friday feels

I've experimented with a few different ways to connect and communicate this year (Substack, Discord, IG broadcast channels..) but ultimately, what feels best right now is right here in front of me.

So here's a little dispatch with updates from all the different corners of my world...

production updates

I shared a general update on where things are in production last week (if you missed it, you can read it on our site here).

This week things have been humming along, and I wanted to start sharing some peeks into the manufacturing process we've been building this year. This week, QR codes have been the major development LOL.

For our overarching system, we're using Notion for the infrastructure. We've set up a (mostly) automated system to pull in orders from Shopify and get them into the physical process of being made. Orders come in, I review them in Notion, and then I group items together by fabric, color, and style. I let our remote sewists know there are new groups of items that will need to be sewn, and they can log in to Notion and see the available work. They can self-assign groups of ordered garments, and then I know who needs to receive which cut garments.

I split up the garments across our two cutters based on their current availability. Then it's time to take this digital list of garments to make and start moving them into the physical world. This is the nerdy but really cool part: our system in Notion lets us print stickers for each individual item ordered (including notes from customers, follow-up edits from support emails, etc), along with who will be sewing it, and a QR code that links to our specific cutting and sewing instructions for that item.

I take those stickers and put them onto individual zippered bags—each garment gets its own bag. I put the necessary tags and trim (like elastic) into each bag, so that all it's missing is the cut pieces of fabric for the garment. I pre-label a shipping box for the specific sewer receiving garments, fill that box with all the empty zipper bags, prewashed fabric, thread, and a return shipping label. Then I take all this (usually 10-12 boxes going to different sewists) to our two cutters, who are both in Nashville currently which means I can drive things to them instead of ship.

Side note—I have mentioned several times that we are cutting with a projector now, which is how our cutters are able to work remotely. If you are interested in learning about projector cutting for a made-to-order or small batch sewing business and/or the rest of our system for managing remote production, comment on this post. I'd like to do a live zoom walkthrough of it for folks if there's enough interest, and this way I'll have a list of people to contact when I'm ready.

Ok back to an order's journey through the production process! The cutters work through the boxes, cutting each item, and putting it in its corresponding bag, and marking it off as "cut" in the Notion hub. If they need any details on a garment, they can scan the QR code and be taken straight to cutting instructions and pattern specs for that item. When a full box of garments is cut, they close it up and ship it out to the sewer.

The garments arrive to their sewist, and they are able to work through each bag, which includes everything they need to complete the garment from start to finish. Through the QR code, the sewing instructions and other reference material is accessible right there from the physical work they have in their hands. Storing reference and keeping it up to date has historically been a challenge—when you're at a machine sewing, it's a workflow interrupter to have to search for something on your phone, or even worse, pull out a computer. We relied a lot on paper reference material in the past, but that has the obvious downside of getting out of date quickly when things change or mistakes are discovered, and is even harder to manage with a remote team. A scannable QR code makes things quickly accessible from a phone, and it's always up to date with the most current info!

As the garments are sewn, they're marked as complete in Notion, and then they get another update when they're shipped back to me. This organized tracking of each item's progress is also a huge upgrade. Prior to this, I was handling everything via email with each person, and it was hard to keep track of so many moving parts. Now it's possible for customer support to actually figure out where a specific item is in the production process, vs. trying to track down who has which items and which order they're associated with.

I'm pretty excited to see this in action. These kinds of things—the little systems and improvements that no one usually sees from the outside—are honestly my favorite part of entrepreneurship.

