Blog
By Kathleen Fasanella on May 15, 2012 at 3:47 pm
Now for what I didn’t tell you on Saturday, I’m out of town again. I will be back on Saturday so I appreciate your patience if you’re awaiting a response. I hope to catch up upon my return because I don’t have any pending travel plans.
The next day after I get back (May 20th), Mr. Fashion-Incubator is riding in the 27th Annual Santa Fe Century (his first!) so we’re very excited about that.
As ever, there are more entries listed on the archives page. Have a great week!
May 4, through May 10, 2005
WOATS
Boy’s B-day
May 4, through May 10, 2006
How to issue style numbers pt.129
How to start a clothing line
Verbal Croquis: new blog author
Producing a catalog
Goverment agencies raid sewing charity
Continue reading "Archives 5/4-5/10 2005-2011" »
2 comments /
Admin /
Email to a friend
/
Trackback
By Kathleen Fasanella on May 12, 2012 at 11:58 am
With all the comings and goings over the past few weeks, I was unable to post the usual archives entry. Today’s entry contains two weeks worth; come Monday I’ll post what should have been posted for this week.
If you’re a new visitor to Fashion-Incubator, the archives entry is a round up of posts published on the site for the given time period over the past eight years. I do this as a service because the site is so dense and lengthy (nearly 3,000 posts), it becomes difficult to survey the material.
It would be useful to bookmark the archives page which is a master list of posts published here. Instructions on how to search the list for topics you hope to find, appear at the top of that page. I’m always amazed at how few use the archives master list of entries page. Of all the pages on this site, I use that one more than any other and by a wide margin.
April 21, through May 3, 2005
Non-disclosure agreements
How to get sizing and grading standards
April 21, through May 3, 2006
Anatomy of a Camel Toe pt.2
Twelve acres
Freelance designing
How to hire a fashion illustrator
Intruder
Silence lends consent
Quality quiz
Working as a freelance fashion designer
Why I Love Cotton Incorporated
April 21, through May 3, 2007
Evaluating the Pattern Grading Process pt.2
Jeans Sizing, Problems and Recommendations
News from you 4/27/07
Apparel manufacturing in California
Training sewing machine operators pt 1
Training sewing machine operators pt 2
Training sewing machine operators pt 3
Continue reading "Archives 4/21-5/3 2005-2011" »
No comments /
Admin /
Email to a friend
/
Trackback
By Kathleen Fasanella on May 9, 2012 at 2:51 pm
Wanting to center the focus of scaling your business growth pragmatically in hiring your first full time pattern maker, I decided to add a part two rather than leaving a comment on part one.
Rocio was first to comment and brought up what I was hoping someone would. She said adding a pattern maker is a good step once average weekly invoices of pattern services would equal the cost of a pattern maker’s salary. Her point of weekly invoices is good in that it eliminates companies who do short term product development although I would imagine that most companies fitting that profile wouldn’t have the financial wherewithal to consider the option.
Doing this sort of cost calculation of outside services versus what it would cost internally has been a traditional barometer but I wonder if it is a good one for two reasons:
Continue reading "When should you hire a full time pattern maker? pt.2" »
7 comments /
Operations, Patterns /
Email to a friend
/
Trackback
By Kathleen Fasanella on May 8, 2012 at 2:44 pm
I don’t have the answer to the question of knowing when it is time to hire a full time pattern maker but maybe you can help me sort it out. There are two scenarios in which to frame the question.
First scenario: A company I know (they attended my manufacturing boot camp class in 1998) is over a barrel. Succinctly stated, they’ve been using a freelance pattern service over the past eight years and recently the relationship has soured. The pattern service refuses to hand over digital files for the 800+ patterns owned by the customer. While that is being sorted out, the company has hired a new pattern service. The thing is, I’ve only heard negative reports on the new pattern service. Considering their problems and choices, I suggested that they should bring pattern making in house. The owner says they can’t afford to hire a pattern maker but then said maybe they could hire an intern (which made me shiver all over and not in a good way). I said they could buy everything they needed (CAD software, plotter, digitizer) for 20-25K new, less for used. He said they don’t have the money to acquire the CAD system or plotter either.
