Lapped zipper specs

Regarding the drafting specifications for the lapped zipper, all measures are made from the center back seam line (designated as CB). CB is the zero point. You'll add allowances from the zero point of CB.

Normally a garment has a CB seam allowance of 3/8" and this is no exception in the area that lies beneath the zipper inset area. So excepting the length of the zipper inset, the seam allowance is 3/8".

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Lapped zipper template

Continuing in the process review series of the faulty zipper insertion, I've finished drafting and sewing the correction for the lapped zipper application. The sample pattern uses a 7" plastic coil. By the way, this pattern won't work for separating zippers because those are different.


Before you can sew this up, you'll need to download the pdf pattern templates. Print these out full size; they should fit neatly on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper (you'll need 3 sheets). Later today you'll find the step by step sewing instructions once I finish editing the photos. For now, prepare your pattern.

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Nick & Nora: chargeback casualty

A little bird tells me that Nick and Nora, the 20 year flagship manufacturer of high quality ladies pajamas will be shutting their doors. Little bird stresses the company is not going broke but has become fed up over department store chargebacks to the extent that they no longer choose to manufacture. As I wrote in the entrepreneur's guide, department stores are not the choice vendor accounts they once were. 10 years ago, stores withheld payment on invoices for 60-90 days while today it seems most stores are holding paper for 6 months.

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Process review: lapped zipper

Shown are the inside center back zipper insertions of two different dresses from the same manufacturer. This manufacturer was of considerable size, importing their styles into the US from a Chinese contractor to the tune of 100 million dollars in sales in the late 90’s.



While I don’t know all of the company’s problems, the company was sued by Merril Lynch for over 11 million in unpaid loans. If you have two identical closures –regardless of styling- they should be sewn exactly the same way. If you can’t reproduce these kinds of basic garment features with uniformity, it means you don’t know what to do or how to do it. The closures should look more like this:

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Suggestion box

From Fashion-Incubator:

I haven't been getting the comments via email due to a problem with logging in to the mail server on this webhost. I do like my host company very much tho; it's Total Choice Hosting. That's the reason why I haven't been responding to comments left under posting...I wasn't ignoring anybody cause I wasn't getting them and I won't know otherwise unless I scroll through all entries looking for them, so sorry about that.

From the comments left, I see people are leaving suggestions for content which is great. Can we use this entry as the focal of new topics? Also, you can email me here or at yahoo. I haven't even invited anyone or announced this blog yet but once I do, we'll have some more brains to pick. Saundra will be helpful with the embroidery bizness so I'll make an announcement tomorrow.

WOATS

I feel like I'm being set up as a lightening rod. Quite a few people continue to send me messages, calls and tips regarding this new breed of "fashion designer". I'm sensing this is a topic people want to discuss, so come on in. The door is open, comment away.

DE means Designer-Entrepreneur. DEs are lean, pull-manufacturers who scare up the time, talent and resources to produce products they thought of themselves (for the most part). I help DEs. These new people are WOATS (Words On A Tee Shirt). There are several kinds of WOATS. Some of them are genuine artists selling reprints of their work on shirts, some are outgrowths of political and other product sites but I'm not refering to those. I'm talking about self-proclaimed fashion WOATS.

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How to get sizing and grading standards

People ask me all the time for sizing or measurement charts relating to their product lines. There are 2 basic ways to get sizing information. One is to buy it (the subject of this post) or to design it yourself, usually via reverse engineering of your competitor's products (a later post).

Buying sizing information can also be done in two different ways. Many companies use the sizing charts that come in the pattern grading book they've chosen as their house reference and accordingly, I'll list your best options. You can also buy sizing information as a product onto itself. The standard reference house for technical specifications of all industries (in the US) is known as ASTM, the American Society for Testing and Materials.

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