endlessly hemming

So we'll be back to our regular blog experience next week.

Will Hem For Food 2019 Edition

Finally have a new thread that works with the blue hems

For a human that wasn't going to get any more sewing gigs, I have a stack right now.

The only one that doesn't pay is the bag.

So here's what I'm doing and then I gotta go back to it.

First due are the first set of custom pants that have been in the works forEVer.

Finally nailed down the pattern for Helene and have cut out the pants. Sewing them up Monday night, she comes to try them on Thursday.

Some blue hems for the choir. Actually blue and black and 52 altogether.

Small iPad bag for Blondini, who selected the fabrics from the stash. It's going to be gorgeous!

The Thomas patio chair family have failed seats. I'm making covers for them out of that outdoor fabric. They are going to be a cool new method. Probably next weekend. Yes, it's fall and rainy. The actual family can sit inside.

I almost forgot to post anything this week. I hope you've all had a good month, have been enjoying Second Hand September with the IG fam.

http://spygirl-amb.blogspot.com/2019/09/secondhandseptember-this-weeks-thrifty_21.html

I've got to get back on the blue hem train, so I can work on the pants tomorrow.

Oh, and I mended our basement door. Well, another 24 hours of dry time.

Flash! My sis sent me this link: Chanel atelier working on ballet costumes. The tulle petal colorwork technique is worth your time here
https://youtu.be/zq3c8UY-ec8

Sew Squad - Teen sewing advertised on NPR Marketplace

"Super Simple Sewing Patterns"

 https://www.marketplace.org/2019/09/12/sewing-made-easy-a-fashion-startup-wants-to-simplify-diy/

(Snippy comment removed)

https://sewsquad.com/

My spouse dragged this out of me, and I do have a bright idea at the end.

No tech drawing? Hm.

Leaning how to sew is harder than it needs to be.

Super simple sewing patterns are boring. There's too much repetition of the same basic shapes. So much depends on fabric choice, and that's easy to screw up.

Independant pattern companies are plentiful, but pricey.

The price point of entry is always too high, because the cost of doing business goes up all the time. Shipping is EXORBITANT now.

We've seen these patterns before. We probably own them, in multiples. They are in many books pitching sewing to the young and fashion-friendly.

A mere drop in the bucket

The McCalls 6074 is not a teen-driven design, but it DOES say 'fast fashion' on the top of the envelope. The part you'll see in the drawer at the store. Also, jumpsuit pattern available on Etsy. https://i.etsystatic.com/9846980/r/il/7f5ba7/2020713959/il_794xN.2020713959_nl52.jpg

So the question is not: is this company worth paying attention to for designs

BUT

for how they sell entry level sewing?

Their social game is good. Zoey Washington is doing her job. 

hashtag squad goals

The product isn't very interesting yet. They are super simple designs, which are not original at all. To sell the idea that sewing these will be fun, 

I want more variety in the samples and more styling choices on the website.The website is the showroom; it's the selling tool and the place to show off the product.  

This sweater is not on the website. Give me a tutorial to make it, and I'm all yours.

It's one thing to show what you aspire to make on your Instagram feed, it's another to show results with your products. Add on projects included with the pattern to use leftover fabric are mentioned, but not shown. I'd use those items to style the clothing. If you have read a 'teens SEW' book in the last ten years, the emphasis is on making it your own. Search "teen DIY' - it's amazing. 

But my real argument is on this page, starting at the top.

This size chart hurts me. What generation are you selling to? Go check in on https://www.teenvogue.com/fashion
They really do have it all going on right now. Also worth a read:https://www.teenvogue.com/story/anti-prom-event-safe-and-stylish-spaces-queer-people

I would have started with the boys and the plus size patterns.

You want a hungry audience? That's fashion forward.

If I was your good reporter, I'd buy a pattern and review it, but I think what you see is what you get here. The patterns do come with instructions, a measuring tape and a sewing primer. The measuring tape part is new. The sewing primer could be great. There is a video up now, showing how to make the tshirt. It's linked off the website.

