First Day

Day: 1
Hours: 9
Total Hours: 9
Department: Production
Supervisor: Sandi

So I had my first day!  I was asked by Annie to show up 15 minutes -after- everyone else would be showing, so the 'being there early' thing was discouraged.  Regardless I showed up at the Second Cup next to the studio 15 minutes earlier than everyone was suppoesd to be there - and bumped into my supervisor for the day, Sandi!  So she knew I was there early, bonus.

I was introduced to a bunch of the production crew (photos will be added to this post soon).

Sandy is in charge of everything, she sets out everyone's tasks, calls all the suppliers, and contractors, and does the problem solving aspect of garment design.  Sandi makes Annie's most complex and unworking garments work.

Dinesh, also refferred to as Dennis, is the cutter.  He cuts all the sample muslins, final samples, and even does full production cutting of all the garments in house.  After he has done cutting production numbers, the cut pieces are packed and sent to contractors to be sewn.  After he's done cutting sample pieces, Sabina takes them to her segment.

Sabeena is the sample maker and garment detailer.  She puts together muslin samples, detail samples and final samples to make sure hte pattern and directions to the contractors are perfect.  She assists Sandi with problem-solving and also does finishing touches on garments sewn by outside contractors.

Louisse is a multi-task assistant.  He does... whatever needs doing.  I didn't see him much because he was working in Annie's private studio on Friday, grometting t-shirts.

I also met some of the sales staff:  Haley, Annie's daughter, and Zakira (Zakira was manning the shop when I was interviewed, so she was a familiar face).

There are apparently two other interns, but I have yet to meet them.

I was immediately given the task of hand stitching ribbon rosettes to altered t-shirts.  There were 9 rosettes per shirt, and I'm not a terribly quite hand sewer.  I was also being maybe a little too meticulous with my sewing... but those rosettes are ON those shirts and not going anywhere.  It honestly took me most of the day to do, like 6 shirts.

Throughout the day I picked up other minor tasks too.

When Dinesh had to roll up some fabric, I offered to do it so he wouldn't have to waste his more valuable time on such a menial task - I also happen to be quite good at rolling fabric quickly thanks to years at Fabricland and G&S.  I helped him out with laying out paper and fabric for cutting to help him save time, too.

Dinesh also taught me some finer cutting points and had me try to cut out some complicated shapes with their ridiculously large production scissors.  He also showed me how to use the motorized rotary cutter!  I want one!  I'm still too scared of the saw-cutter, though.  It can cut through 50 layers of fabric at once...

Later, Sandi started showing me the sample books and how she organizes having items produced with their 20 or so outside contractors.  She said I could tag along for a trip to a couple of them in the upcoming week!

At the end of the day, I got to the task of sewing buttons onto samples.  I usually sew buttons quite quickly but I really want all my work for Annie to be of particularly high quality, so I only finished one coat by 7.

And that was day one!  More details and photos to come.