They have 25 employees, 15 of whom are stitchers. With respect to head count, there are 10 non-sewing employees which as a ratio (40%) is quite high. However, they also dye all their products in house so the company isn’t as inefficient as one could suppose.
Continue reading "When should you hire a full time pattern maker?" »
13 comments /
Operations, Patterns /
Email to a friend
/
Trackback
By Kathleen Fasanella on May 7, 2012 at 4:13 pm
I’m back from my trip to Florida, did anyone miss me?
The universe is conspiring to tell me to write this post about tools you need in your shop. First review the selection of sewing and drafting tools I’ve recommended before (also on pg 146 of my book). Buy those, not something else you think is an acceptable substitute or maybe even better or that costs less but is “just as good”. For example, to reduce occasional stitch skipping and seam compression, you need a sewing hammer
. Please note I am being very specific. I’m not saying to buy a hammer you can use with sewing and to be creative or inventive or thrifty in your choice of one, I’m saying to buy this one and no other.
Speaking of being specific about tools, I have finally figured out what I dislike most about quilting rulers. Please do not buy the latter, they are not better than a B-95 and they cost much more. First they are too thick to be pliable, they are too shiny (high glare makes them hard to use for long periods of time), they are too wide to be handled readily in seam walking and lastly, the hash marks on them are also too wide. Do not use wooden rulers of any kind; if they are not yet warped it is only a matter of time . Buy Fairgate metal rules designed specifically for the apparel industry -these are two inches wide so you can weight them down with a pattern/cloth weight which you should do whenever drawing long lines. Buy a ruler that is at least as long as the widest fabric you have. Also buy an L-square. There is no other way to true off right angles for the length you need. T-squares have too small a head. Southstar has most of the rules you need.
But back to my opening premise, generic tools you need in addition to the basics I mentioned above. If you have sewing machines, you need:
Continue reading "9 tools needed in your sewing factory" »
20 comments /
Machines & Equipment /
Email to a friend
/
Trackback
By Kathleen Fasanella on May 1, 2012 at 6:36 pm
I haven’t even had the chance to unload with respect to the Texprocess show that many of us attended last week and I’m off again. I’ll be in Miami as of tomorrow through Sunday. If you want to connect, you can get more details, or leave a comment here. Either way it’s all good.
As it is, I returned late from the trade show. I ended up staying on in Atlanta to do a job troubleshooting in a factory that came up at the last minute so I’ve only been back long enough to do laundry and take a shower. Or so it seems. I did learn a few interesting things on this most recent job that I plan to share with you -as in, you can never be too certain where your problems lie.
In this case, stitching thought the patterns were off, pattern department did their job as precisely as they could and in the end… it was a machine problem. No one expected that; the machine was brand new and it’s a good brand. The cut to the chase lesson to take from this is that your stitchers might be sewing slowly because they think the patterns are bad when it all comes down to a machine that isn’t feeding optimal to your fabric. It doesn’t mean the machine is a dud either. Machines require minute adjustments for every fabric they sew. This company has 30 years of experience in manufacturing an unrelated product so this was news to them. Maybe you too?
Continue reading "I’ll be in Miami May 2-6, 2012" »
4 comments /
Admin /
Email to a friend
/
Trackback
By Kathleen Fasanella on May 1, 2012 at 3:20 pm
Here is the follow up to the giveaway of a set of 101 Illustrator brushes to use in your technical and fashion illustrations. As you may recall, this package was generously donated by its creator Nadia Faubert.
Using the random number generator, we have two sets of winners. One for the blog -which one did have to enter- and another for renewing forum members who did not have to do anything beyond being current on their membership. I also selected a few runners up for the forum because I don’t know if the winner even has Illustrator or is interested. Without further ado:
:::Drumroll:::
Blog: Rebecca Ecklund
Forum: Shavonne Dunkley
Runners up: Eliz Baker (CA), Ina Harrison & Tamara Earnest.
