Production and the Numbers Game

Since I started my business almost a year ago, I have been playing a numbers game of sorts. The game is how much to make of one thing at a time.

This is a common makers dilemma and I'd love to hear how others have found their balance--their production Zen.

At the very beginning, I didn't know how much anyone would want of anything. I also had more time, because I hadn't opened my shop yet. Each item was an experiment in production, design and desirability. 

Back then everything was one at a time. 

As I gained customers,  I was still learning what people liked. You do not want a pile of smocked dresses, if smocking does not become a thing. But I was also working full time and wanted to accumulate some things to just have on hand.

So I made two at a time. This also allows you to fine tune what you are doing. You almost develop a system for that item. Almost. Two ends up not being enough for a system. But it is more efficient than one.

As business increased, I have played with making three, four, five and even six at a time. 

What I've found is that there is not one answer. There are a number of factors that come into play, such as:

1. Difficulty of the item, ie number of steps involved and trickiness of the steps. For more difficult items, three is the limit. It allows for an increase in efficiency, a chance to get into a mindset and conquer the details with prowess, but not enough time to get impatient or sloppy.

2. For simple items that also don't have too many pieces, five or six is great. I can get into a rhythm with this type of item. I love it and there is a great satisfaction to producing a colorful stack of something. This is where I find my zen. 

3. If I am making a new product, i won't make more than three, since I don't know if anyone other than Egg and I like it.

4. Sometimes I like to make a lot of a more complicated item, like a dress, if I want to play with  variations.

5. T-shirts and the undershorts are easy to make in large quantities. 

6. Too many of anything gets boring and if you are bored, you aren't at your best.

For me now, it's all about small batches. Small batches allows attention to detail, some efficiency  and keeps me loving what I do. 

Good-bye to three Phoebes today

Today three Phoebes all left for their own corners of the world.  One flew off to California, another to NYC and the third is on her way to Australia. 

I always get nervous on send off day. There are so many details to double check. 

Also, as the dolls go out, they are matched with a child in foster care, who also receives a doll made by me. With so many dolls going out these past few weeks, i need to make a new batch of dolls for this group of children. I have been working on a batch of puppies for a group of boys and am excited to finish these up. Photos maybe tomorrow.

Good-bye Phoebes! You are all off to good places.

Phoebe is on her way to NYC

Phoebe is on her way to Australia

Phoebe is on her way to California

A Saturday of Skirts

I've been sewing a lot lately and not spending a lot of time posting or listing. Soon, I will list and post.

This morning was skirts. Yesterday was T-shirts. soon dresses and then coats. 

Handmade Toymakers: Fluffmonger

"Griswold the sheep enjoys drinking fair-trade coffee from the local café. You’ll usually see him sitting by himself, though, due to his social anxiety."

As someone who has been sewing almost my whole life, I am always in awe of someone who started recently and quickly goes onto to not only become brilliant at sewing, but to take on the challenge of designing their own toys rather than using existing patterns.

And Jenny Ray Maj is one of those people.

Jenny recently opened her Etsy shop, Fluffmonger, where she sells her amazing collection of unique ethically sourced stuffed animals. Their shapes and personalities, as well as their “habitats” are all quite striking.

Jenny only started sewing two years ago. 

“Sewing was actually something that I never saw myself doing. 

“Two years ago at Christmas, my sister came up with the idea to sew Christmas pajamas using a tutorial she found on Pinterest.  Neither of us had ever sewn before, so my mom got her sewing machine out of storage to give us a crash course.   The tutorial recommended that you trace your favorite pajamas instead of using an actual pattern, so needless to say, we all ended up with ill-fitting pajamas that none of us ever wore.

“I had always wanted to sew stuffed animals but thought it would be too difficult.  After sewing the pajamas, I felt brave enough to try FunkyFriendsFactory’s elephant pattern and instantly fell in love.

Since then, Jenny has designed a collection of characters—Griswold the sheep,  Baxter the horse, and Falafel the llama. 

The animals are all a cute portable size, between 10 and 14 inches, and made with all ethically sourced materials (a step beyond organic), such as organic cotton fleece, fair trade hemp. Jenny even has sourced organic thread, organic ribbon and embroidery floss. I know first hand how challenging it is to create a doll or stuffed animal that is completely organic, which is why there currently is not an entirely organic Phoebe doll.

