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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" »
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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" »
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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" »
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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" »
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By Kathleen Fasanella on Apr 16, 2012 at 1:44 pm
Alternative title: How many ways do I love A&E? Let me count the ways…
A&E (aka, A-N-E) is American & Efird, a US thread company. They’re always doing neat stuff and have been small company friendly well before it was fashionable. Case in point, they have a nifty new-to-me tool you can use to calculate the amount of thread needed to sew garments with an estimating tool they call ANECALC® -but you’re better off starting here because what you want is the ANECALC® Plus spreadsheets. The Plus worksheets are blank Excel worksheets that help smaller companies calculate their thread usage.
For those of you who don’t have machines or seams to measure but may have been hit with an unanticipated thread charge from your sewing contractor, there is a separate page that lists thread consumption of the most common types of products instead of having to figure it out the long way (pdf). The page lists thread consumption for products ranging from ladies panties to kid’s knit shirts to men’s and women’s 5 pocket jeans. That will be great for many of you. That way you’ll have an idea of your thread usage and can quibble (or not) with your contractor over how much thread they charged you for.
Continue reading "Nifty thread consumption tool" »
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By Kathleen Fasanella on Apr 12, 2012 at 4:47 pm
Another reminder of the upcoming trade shows in Atlanta -Texprocess and TechTextil. This show is to buy everything used in the manufacturing process. Things like sewing machines, pressing equipment, software, dress forms, you name it. This show is only held every other year so it’s not as though you could catch up next year.
Details:
When: April 24-26, 2012, 10-5PM (24-25), 10-3PM (26th)
Where: Atlanta GA USA. The convention center, naturally.
Exhibitor’s list Texprocess (the machines and such)
Exhibitor’s list TechTextil (technical fabrics*, pdf)
There is also an awesome interactive floor plan map. I mean awesome -with one MAJOR flaw. It can’t be read on an iPad! Whatever were they thinking? If there is one thing that should be iPad accessible, that would be a trade show floor map. I emailed them, maybe it will be fixed in time for the show.
If you are going, be sure to let us know by adding yourself to the list so we can coordinate meet ups and ride share from the airport although one can take the train too. For my part, I’m hoping someone will have a car because I need to go to Trader Joe’s, the concessions at the show are not vegetarian friendly so I have to bring a lunch. Actually, the food didn’t look so great last time so you might want to bag it too.
If you’re not a forum member, we will wait for 30 minutes after the show closes each day in the foyer at the top of the escalator. You will find it. You’ll know it’s us because we will have some kind of flair on our badges. In 2010, we had holographic star stickers.
Continue reading "You, me, Atlanta. Be there. April 24-26" »
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By Kathleen Fasanella on Apr 11, 2012 at 5:07 pm
From my mail, Luciana writes:
I’m a fashion student from Argentina. For my final project I want to pick fashion illustration and the various forms of representation used in the fashion industry (fashion figures, technical flats, diagrams, instructions, etc.) And for you being a professional in the industry, and having experience working with different types clients, I wanted to ask you for any advice or reference material you think would be useful for my thesis.
Considering the increasing complexity in this industry, I thought this would be a good subject to pursue, akin to the 13 kinds of samples post I wrote previously. I have a lot of books and sources so I could probably write this well enough on my own but it would be more useful to hear from practitioners who do the various kinds of sketch development regularly -since I only do it under duress.
It would be helpful if you could:
- Name the illustration type
- List its utility, why it’s needed
- When it’s needed (if at all, it could be optional)
- A resource for it (book, website etc)
- and last but not least, a link to a sample illustration.
____________
Somewhat related, I found a link to a new add-on for Illustrator called 101 Illustrator stitch brushes. That link will take you to the shopping section to purchase it ($47) but I think this link is much better in terms of showing the level of detail of each brush (samples shown top right). Yeah I know a lot of you say it’s easy to make your own brushes but some of us struggle quite a bit. I first thought $47 was a little pricey but on second thought, it would save those of us who are Illustrator challenged, a lot of time. I haven’t purchased it yet so I can’t say either way, caveat lector.
