http://www.fashion-incubator.com How to start a clothing line or run the one you have, better. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:36:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/deconstructing-a-sewing-class/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/deconstructing-a-sewing-class/#comments Tue, 13 Sep 2011 21:41:55 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=10022 mentioned on Saturday that I was taking a class for home sewers for research purposes. My idea being, one can forget what people don't know. Gaining insight to what people don't know can only help me explain better to anyone regardless of skill. Continuing with where I left off (see the comments to the previous entry), our instructor (Leslie) started with a list of what she called the seven deadly sins of a home-made garment. I'm not going to list those specifically because that's how she derives income but suffice to say I agree for the most part. Leslie's list of sins spanned three categories. 1. Design 2. Pattern 3. Execution Note: she didn't sort them like this, this is how I analyzed the various types of sewing sins she identified. The list in this context -spanning design through execution- was a bit unexpected in the context of my role as a product development person. On our end, the three areas are mostly separate with accountability for each clearly defined -not one person in charge of it. Leslie's format differed because home stitchers are whole garment makers from project inception and planning, through execution (and of course, they're also fitting to the individual rather than a fit profile) so it stands to reason the sins wouldn't be separated by function or the separate individuals who do those jobs. Here's one example I would categorize as design: what Leslie described as badly designed bust darts (falling within a prescribed circumference range). In many cases, this can be a design element; there are reasons a designer may want X effect and it is mostly not appropriate for a pattern maker to question design elements with a designer (can get you in hot water) unless it's a new designer (DE) who actively solicits one's help.]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/deconstructing-a-sewing-class/feed/ 52 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/how-to-apply-interfacing/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/how-to-apply-interfacing/#comments Wed, 05 May 2010 18:10:09 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=6682 people who make fusing machines-, they'll tell you that applying fusibles relies on three things, time, pressure and heat. I'd add a fourth and fifth element, that of having the right fusible for the right fabric in the first place and the right tools. Of the three five, time is but one facet and not really the major one. Not when a fusing machine can fuse fabrics at 26 feet a minute. Even then, time is better calculated as during and after. It can take but a second to apply interfacing but it can take a few seconds for it to cool enough to move it. ]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/how-to-apply-interfacing/feed/ 30 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/what-to-do-if-a-competitor-orders-your-product/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/what-to-do-if-a-competitor-orders-your-product/#comments Thu, 11 Jun 2009 20:56:24 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/?p=4170 What to do if a competitor in Asia orders your product whereby I pontificate on tear downs (competitive assessments), a much cherished activity by adults and children alike. How can you build a better mousetrap if you haven't taken existing mousetraps apart? Here's a case in point: the iphone. While the iphone is universally acknowledged to be the third most significant masterpiece of human technology (behind mastering fire and inventing the wheel), it is not perfect. Before stoning me for blasphemy, ask yourself this question: can it scramble eggs? I think not. Okay, so I'm being silly but you won't know the root problem until you do a competitive assessment and tear something down -preferably your own products first. I've written much about this in the reverse engineering series (tutorials page) and this one on copying processes. The fact is your competitor can buy your products anyway so you're better off facilitating the transaction than creating impediments. Doing so is working from a position of strength and confidence. Refusing to do so is acknowledging the other party is a threat. If they can get it anyway, it's better to have a record of the transaction in the event something untoward arises because it is illegal to copy another party's trade secrets. If you didn't know that you should read up on the Economic Espionage Act of 1996. Using a trade secret belonging to a competitor is a felony, not a civil matter like copyright and subject to jail time and a fine of up to 10 million dollars. A trade secret is defined as "protected information" and means anything a competitor doesn't want you to know.]]> http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/what-to-do-if-a-competitor-orders-your-product/feed/ 8 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/how_to_know_your_patterns_have_been_corrected/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/how_to_know_your_patterns_have_been_corrected/#comments Thu, 04 Sep 2008 22:29:56 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/2008/09/how_to_know_your_patterns_have_been_corrected/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/how_to_know_your_patterns_have_been_corrected/feed/ 3 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/are_you_a_victim_of_a_hanger_fix/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/are_you_a_victim_of_a_hanger_fix/#comments Tue, 02 Sep 2008 21:20:50 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/2008/09/are_you_a_victim_of_a_hanger_fix/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/are_you_a_victim_of_a_hanger_fix/feed/ 6 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/how_to_work_with_a_fashion_illustrator/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/how_to_work_with_a_fashion_illustrator/#comments Wed, 20 Aug 2008 20:58:41 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/2008/08/how_to_work_with_a_fashion_illustrator/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/how_to_work_with_a_fashion_illustrator/feed/ 12 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/rotary_cutters_a_guaranteed_argument/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/rotary_cutters_a_guaranteed_argument/#comments Fri, 18 Jul 2008 22:26:29 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/2008/07/rotary_cutters_a_guaranteed_argument/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/rotary_cutters_a_guaranteed_argument/feed/ 36 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/problem_pattern_maker_pt2/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/problem_pattern_maker_pt2/#comments Thu, 03 Jul 2008 23:09:07 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/2008/07/problem_pattern_maker_pt2/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/problem_pattern_maker_pt2/feed/ 0 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/id_and_od/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/id_and_od/#comments Wed, 11 Jun 2008 19:20:22 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/2008/06/id_and_od/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/id_and_od/feed/ 11 http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/to_pin_or_not_to_pin/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/to_pin_or_not_to_pin/#comments Wed, 11 Jun 2008 18:45:41 +0000 Kathleen Fasanella http://www.fashion-incubator.com/2008/06/to_pin_or_not_to_pin/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/to_pin_or_not_to_pin/feed/ 27