Jenny: All of the materials I use for my designs are organic and ethically sourced.  Most of the organic fabrics I use are scraps from a local zero-waste company.  Some of the cotton used for the fabrics is even grown here in NC, and the embroidery floss that I use is hand-dyed and hand-plied in the Carolinas.  The organic thread, organic buckwheat hulls, and other organic fabrics are either fair trade or come from reputable companies.

“It has definitely been a challenge to source organic and ethically made materials, but I am thankful for the people who have made accessing those materials easier.  It’s becoming more common to find organic fabrics, but organic threads, flosses, and stuffing are still hard to come by.  The most difficult part for me has been matching the colors of the low-impact dyes I use to the limited color selection of organic thread.

"Baxter the horse is a total foodie who loves to go shopping for groceries at his local co-op."

"Despite being clumsy, Falafel the llama loves doing yoga. He can only do a few poses because most, like downward dog, are impossible due to his long neck."

Griswold, Baxter, and Falafel are more than just cute, they lead interesting lives. Griswold has social anxiety and drinks Fair Trade coffee, Baxter is a foodie, and Falafel attempts yoga in the park.

Jenny, who has a background in sculpture and art education, has created three-dimensional habitats to use as backdrops for her photography.  The backdrops, made out of foam core, are a multi-disciplinary effort, involving hand drawing, computer drawing, architecture, draftsmanship, carpentry, photography and storytelling.  It sometimes can take several days to make one scene.

A holiday background in the works.

In the end they function like giant pop up books with many two-dimensional layers creating a three dimensional world. Each backdrop helps tell a story, which will inspire imaginative play with the animals.

Jenny hopes some day to bring the animals, the backdrops and her storytelling together into a children’s book.

You can find the Fluffmonger collection on Etsy and you can follow them on Facebook.

Boys: More Boy World and One Boy Off to DC

Yesterday,  a Ging doll left for his new home in DC. But before he left he was kind enough to model a few boy clothes for me. Thank you Ging and I know you'll love your new home. 

Stay tuned, I'll be putting a few boys and boy clothes on Etsy over the next few days.

Ging off to his new home in DC

Ging was asked to model a few things before he left. he was a good sport about it.

More modeling

"Gap Kids" for ging

Ging and his surfer look.

Boys in the Spotlight

As a mom, my daughters rarely lack attention. I can't say either of them "flies under the radar". But sons sometimes do.  They can be content and independent and suddenly as a mom you feel guilty because you have not given them the attention they deserve but don't demand.

Same with the boy dolls. I spend a lot of my business attention on the girl dolls. Every so often I get a boy doll request and, no offense to the girls, it is refreshing. 

This week the boys got some attention. I have a custom boy doll shipping out tomorrow. But while creating him, I went a little boy crazy. 

Today's lighting was bad (and no Nikon 5300 yet), so I only took a few photos. Hopefully tomorrow will shed some better light on boy world.

Plaid on plaid: Boy doll clothes

"Gap Kids" for boy dolls

A new boy doll with a bit of bedhead--typical boy

One year and one big change

Today I've been blogging a year. I've been so busy sewing, it snuck up on me.

It has been a wonderful year, the launch of the blog, the launch of my business, meeting so many amazing people, learning so so much, and most of all, doing what I love.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for being a part of this.

For those of you who have followed me from the beginning, there have been many small tweaks. That is the beauty of being a small business, you can learn and tweak as you go. I've honed my blog direction, continued to change and expand my line of dolls and doll clothing. I've improved my sewing and design skills. 

But there is one area, where I have struggled daily.

 Egg and her current camera, taken by a friend with a Nikon 5D

For twelve months, the photography has been a challenge.

I've changed lenses, backgrounds, lighting techniques, improved my Photoshop game. And still photographs were hit or miss for me. More miss than hit. 

Photography is the currency of a craft. It is the glue of a blog, what drives sales on Etsy and what can make or break your ability to tell a story.

It took my thirteen year old, AKA Egg, taking a photography course at the Museum of Fine Arts this summer for the issue of what is a good camera to be explored.

Egg is an amazing photographer. After her course, she decided she wanted to save up for a better camera. She researched, went to stores, talked to the pros, read reviews and became fixated on the Nikon 5300. My connection to the 5300 was to supply Egg with paid chores to help her save up.

