Alongside a few well-earned breaks for family camping trips, visits and other summery vacations, our team made some good progress in August. We finished the muslin Founder’s Circle samples that got stuck in July due to a problem with the digital pattern. We got to experience the miracle of working with an appropriate presser foot for our flat felled seams – especially for the notoriously difficult armhole! – and we wrapped up the deep dives into the final blouse construction (for now!) with a focused study of the cuffs.
It has been very interesting to see how some parts of the blouse are difficult for some sewers and not for others. This creates a really nice team dynamic where inevitably one sewer will struggle with a part of the construction of the blouse and another sewer will be able to jump in and help. And then the next time around the sewer that was struggling say on a cuff, will help guide the other sewer on the collar or sleeve.
On the workshop front – our August opening date came and went with the space still not painted – presumably due to the difficulty finding people to work on it. So we began Operation: Open a “Tokyo sized” Womenswear Workshop in the 500 square foot room that is mostly finished. Last week we moved the Juki sewing machines in and hope to set them up next week. The real fun will come when we see whether we can get a 4 by 8.5 cutting table in there as well. It feels good to move forward regardless of the obstacles with the space.
This week we are focusing on cutting out Founder’s Circle final blouses that JUST MIGHT be sewn on the Jukis. Wish us luck. Learning the new machines will be a bit of a challenge for all of us – except for our instructor, Lisa! – but we are ready for it.
We will keep you updated. Thank you for all your support!
Reid