My first day on the job as a patternmaker's assistant was awesome. She was really busy trying to make a deadline, so I tried not to require too much direction once she gave me something to work on. There was one part I sort of struggled with, but it involved ruching and a sort of bra top underneath and creating new notches and taking out excess bulk on the patterns, and it was confusing for me.
It was the ruching that threw it off, because that means the pattern is nowhere near the same size as the final piece, so lining it up for changes is not easy. I don't feel too bad about myself for getting confused, but I was upset that I made potential trouble for the patternmaker. I was really glad that she figured it out very quickly and thus did not lose time. She is extraordinarily nice.
When I left, I just thought, "Wow. I just got paid to sew and pin on a dressform and manipulate patterns, and it doesn't get better than that." Oh, and there's a big ol' dog that is just wonderful.
Showing posts with label patternmaking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label patternmaking. Show all posts
Friday, February 20, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Got the job!
An exciting opportunity has come my way. I get to be an assistant to a patternmaker. To tell you about it, I have to start here:
There's a Web site called Fashion-Incubator.com that is an amazing resource for sewers, but which is geared toward "design entrepreneurs" of various types. The woman who runs it is Kathleen Fasanella, also author of "The Entrepreneur's Guide to Sewn Product Manufacturing." (I'm pitching her book because it's amazing. It's an insider's guide to the entire fashion design industry, and all the stuff you really need to know before you march in and make an ass of yourself.) I own and have read the book, and I highly recommend it. You can buy it through the site above.
Kathleen is also a fellow New Mexican, coincidentally. I'm not sure if she's exceedingly nice and helpful to everybody, or if she's so helpful to me because I'm just a couple billion hops, skips and jumps away up I-25 through the God-awful and never-ending desert.
So, I was on Fashion-Incubator asking a question about something I was having trouble with. (Oh, you know all about that stupid yellow and black dress with the V-neck I've been griping about.) Well, Kathleen (I really have never met her in person, so I don't know why I think I'm on a first-name basis with her) mentions to me that an Albuquerque patternmaker needs an assistant. And so I contact her, and three days later, I'm hired.
It's very flexible, part-time hours, so I can keep my full-time job. I will help with simple stuff, like labeling and checking patterns, but from what she has told me, there's immense room for learning, so I hope for it to be sort of an apprenticeship, in a way. I'll do what she needs me to do, but just through observation of how it all works, I think I'll learn so much.
It's a weird feeling when you trudge through the daily grind doing something you like and being darn glad you have a job in this horrible economy. But all the while, you think, "if I could get paid to do what I truly love, would this be it?" And here, somebody is going to pay me to work in a field that I really, really want to explore.
And, so, wish me luck!
There's a Web site called Fashion-Incubator.com that is an amazing resource for sewers, but which is geared toward "design entrepreneurs" of various types. The woman who runs it is Kathleen Fasanella, also author of "The Entrepreneur's Guide to Sewn Product Manufacturing." (I'm pitching her book because it's amazing. It's an insider's guide to the entire fashion design industry, and all the stuff you really need to know before you march in and make an ass of yourself.) I own and have read the book, and I highly recommend it. You can buy it through the site above.
Kathleen is also a fellow New Mexican, coincidentally. I'm not sure if she's exceedingly nice and helpful to everybody, or if she's so helpful to me because I'm just a couple billion hops, skips and jumps away up I-25 through the God-awful and never-ending desert.
So, I was on Fashion-Incubator asking a question about something I was having trouble with. (Oh, you know all about that stupid yellow and black dress with the V-neck I've been griping about.) Well, Kathleen (I really have never met her in person, so I don't know why I think I'm on a first-name basis with her) mentions to me that an Albuquerque patternmaker needs an assistant. And so I contact her, and three days later, I'm hired.
It's very flexible, part-time hours, so I can keep my full-time job. I will help with simple stuff, like labeling and checking patterns, but from what she has told me, there's immense room for learning, so I hope for it to be sort of an apprenticeship, in a way. I'll do what she needs me to do, but just through observation of how it all works, I think I'll learn so much.
