she began seriously sewing, however she had experience on a sewing machine before that. As a child she learned to sew from her mother and from a Girl Scout, but the hobby never really stuck. Eventually she began to mess around on a sewing machine again in high school, learning to make quilts, pillows, and other fairly simple projects in one of her classes. She didn't truly become invested in the skills she'd learned until a very close friend introduced her to Etsy a few years later.

After seeing just how much fun her friend was having and with her encouragement, she began to toy around with sewing once more. She bought her first pattern just to try things out and realized not only did she enjoy creating garments, she was pretty good at it too! The Tiki is a mostly retro-inspired store, sticking very closely to hostess aprons because Rachel has always been in love with that style and time period. It is also fun to include her favorite little touches, like recipes, from the 50s and 60s just to embrace the feel of that era and hopefully pass it along.