In this competitive market, the most successful online indies have a free sample pattern, so you can get a taste of what you're dropping your money on. I need to know what I'm buying here I can't get for less somewhere else? What is your secret sauce?

Hey, a flat lay!

Slang changes very quickly. Score and dope.

If you've used their patterns, let me know. I'm happy to be wrong.

The following has nothing to do with this story. I just thought the post needed a little more pink

collage from 1st Dibs
https://www.1stdibs.com/fashion/clothing/suits-outfits-ensembles/rare-chanel-pink-tweed-skirt-suit-supermarket-collection/id-v_3722413/

Designer Luxury At American Motors

"Semi-fitted, buttoned jacket is lined and has patch pockets, ribbon details" - from envelope

Oh yeah, ribbon details.....

Pattern Vault has more on this Gucci lite pattern

https://blog.pattern-vault.com/2019/08/06/fall-2019-designer-pattern-highlights/

I saw this Vogue pattern in the catalog and it immediately made me think of this:

https://oppositelock.kinja.com/cars-you-didnt-know-about-the-gucci-amc-hornet-863022472

Yes, the 1970s AMC Gucci Hornet

photos from Oppositelock website

My boss' mom had one, and as I understand it this was the car he drove to high school. He did not tell me this story in a positive voice. No, he has no photos.

The king of licencing, Pierre Cardin, and the AMC Javelin

This photo appears in several blogs, source unclear

Go check these links out: there's more photo goodness.

https://howlingpixel.com/i-en/Pierre_Cardin

AMC did several collaborations/refits with designers

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMC_Hornet#Gucci_Sportabout

And of course, Oleg Cassini's AMC Matador

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMC_Matador#Oleg_Cassini

promo photo of Cassini from AMC

My son pointed me to the Cadillac

https://www.carscoops.com/2011/08/bling-from-past-1979-cadillac-seville/

Check out the photos of the car and the brochure

Matching luggage sold separately

Body Scanning According to Goldman Sachs

generic tape measure stock photo - it's late, I'm tired. I'll go take one and put it in later.

This little infomercial from Goldman Sachs through Bloomfield News for no actual product showed up in my twitter feed.

I think I stripped the links here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ayYkJVioZQ

The idea is that you take photos of yourself with your cell phone and that information is enough for AI to calculate your actual size and get you RTW that fits you better.

Okay, now that you have stopped laughing, companies have tried the custom route and it's failed (the economies of scale just don't work)(high expectations lead to high returns)

I do miss the Lands End custom jeans. Took two returns, but the fault was mine in measuring myself correctly.

Another extension of this is the perfect dress form.

https://dittoform.com/how-it-works/

from the Ditto Form website

https://beatriceforms.com/FAQ

But let's get back to the infomercial.

Blue Sky with me here: could this force manufacturers (hungry to trim down expenses) into creating clothes that....god help us...we fit into?

Or would they do what they do now, and just say: No, you aren't the right size, I don't make clothes for your body, I don't want your money. 
I've been faced with people, presented with data analysis that does not reflect the answers they were looking for, going out and hiring another person to do the same search on the same data for the results they were looking for.

Sometimes we don't really know the data as well as we think.

Maybe there are more size 16 adult women, more size 22 adult women, more 'we don't have a size for you' adult women.

But - let's be hopeful. Let's say, presented with a wealth of data saying "People have tummies and butts and big arms", clothing manufacturers made clothing that fit those tummies and butts and big arms. Or at least gave more options for those that do.

I'm also hoping for wider shoes.

 I've screen shot the whole thing below. Pretend it's a Power Point, with snappy future music, no narration.

data sounds anecdotal but makes sense

https://sourcingjournal.com/topics/technology/measuring-up-3-d-body-scannings-revolution-and-its-impact-on-apparel-sizing-gs-68999/

This data could not be found

My parents had two arm chairs made for their measurements back in the 50s. 

I still have one of them.

Custom made is not new; mass production is.

Because  we lack imaginations, apparently.

But what industries?

/////

DATA INDUSTRIES???