Part SIX: Get this party started! Production Begins

Now that I've gotten all the fabric, I'm prepared to move full speed ahead.  (Reality check: About 5 months have passed since the initial idea to where I am now, at the cutting house.)  There is no turning back at this point. Once the garments are cut, they can't be adjusted or changed.

 

As you can see from the completed cut tickets, I'm creating 2 different versions of the same dress.

Next, the cutting team needs to make their own Spread tickets.  They have to know how many layers or "plys" to spread for each size.  If I'm asking for 4 size 10's, then they know they need 4 plys.  It can get pretty confusing depending upon how many different fabrics or "contrasts" are used for EACH dress.  And each version is not getting the same amount of each size!  I'm getting dizzy just writing about it.

Here I am helping spread the fabric.  Time doesn't usually permit me to get so hands on, but it's fun to be in on the process.

Once we get the roll of fabric on the rack.  We lay it down and then cut it at the correct place for those sizes needed.  Ingrid and I are doing it together here.  But most of the time Ingrid would be cutting one side, then walking around to cut the other side.  Or hopping up on the table, depending on how adventurous she's feeling.

As we are spreading the fabric, we look for damages and imperfections.  Most rolls are perfect, but sometimes there are flaws and this is our last chance to find them before being sewed together.  All we have to do is cut off the bad piece and continue, easy.  (Occasionally, flawed fabric makes it through all the way.  If the damage is small, the piece will be posted in our SALE section on our website and listed as Perfectly Imperfect). 

The tables are quite long because the markers (paper pattern pieces) for most styles are typically 10-20 yards, at least.  Underneath this fabric are other plys. 

In this case I'm doing 3 different versions of the same style.  So there would be 3 different fabrics on top of each other (bodice fabrics pictured below).

If the styles are using stretchy knit fabrics, it's important to let the fabric relax for 24 hours (typically we have to do this for all my styles).  The act of spreading actually stretches the fabric more than it needs to be.  If knits are cut right after they are spread, the fabric will actually shrink back in, making all the cuts inaccurate.  You can imagine how this would mess up all the sizing and sewing!  Everything would come out smaller and misshapen.
Once the fabric has settled.  It's now time to roll out the paper marker.  This has all the exact pattern pieces in every size. 

Ingrid (so cool) then uses a special fabric cutter that "saws" through all the plys.  She follows the thin lines on the marker.

The finished cuts are then bundled together and stacked by size.

Whew!  That was intense.  Sew, what's next?

Part SEVEN: A Style is Born!
Next post:  June 20th

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Thanks so much for being a part of the journey!
Cynthia