It's a weird feeling when you trudge through the daily grind doing something you like and being darn glad you have a job in this horrible economy. But all the while, you think, "if I could get paid to do what I truly love, would this be it?" And here, somebody is going to pay me to work in a field that I really, really want to explore.
And, so, wish me luck!
Friday, April 6, 2007
Really, it's going to be pretty someday
This is my flat pattern design class project. It will be a fitted shirt dress made of this yellow and white seersucker (or perhaps the wanna-be plisse. I haven't done the secret test I learned in textile science to see if it's genuine):
But for now, it's made of muslin and it's actually coming along well. I know that may be hard to see, but trust me. There are some complicated concepts to a button up shirt that I am not completely ready for. This dress is just pinned together in front, and one sleeve is more finished than the other. Also, the sleeves are poofing up quite strangely the way I'm holding my arms. Remind me not to stand that way when I wear it!
In the picture below, my arms look deformed. But they are quite normal in real life, I promise. You can see that along the shoulder blade region I have a bit of fabric pinned up. I don't know where that excess came from, or how to get rid of it, but that's what my instructor is for. I also have some weird pointy butt seam going on, which is also pinned.
Overall, here's what needs to be fixed (I'll come back to this post when I lose my notes):
1. Armholes are a bit too tight
2. Need elastic around sleeve bottoms.
3. Back bodice is shorter than front bodice.
4. Back bodice has weird excess along shoulder blades.
5. Butt has weird pointiness in seam.
6. Skirt front has extra 1/2" along open seam -- take off.
7. I don't like what the button stand does from bustline to collar.
8. Add 1" to hem.
9. How to sew on collar so there's not an ugly seam?
10. How to sew on a cap sleeve so there's not a seam allowance showing under arm?
11. Hips fit perfectly, but I doubt I can sit. I need to add a bit of ease.
I guess there's more work than I thought! But if you compare it to the outcome in this blog post, you'll see a bit of progress!
But for now, it's made of muslin and it's actually coming along well. I know that may be hard to see, but trust me. There are some complicated concepts to a button up shirt that I am not completely ready for. This dress is just pinned together in front, and one sleeve is more finished than the other. Also, the sleeves are poofing up quite strangely the way I'm holding my arms. Remind me not to stand that way when I wear it!
In the picture below, my arms look deformed. But they are quite normal in real life, I promise. You can see that along the shoulder blade region I have a bit of fabric pinned up. I don't know where that excess came from, or how to get rid of it, but that's what my instructor is for. I also have some weird pointy butt seam going on, which is also pinned.
Overall, here's what needs to be fixed (I'll come back to this post when I lose my notes):
1. Armholes are a bit too tight
2. Need elastic around sleeve bottoms.
3. Back bodice is shorter than front bodice.
4. Back bodice has weird excess along shoulder blades.
5. Butt has weird pointiness in seam.
6. Skirt front has extra 1/2" along open seam -- take off.
7. I don't like what the button stand does from bustline to collar.
8. Add 1" to hem.
9. How to sew on collar so there's not an ugly seam?
10. How to sew on a cap sleeve so there's not a seam allowance showing under arm?
11. Hips fit perfectly, but I doubt I can sit. I need to add a bit of ease.
I guess there's more work than I thought! But if you compare it to the outcome in this blog post, you'll see a bit of progress!
Saturday, February 10, 2007
I have hope for this room
It is difficult for me to allow the public to see this room. If you know me, you know I am very organized. You might wonder how it is I can stand to work in this room. Well, I can't.
This is my sewing room, and my computer room. All those boxes along the wall are my husband's thousands of record albums. Well, good news! I think after almost 5 years I have talked him into letting me move these boxes out of this room. Ultimately, we want to have a carpenter build sturdy shelves in the living room and take them out of boxes. But until then, I'd really like a comfortable, organized, less-cramped work space.
