Saturday, July 30, 2011

Today we set straight to work sewing the shorts. We took out an inch from each side seam as well as the back seam. The hardest part was reattaching the belt loops. We had to undo the tops or bottoms of the belt loops in order to access and take in some of the side and back seams. Close to the end of the day we had three shorts finished and the last one set up to be finished by Melissa later that night. In the meantime, we cleaned the studio and had a little party for Daniela since it was her last day.

Friday, July 29, 2011

Today I went straight to work cutting out and sewing the sleeves. While we were working Melissa got a call from a client. We were finishing up with our lists for the day so Melissa invited him over. He had purchased some shorts and had lost some weight and wanted Melissa to take them in. we had him try them on and pinned them. Melissa then gave him an estimate and noticed one of the shorts had a stain. For the one with the stain he was open to Melissa dyeing it. After he left we got to work marking, seam ripping and prepping the shorts for sewing.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Today Melissa got a new printer. She and her husband set it up. Meanwhile, I made three sleeve slopers. When the printer was done Melissa and I looked through the pattern-making book and found a sleeve we thought looked interesting. We decided to incorporate the sleeve into one of the jacket designs. We also took time to organize Melissa’s contacts.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Melissa has always had wrap skirts and dresses in her collections. They often make good cover-ups for swimsuits. Out of curiosity she asked me about swimwear (knowing my experience). She had been playing with the idea of including swimwear for her cover-ups to create a whole look. Between yesterday and today we made a suit for Melissa. Yesterday we made a muslin and adjusted our patterns. To get our patterns we started with a basic bandeau top and Melissa did a rub-off from a bottom that fit her well. Today we finished the design details and did a final fitting. Melissa is really happy and looking forward to seeing how the swimsuit we made functions.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Today, I draped a torso princess bodice for one of the other designs Melissa designed. I pattern the new bodice and make princess slopers from the patterns. I also take measurements from the manikin and type them into the computer on Xcel for comparison reference and also to leave room to draft a basic bodice sloper.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Today was truly special. It started off as usual. Melissa had a list of patterns for me too get through. I patterned the princess bodice I made yesterday and made patterns for three dresses and a top. About halfway through the day, Daniela came and picked me up to take me to the guild (a Textile Guild that Melissa is a member of where she dyes her fabric).

The dyeing was done before I got there. My job was wringing out the fabric, putting it on the drying rack and washing up the tools.

After the process was complete, she took us out for ice cream. This was a great way to end the day, but there was another surprise. Melissa used to live around the corner from the ice cream shop she took us to. She pointed out the house and her old working place. It was cool to see how far she’d come.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Melissa was really happy with how the vest had turned out. She asked me to help her plan some women’s vests and jackets so today I started draping a basic princess bodice. I go through the basic motions of prepping, pinning and marking each piece. I also showed Melissa the seam finishes that we could possibly use.