That all changed last week when I brought my camera into Hunt Photo to be cleaned. I started playing with Egg's dream camera. I realized what a good camera can do. I'm only a few months behind Egg.

The 5300 is amazing. It captures how I see. 

Next week, Hunt is having a Trade Show. Between now and then we will be figuring out just exactly how we will do this. But we're doing this.

Next year just became a bit clearer.

unedited, straight from the 5300 to my chip to my blog

unedited, straight from the 5300 to my chip to my blog

unedited, straight from the 5300 to my chip to my blog

Doll Dressmaking Series: Sewing on Trim

There are all kinds of trim and all kinds of ways to sew on trim. In my last dressmaking post, I covered making bias trim and sewing it on by hand. In this post I will show you how to sew bias trim on with your sewing machine. 

Sewing on bias trim with your sewing machine

Pin bias trim on. Other than the end pins that secure the folded end, I keep the pins horizontal. With the pins horizontal, it is often possible to sew alongside of them with the machine, without hitting them.

If you are meticulous, you can measure to make sure your trim is an even distnace from the bottom. I eyeball it, after all these are doll clothes and a bit of wabi-sabi goes with the look.

Pinning your trim so you can sew.

I sew most straight edged trim on with my edge stitch foot. I love this foot! Many sewing machines come with one. They also can be purchased. A great foot to have–there are many things it can do besides make sewing on trim a breeze. 

It has a guide that runs along the edge of trim or fabric, because the guide is guiding by the fabric edge, it keeps your stitches in a straight line and in an even distance from the edge. To change your distance from the edge, move your machine's needle more or less to the right or to the left.  

With this foot top stitching will look perfect, and if you've ever tried stitching in the ditch, this makes that easier. Some good info on this foot can be found:

Here

and

Here

The edge stitch foot: the best

I typically move my needle almost to the extreme left.

As soon as your presser foot is holding down the folded edge of the fabric, pull out that first pin. Begin sewing. The guide will be along the edge of your fabric and slightly to the left your needle will be stitching. Do the same for the other side of the trim.

Using an edge stitching foot for trim

Using an edge stitching foot for trim

Start with one trim, but more can be better.

If you do not have en edge stitch foot, you can sew on trim with a regular foot. 

1. Use a point on your foot as the guide.
2. The guide should follow the edge of the fabric.
3. If you have a needle down option, this can help.
4. Have the needle slightly to the left of the guide.
5. You will need to take pins out as you go.

Using a regular foot

It's fun to play with sewing on trim combinations.

Five Things to Think About When Teaching your Child to Sew by hand, A Guest Post

One night scrolling through Instagram, I noticed the cute projects that Trixi Symonds uses to teach children to sew. I had spent the week teaching two girls to sew on the machine and had struggled with the hand sewing aspect. This was her specialty. So, I reached out to Trixi, who blogs at Colouredbuttons.com.  Both her blog and her book "Sew Together, Grow Together" have great hand sewing projects for kids.

We thought a collaborative post would be a great way to bring our different skills together. Today is the first in a series. On her blog I discuss five things to think about before letting a child sew on the machine. 

And Trixi has written five things to think about when teaching a child to hand sew:

My youngest daughter’s name is Yiscah. She first started sewing when she was  three. I vividly remember how she used to peek into the room whenever I was teaching a class so she could watch the older girls sew. After every class she’d ask me why she couldn’t join in. Being the wise parent, I told her that she was too little just yet but she always insisted she wasn’t. One day I decided to let her sew something simple and to my surprise, she did a pretty good job… and she altered forever my ideas about when a child can begin to start sewing. 

I still find people who believe, as I once did, that children have to be a bit older before they start sewing. Not true. So here are some tips to help you maximize enjoyment and minimize problems when your child begins sewing at a young age.

1. Getting Them Excited

There are lots of ways to get your child excited about sewing. Showing them a book of projects and letting them choose what they wish to make is always a good idea … as is letting them choose their fabrics and the colors of their embroidery floss. The basic rule here is simple: the more they do by themselves, the more they’ll enjoy it. 

Even if they can’t manage the sewing on a project they’ve chosen, just watching Mum involves them more deeply than we might suspect and is a sure way to ignite their desire to sew something all by themselves. 

          Museum of Contemporary Art Workshop 2014

2. Using good quality materials 
Good materials are essential for a good experience. Sewing supplies are not expensive, so make sure you choose good quality felts, fabrics and embroidery floss. 