Continue reading "How many kinds of fashion illustrations?" »
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By Kathleen Fasanella on Apr 9, 2012 at 4:53 pm
Circumstances dictate revisiting what mentoring means, and how to get good and free advice in starting your clothing line. As an aside, I thought “free” was implied in a mentoring relationship but that seems to be evolving. A lot of people market themselves as mentors but then expect you to pay for it. Call me crazy but that sounds like consulting to me. For our purposes, we will assume mentoring is free -and this is critical.
Mentoring is oversold in some respects; judging from what you read on the internet, mentoring is so great for mentors they wouldn’t want to do anything else. It can be true that a mentor is helping you for warm squishies but they have to be selective because there’s a much larger pool of protégés (colloq. “mentees”) than mentors. You know, supply and demand. More yous, less mes. So let’s talk about that -you can’t be picked unless you know what you’re up against.
If a mentor is any good, they’re quickly drained and tapped out unless they set boundaries because everyone wants a piece so a mentor becomes selective or dies. Literally. Only a paid mentor has time to be everyone else’s dream machine; all other mentors must carve out time to eat, sleep, earn a living to care for their families, and even time to relax and regenerate. So let’s say a mentor has one hour a week to devote to grooming the industry’s next star -you. Why should that mentor pick you? It is very very easy to know who is worth the investment of our limited time -we pick people who are resourceful. Meaning, skip the pitch -we pick you by your questions. It’s not what you tell us, it’s what you ask us. Resourceful means asking good questions and following through because to the right person, a single word can be sufficient. At the same time, asking too many questions is a red flag and so I’ll explain how to attain tasteful balance so your mentor doesn’t think you’re trying to take advantage.
Continue reading "Fashion mentors: free & good advice to start a clothing line" »
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By Kathleen Fasanella on Apr 7, 2012 at 4:41 pm
I’m heartened by the news that a bonafide sewing contractor is now in Albuquerque. After years of turning away work for the lack of one, I’m not quite sure how to manage my good fortune. Suffice to say, if you’re interested in small quality lot production, let me know. He even sews leather handbags and garments. Yay us!
And as if you didn’t already know what was coming next, here are the entries posted on this site over the past seven years for this time period. As ever, there are still more on the archives page. Hope your weekend is grand.
March 30, through April 5, 2005
Brief notes
Vintage pattern design update
The legalities of labeling
Materials testing #17659/17801
Re-inventing Vionnet & 24001 draft
Continue reading "Archives 3/30-4/5 2005-2011" »
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By Kathleen Fasanella on Apr 6, 2012 at 3:59 pm
Bloomsbury Publishing -you may know them better by their imprint Berg- has purchased Fairchild publishing. Considering the timing (April 2), I wondered if it was a delayed April fool’s joke but it’s genuine.
That announcement dispensed with, Berg is celebrating their tenth year of publishing the Textile Journal by making a selection of their content available free on the internet (offer expires June 14th). In addition, Berg is offering a 10% discount on individual subscriptions for the next 10 days (valid until 16th April). Use the coupon code TEXTILE10 at checkout. Last but not least, you can get a 20% discount off two year subscriptions, no coupon needed.
Below is the list of articles culled from the ten years of Textile Journal publishing. I haven’t had the opportunity to read any of them yet but some look interesting -for example, the collecting, hoarding and hiding strategies of US quilters. Somebody actually wrote a research paper on that. Based on people I know (not that I would ever do this), said researcher must have had a very large pool of respondents from which to draw conclusions.
Webs of Wrath: Terrible Textiles from the War of Troy by Lois Martin (Volume 1, Issue 3)
Wearing Propaganda: Textiles on the Home Front in Japan, Great Britain, and America during the Greater East Asian War, 1931-45 by Jacqueline M. Atkins (Volume 2, Issue 1)
Collecting the Contemporary: “Love Will Decide What is Kept and Science Will Decide How it is Kept” by Sue Prichard (Volume 3, Issue 2)
Hiding the (Fabric) Stash: Collecting, Hoarding, and Hiding Strategies of Contemporary US Quilters by Marybeth C. Stalp, (Volume 4, Issue 1)
Continue reading "Berg Textiles Journal" »
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