Archive for the ‘Pattern Making’ Category

Body

For those of you that have been following our fittings, the sleeve issue has been resolved! The first and second fit samples were twisting because of the pattern and an innocent mistake made by my seamstress. After the pattern was corrected, my seamstress was still sewing the pleats of the sleeve incorrectly. This is what caused the sleeve to twist in the first place. However, just by looking at the sleeve after completion, you would have never been able to tell there was a sewing error.  The first thing that always came to mind was the pattern.

Once I picked up my third round of fit samples, I took them to my tailor to have buttonholes sewn on.  Industrial buttonhole makers are very expensive. So, for someone like me who doesn’t use one on a daily basis, using a tailor for these minor tasks is necessary if you want a professional looking buttonhole.

While I was at the tailor, I asked for his expert opinion on the sleeves.  He instantly knew what the problem was and assured me he could fix it. He explained to me that the pleats were incorrect, and on one of the shirts the fabric wasn’t cut on the straight grain.  I may be the one to blame for that… It’s hard cutting out fabric at 3AM and not making a mistake :)

I suddenly felt at ease that my samples were in his hands.  After a few anxious days of waiting, I had the patterns back with neat, professional buttonholes and two PERFECT sleeves! I am so thankful I was able to turn my third fit samples into my fourth ones without going through the entire process again.

Below, you will see what was my third round, but became my fourth and final session after a quick fix.  I am very pleased with the outcome, and I hope you all are too!

Next, we have some ideas for our pants, you can look for that in an upcoming post. In the meantime, please leave your comments below! We’d love to hear what you think about the fit, the styling details, our process or even this blog in general. We read every comment and enjoy hearing from you all!

Side by Side

Club

Tie

Collar

Front Collar

Lately, things have not been going according to plan.

When starting this whole process, I imagined I would go through two fittings, three at the most. I never thought I would run into this many problems. Today, I began the process of my FOURTH fitting. Why is this a problem? Well for starters, it costs a lot of money to have samples sewn, especially when you are having three samples sewn each time. With this being my premiere line, I am operating on a very strict budget.

Aside from money, a lot of time has gone into these samples. Valuable time. I have a career outside of Fifth&Brannan that I dedicate 40+ hours to per week. My seamstress is the mother of three children, and my pattern maker also has a full time job. It’s safe to say that our time is precious.

I am not sure where the problems with the samples started. Was it faulty pattern making? Sewing? Or was I just too tired when I was cutting the fabric out at 3AM? Any of these could be the reason we are moving into our fourth round of fit samples. I’m not happy about it, but I must say I’m glad I’m not rushing this process.

Because I pride myself on finding the best fit for this brand, these fittings are key. I would rather take the time to correct these mistakes instead of throwing my hands up. The hardest part of running into problems like mine is to see your release date slip further and further away.

I have a list of things that still need to be done, but because I am doing everything on my own, those tasks seem to get pushed to the bottom of my list. Once I feel 100% about my samples, it’s off to purchase my fabric, complete my production samples, find models, and begin the fun stuff!

I hope to see a photo shoot in my near future :)

Inexpensive vs Expensive

Can you tell the difference?


Costing: like pattern making, it’s not fun but it has to be done. Costing is a crucial part of the design process. This is the part where you sit down and add up every last expense. Yes, that means the taxi fares, airfares, and meals from business trips are included too. Everything. The list is never ending, but all are very important factors when deciding the final price of your garment. Here are a few to help you understand what I’m talking about:

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Our trouser pattern is complete!

trouser pattern 1

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Pattern making is not my favorite thing in the world, but it has to be done.  I am so determined to find the perfect fit for my clothes that I will remake my patterns over and over until they are perfect.  It’s easy to pick an attractive pattern for a shirt, but if the fit is wrong, then everything is wrong.

pattern making

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