So in my mind, when I look at this room, I see something entirely different. I see access to the walls, where there will be shelves and a magnet for my rulers. I see a folding, waist-high cutting table to work on (it's hard to draft patterns when you're sitting, and hunching over a regular-height table hurts).
I see this table here being just for my sewing machine and serger (which I still haven't used because I'm still scared of it). I see space for my ironing board (which you can't see here -- it's to the far right, blocking the closet). Oh, and wouldn't it be dreamy to have the kind of ironing board with a little shelf under it for my pressing hams and seam roll? Dare to dream, I say.
This is my sewing room, and my computer room. All those boxes along the wall are my husband's thousands of record albums. Well, good news! I think after almost 5 years I have talked him into letting me move these boxes out of this room. Ultimately, we want to have a carpenter build sturdy shelves in the living room and take them out of boxes. But until then, I'd really like a comfortable, organized, less-cramped work space.
So in my mind, when I look at this room, I see something entirely different. I see access to the walls, where there will be shelves and a magnet for my rulers. I see a folding, waist-high cutting table to work on (it's hard to draft patterns when you're sitting, and hunching over a regular-height table hurts).
I see this table here being just for my sewing machine and serger (which I still haven't used because I'm still scared of it). I see space for my ironing board (which you can't see here -- it's to the far right, blocking the closet). Oh, and wouldn't it be dreamy to have the kind of ironing board with a little shelf under it for my pressing hams and seam roll? Dare to dream, I say.
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Just let me go home
(That title is to be sung to the tune of Sloop John B by The Beach Boys...Lyrics here if you want to sing along.
I spend all day in Santa Fe for school on Thursdays. No, the classes I take aren't offered in ABQ. The more time I spend up here, the more I can't stand this town. Everything is old and run down. All the buildings look the same (brown adobe--even Micky-Ds) and the streets wind to and fro and take you in directions you didn't mean to go. Traffic was awful all the way to SF, in SF and home from SF.
I decided to kill some time and see a movie, but the close theater has crappy movies. The good ones are across town. So I got directions and naturally ended up LEAVING town accidentally. Twice. Uh-oh. Mrs. Cranky Pants is back.
Then there's the weird people. Like the lady at JoAnn Fabrics who was in her 50s and wearing a glittery pink eye mask like it's Mardi Gras or something. Only it's not. It's JoAnn Fabrics and she's walking around like it's totally normal. I won't even discuss her hat.
School was rough. The beginnings of these classes are tough and technical. Everything has to be so precise, and since you build off of it, you can't half-ass it and move on.
My first class is Flat Pattern II. This is a method of constructing garments from paper. It's all about measurements -- and precise ones at that. Think 1/16 of an inch is negligible? Well, it's not. It's a big deal if you're off by that. Say you're off by 1/8" somewhere. Well, since you're working off half a pattern, multiply that by 4 and you can be off by 1/2" all the way around, and that will mess everything up.
This is from flat pattern so far. My "sloper" (I know some patternmakers hate that term) came out way too big. I'm making adjustments. All the rough edges must be trued eventually:
This is my draping class, so far. It differs from flat pattern in that we start with this block of muslin:
And pin and mark and end up with this:
I know it's hard to see. Anyway, I'm just worn out and need to go relax. Santa Fe, I apologize. Better luck next week.
I spend all day in Santa Fe for school on Thursdays. No, the classes I take aren't offered in ABQ. The more time I spend up here, the more I can't stand this town. Everything is old and run down. All the buildings look the same (brown adobe--even Micky-Ds) and the streets wind to and fro and take you in directions you didn't mean to go. Traffic was awful all the way to SF, in SF and home from SF.
I decided to kill some time and see a movie, but the close theater has crappy movies. The good ones are across town. So I got directions and naturally ended up LEAVING town accidentally. Twice. Uh-oh. Mrs. Cranky Pants is back.