Unrelated highlight from the production world this week: Sam (a very talented seamstress and friend) came to help me with some quicker turnaround sewing at my home studio this week, and all four of our kids got to hang out and play while we worked. Her oldest introduced our toddler to Pokémon with an epic binder full of cards, and I don't know who was more excited about it: our three year old or my husband. It was precious and a really wonderful way to work, and reminded me how "building a village" happens in practice.

sewing workshops

We're just about to wrap out the Clyde Jumpsuit workshop, and I'm so excited with the fitting progress we're making. Above are some specific pattern adjustments for a student grading from an XL/2X in the shoulders to a 3X in the hips that also needed to add some torso length, but had a bit *too much* length in the outseam. I really enjoy working through individual fitting solutions. I'll share some photos of my finished samples along with how the pattern fit on me prior to making changes when the class ends so you can see some of it in action!

The first construction class for our Clyde Outerwear Boot Camp is this weekend, and I am so excited. I ordered some 100% recycled, dye-free Italian wool to make my samples with and it is even more gorgeous in person than I hoped. The vendor is a potential supplier for our ready-to-wear garments if we ever re-launch wool in the future, and I am really impressed. So if the material wears well, I may be sold.

This weekend is the last chance to join the Georgia Series Pattern Hacking Boot Camp by the way! Sales close this Sunday at midnight. Our first class is on September 15th!

this week in motherhood & a visit from the fire department

At home, we've had a very full week. We rearranged our kitchen to include art supplies in a visible place, and it's already encouraged us to use them more than when they're put away in drawers, and I like seeing the color. Having visible kid-stuff in our home is something I've come to really treasure and enjoy.

Our three year old's music interest has quickly escalated. My dad showed him an old country song because the singer had a mullet (the toddler in question has a mullet now because he really wanted to cut his own bangs). He *loved* the song, but loved the live music video even more. He started singing and trying to recreate the performance, this led to my husband digging out the old Wii guitar for him to pretend with, then a hunt through the closet for the closest pair of jeans to match the singer's. The performances were EARNEST and he would wake up in the morning immediately ready to listen to his song and "practice".

A week later, we took him to look a music store and gauge if his interest extended beyond pretend, or if he wasn't that into it. He WAS INTO IT, and he now has a real kids guitar that he wears around constantly. His song repertoire has expanded and his moves have developed. So, of course, Facebook marketplace showed me a kids "stage" for sale nearby—someone's daughters had outgrown it, their grandpa built it, they didn't want to just toss it.

Clearly this was meant to be, even though it was way too big for our minivan. But then I learned the woman selling it lived in our neighborhood, less than a mile away... Naturally, I sent my husband to pick it up with our too-small minivan, a dog leash, and chain from a playground swing. He made it back, it was SO worth it, and now we have a performance-worthy stage for our little budding musician. He does jumps off the stage with his guitar into his crowd of stuffed animals, and it's priceless.

I've been sharing this little music adventure with my mom-friends, and their encouragement to keep leaning in to what our kids express interest in has been really validating. I want to let my children's personalities develop as authentically as possible, and sometimes I wonder whether my positive response to things is coercive in itself (not in a malicious way, just in a scientific cause-and-effect way). At some level I'm sure it is, but I think as long as I am leaning in the direction *they* are choosing, I'm on the right track.

At any rate, after that guitar and stage combo, I didn't think a three year old's week could get much better. But then yesterday he got to meet an entire fire crew, so suffice to say IT DID. We woke up Thursday to a strong electrical burning smell in our garage (where my studio is). We assumed an outlet was overloaded, but were surprised because nothing was running overnight. After turning off power to the area, checking all the plugs, and not finding anything, we called our electrician. They told us they'd come ASAP, but with a smell that strong to call the fire department.

They came immediately, thermal scanned the whole area, but couldn't find anything until we turned the power back on and our water heater made a super loud crack. The wiring in the heater had gone bad and there was also a leak—but thankfully we found the issue and now it's fixed. More importantly, our kids got to meet real firefighters and see a firetruck up close! We have had to re-tell the story to our toddler about fifty times at this point because I think it's the highlight of his life.

PSA: the fire department was so incredibly helpful, fast, thorough—and assured us that any time you smell burning and can't identify the source to call in. Hope you don't ever need to use that info, but now you have it!

Be well,

Liz