Acrylic felts are the least expensive but they can feel a bit hard and scratchy to 
sew with. I personally love using wool blend felts as they’re soft, easy to sew with 
and reasonably priced. Also, instead of using sewing cotton, I prefer to use embroidery floss, and I recommend using a brand like DMC or Anchor as cheaper products tend to break.

Use an embroidery needle with a large eye that makes it easy to thread. Make sure your needle isn’t blunt. Sewing with a blunt needle can be difficult and frustrating. And it’s a good idea to first sew a few stitches yourself in order to check that everything works as it should.

Museum of Contemporary Art Workshop 2014

3. Stressing safety 
Explain to your child that scissors and needles are sharp and can be dangerous if  not used sensibly. In classes I stress that needles have to be put back in containers and we always do a floor search to check for needles that may have dropped. Scissors are always closed and put point down in a jar after sewing. 

It doesn’t really matter what safety behaviors you decide on, what matters is that your child sees that you treat these things with caution and knows that this is what you must do when you sew. I’ve found that when children really want to do something that requires responsibility, they have no difficulty behaving as they 
should.

 Museum of Contemporary Art Workshop 2014

4. Accepting that wonky is ok 
Young children begin to sew with large, wonky stitches and their sewing lines are often crooked. With a little practice, however, their stitches rapidly improve. Don’t do the  work for them. Let them sew their own stitches and they will be proud of what they have accomplished. 

Sometimes young children’s work becomes messy simply because they forget to look at 
what they are doing. A gentle reminder to look at their work while sewing can bring 
about a miraculous improvement. Hand sewing doesn’t require excessive concentration and the modest demands it does make will actually help to improve your child’s ability to concentrate.

           Museum of Contemporary Art Workshop 2014

 Museum of Contemporary Art Workshop 2014

5. Making the projects your own 
There’s nothing wrong with copying a project exactly as it’s given but this never really 
compares with the feeling you get when you make a project your own. So don’t be afraid 
to adapt things, to change them, and to make them to suit your own and your child’s 
interests and wishes. 

You can also drop in to Mollymoo Crafts where Michelle has adapted Baby in a Pouch. The original project is small enough to fit into the palm of a child’s hand but Michelle and her daughter wanted something that could be hugged, so they made the baby and her pouch much larger giving the project a very different feel.

Museum of Contemporary Art Workshop 2014

Doll Dressmaking Series: Making your own fabric trim

I often make fabric trim for my doll clothing. It gives me the flexibility to create exactly what I need and it's not hard. You just need the right tool. The Clover bias tape maker. They come in a range of sizes. You can buy them individually or as a set. Although I have used all of my set, I use the 1/2 inch most frequently.

Once you have selected your fabric, cut a one inch strip. 

Cut a one inch strip. Cut a long strip, then you will have extra trim for later.

The trick to this gadget is getting your fabric through correctly from the start.  I have found the easiest way to do this is to use a large needle with a knotted thread attached to the end of your fabric strip. Dangle the needle through the bias maker starting with the wider yellow side and when it appears out the other end, pull it and the fabric will come with it.

The trick to this gadget is getting your fabric through correctly from the start. 

Iron your fabric as you pull it through. it works best to do a little at a time. Once you are done, there will be a right side and a side where the edges of the fabric show.

Iron a few inches at a time. 

Bias can be used for waist band trim or trim along the bottom of a skirt. I sew the waist band trims on by hand and the skirt trims usually by machine. In another post I will show you tricks to sewing trims on by machine. 

I generally sew waist trims on by hand. Most of my dress bodices are lined and sewing by machine through both layers can be tricky and often does not look good. So to avoid problems, I hand sew it, which is usually quick, neater and more accurate.

Start by pinning your trim in place. Fold under at least 1/4 inch at the two ends. 

How to make Bias Trim for Doll Dresses

I begin with sewing the bottom edge in place. This edge is the one that needs to match up accurately with the top of your skirt, so best to start here. Take small edge stitches. See how very little of the stitching shows inside your dress.

Start on the bottom edge, since that is the edge that needs to be accurately lined up.

Very little will show inside if you sew by hand.

The right waist band can make a simple dress look finished.

Your dress is done! And Save your leftovers. I have a little basket of all my bias trims. If I'm not sure what to add to a dress, I will look here first.

A basket of options.