Continue reading "Winners for the Illustrator brush giveaway" »
1 comment /
Contest and Projects /
Email to a friend
/
Trackback
By Kathleen Fasanella on Apr 29, 2012 at 4:39 pm
Courtesy of Nadia Faubert, designer and creator of PrestigeProDesign.com, we have a giveaway!
-And yes, I was to have posted this last week, a thousand blessings for your patience-
To enter the freebie giveaway for the Illustrator add-on of stitch brush patterns, leave a comment mentioning the stitch pattern you like the best (by number) or whichever one will be the most useful to you (this link, scroll down, is the best one to see the stitch patterns).
I’ll go first although I can’t win. My favorite stitch patterns are the gathers (#38 and #41) which I mentioned before. I also like the zipper teeth (#64 & #68).
Oh, and if you’re late to the party (like me) and don’t know what a stitch brush is, it is an add on for the Illustrator program. If you need to illustrate a given effect in your tech packs or design illustrations, stitch brushes are very handy. You can draw a regular line and convert it to a line of zipper teeth, sequins, embroidery or double needle stitching or gathers or whatever with the “brush” instead of laboriously drawing it all out and then copying and pasting it here and there.
Again, to enter to win this Illustrator stitch brush set (value $47), post a comment listing your favorite stitch brush pattern in the collection by number.
Continue reading "Enter to win free Illustrator stitch brushes" »
50 comments /
Contest and Projects /
Email to a friend
/
Trackback
By Kathleen Fasanella on Apr 22, 2012 at 6:33 am
A reminder that F-I Manglement will be away next week attending the TexProcess trade show in Atlanta GA. If you’re a forum member who will be attending, be sure to add yourself to the list so we can include you in our planning. If you’re not a member but would like to have dinner with us, be at the top of the escalator by 5:30 PM each afternoon.
For those who won’t be able to attend, I’ll be hosting a neat product give-away this week so stay tuned. In fact, you’ll have multiple opportunities to win via the forum, Twitter and Facebook.
As usual, below appears a selection of content to entries posted on this site for this period, over the past seven years with still more on the archives page. Have a great weekend.
April 6, through April 20, 2005
Imports and returns
Vintage pattern post #4
PR firm sues DE
Me and my blog
Vintage pattern post #5
Men’s drafting
April 6, through April 20, 2006
Reverse engineering standard work pt.5.1
Not a knock off
Decline of drawing skills
Fulfillment centers pt.1
Archaic anthropometry
Line sheet cover letters
Conphorm’s pattern puzzle
Self-reporting one’s size
How to be creative
A question of thoracic shaping
Fulfillment centers pt.2
History of women’s sizing pt.1
History of women’s sizing pt.2
Anatomy of a Camel Toe pt.1
Continue reading "Archives 4/6-4/20 2005-2011" »
No comments /
Admin /
Email to a friend
/
Trackback
By Kathleen Fasanella on Apr 19, 2012 at 6:04 pm
Sewing itself is very fast so why does it take so long to get finished product out the door and why does it cost so much? As I mentioned in my book, you can have a much greater effect on reducing production sewing time and problems in the design phase than you can in production and today I’m going to show you how.
Sewing a seam is very inexpensive on the face of it but because sewing is measurable, that is how costs are calculated. People look at a seam and mentally put a price to it. Whether it is ten cents, a penny or tenths of a penny, it really doesn’t matter (no, it really doesn’t).
It is not sewing that costs -it’s handling. The problem with handling is that it is mostly invisible; it can’t be measured. If it can’t be measured, you’re not paying for it directly, only indirectly and in the worst ways with bad quality, delays, missing pieces, and dirtied goods. So the trick to reducing a lot of cost is to analyze your seam design to reduce handling points. It seems more effective to analyze seams for the number of handling steps and assign a value based on cost and complexity for each seam. Ideally, each seam would only be one point. More points are justified if the price points support it or the material or finish require it.
Continue reading "Why sewing is slow and expensive" »
17 comments /
Lean Manufacturing, Production, Sewing /
Email to a friend
/
Trackback