Then there's the weird people. Like the lady at JoAnn Fabrics who was in her 50s and wearing a glittery pink eye mask like it's Mardi Gras or something. Only it's not. It's JoAnn Fabrics and she's walking around like it's totally normal. I won't even discuss her hat.
School was rough. The beginnings of these classes are tough and technical. Everything has to be so precise, and since you build off of it, you can't half-ass it and move on.
My first class is Flat Pattern II. This is a method of constructing garments from paper. It's all about measurements -- and precise ones at that. Think 1/16 of an inch is negligible? Well, it's not. It's a big deal if you're off by that. Say you're off by 1/8" somewhere. Well, since you're working off half a pattern, multiply that by 4 and you can be off by 1/2" all the way around, and that will mess everything up.
This is from flat pattern so far. My "sloper" (I know some patternmakers hate that term) came out way too big. I'm making adjustments. All the rough edges must be trued eventually:
This is my draping class, so far. It differs from flat pattern in that we start with this block of muslin:
And pin and mark and end up with this:
I know it's hard to see. Anyway, I'm just worn out and need to go relax. Santa Fe, I apologize. Better luck next week.
Saturday, January 20, 2007
A knit fit!
I started talking to this fellow Etsy seller who lives in Albuquerque and is part of a crafting group - www.abqcraftistas.com. I'm going to join them for an upcoming girl's night, and I think it's going to be really fun. I really don't spend a lot of time hanging out with other women, and it will be nice to get to know some other girls with similar interests.
Right now, I'm a sewer. I love to sew, and if I had my choice, it's all I would do. But as I look over the blogs on this Web site, I'm feeling inspired to learn to knit.
I have tried crocheting in the past and just ended up frustrated and didn't much care for it. But a coworker I have says she hates sewing and crocheting but loves to knit, so I thought maybe there's hope for me! It seems like a relatively cheap endeavor -- a couple of knitting needles, a book and some yarn to start out. With sewing (and especially patternmaking), you have to invest a small fortune: sewing machine, serger, vary form curve, 2x18 clear ruler, hip curve, French curves, dress form, fabric, thread, pattern paper, etc. So if I don't like knitting, it shouldn't be too big of a loss.
I suppose one thing I don't need right now is another thing to do, what with school starting and everything else (see post below), but what the heck. You know what I really want to make?
This:
I'm referring to the center ones -- short sleeves. So cute. This is from a stitchdiva.com and it's not the sweater for sale, but the pattern. What if I could someday whip something like this together!?!
The other appealing thing about knitting is its portability. You can't exactly take your sewing machine with you to occupy your extra time during the day. Or to craftista meetings, I suppose.
I'll keep you posted. All zero readers of my blog.
Right now, I'm a sewer. I love to sew, and if I had my choice, it's all I would do. But as I look over the blogs on this Web site, I'm feeling inspired to learn to knit.
I have tried crocheting in the past and just ended up frustrated and didn't much care for it. But a coworker I have says she hates sewing and crocheting but loves to knit, so I thought maybe there's hope for me! It seems like a relatively cheap endeavor -- a couple of knitting needles, a book and some yarn to start out. With sewing (and especially patternmaking), you have to invest a small fortune: sewing machine, serger, vary form curve, 2x18 clear ruler, hip curve, French curves, dress form, fabric, thread, pattern paper, etc. So if I don't like knitting, it shouldn't be too big of a loss.
I suppose one thing I don't need right now is another thing to do, what with school starting and everything else (see post below), but what the heck. You know what I really want to make?
This:
I'm referring to the center ones -- short sleeves. So cute. This is from a stitchdiva.com and it's not the sweater for sale, but the pattern. What if I could someday whip something like this together!?!The other appealing thing about knitting is its portability. You can't exactly take your sewing machine with you to occupy your extra time during the day. Or to craftista meetings, I suppose.
I'll keep you posted. All zero readers of my blog.
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