You know, it was surprisingly delicious…

The Hummingbird 30 Minutes a Day Sewalong kicks off today!  The flickr group is already been a hive of activity, with people sharing fabric choices and getting tips for proportions and sizing.  That’s what most of Day 1 is about- getting together all the Hummingbird project tools, notions, and supplies and sorting out the Top sizing.

Now, honestly, the Top goes together in about an hour or even less for experienced sewists and we’re stretching it out to five days.  I know many of you participating in the sewalong are more experienced, and might find the pace a little slow at first.  It’s perfectly ok to make multiples or get ahead if you want (each completed Hummingbird Separate counts toward your House’s points), but in the interests of maintaining my sanity I simply can not keep pace with you.  I will only briefly answer questions that I know are addressed in sewalong lessons several days down the line.  Do ask questions, though!

More specifically- Skirt Fitting Day is on Day 9, or next Tuesday.  I have a whole lovely set of photos and troubleshooting tips for you that I’ll publish then.  If you upload skirt fitting pics before then, I can not respond though your Head of House may and you should trust her advice. Thanks for understanding!

Shipping

Last Wednesday, the Aussie Hummingbird and Cabarita orders came in- finally released from customs!  I dropped everything and filled a couple hundred orders:

As far as I know, most people have received their patterns for the sewalong.  If you haven’t and you’d like to join in, please please email me (Stephc at 3hourspast dot com) and I’ll send a pdf your way.  The unfortunate pieces J are in transit to me and to Leila, so we can then ship them very soon.  It took a couple of days to print them, cut them, and send them out- we didn’t want to hold the shipment of your patterns, opting instead to send the pieces separately.  Click here to register for us to send you a paper piece J or to find the 4 page pdf download.

That paper… I’m glad we made the change…

After that whole “Piece J” debacle I was not excited about this batch of patterns.  That is, until I handled them.  Our new printer had sampled out a variety of patterns to me before I decided to work with her, and this paper impressed me then.  It’s translucent and lightweight but durable, dream paper.  When I unpacked the Hummingbird and Cabarita patterns, I was excited all over again, to my surprise.  I hope you like them, too.

The Tiramisu and Bonny paper patterns were delivered late this afternoon.  No trouble at customs, and no missing pieces!  I know what I’m doing tomorrow!! (shipping)  I can’t wait to have all the presale orders cleared out and sent to your sewing rooms.

I also have a class tomorrow night, a brand new crop of lovely baby beginners who will all go home with nicely sewn shopping totes.

And- I found time to sew this weekend!  I sewed a few things for my family (my poor husband has been asking me for pants since last October and now he has two new pairs!) and made a great start on my Hummingbird Dress.  I needed to sew, it had been too many days and my fingers were itching.  I cut my peplum stripes the opposite direction to the stripes on this peplum:

I thought it would help show two different ways and how to accomplish them, so if you decide to play with stripes you can.  I cut plain elbow length sleeves with extra wide binding bands, and I’m playing around with a softly draping bow in the front.  I love a nice dramatic design detail!  Naturally, I’ll be sure to publish the drafting guide for creating my riff on this design using the Hummingbird Top pattern.

I think I might find time to sew it on Wednesday and do a nice Finished Object post!  That’ll be nice after all the computer and shipping work I’ve been doing lately….

Ooooh and check out this excellent pale blue piped Hummingbird Pink out of Germany…. I love it.

And did you see Leila’s Tiramisu Culottes?  Did you? Should we try to get her to write us a hack?

The Hydra was a fearsome beast from Greek mythology- every time one of its heads was cut off, two more grew in its place.  I grew up on these stories, and can’t help thinking about them sometimes.  This weekend, I did not get a chance to sew my Hummingbird Dress or do much of anything because I was again battling my Hydra- Pattern Errata.

Piece J

This is the Hummingbird Skirt pattern that we’ve been working from behind the scenes- five of us testing, revising, tweaking and stitching to ensure you have the best sewing experience possible with your Hummingbird Separates. I sent our final file off to be printed, secure in the knowledge that your back darts would fit, your waistbands would be tidy, and your pockets would be aaaaaamazing.

If you already received your paper Hummingbird Pattern you will see an empty space on your pattern paper where the pocket piece goes.  When I discovered this had happened, I immediately began working on two fixes and also to trace the source of the disparity.   I am very, very sorry this happened to our little bird.

Click here to get the download and/or request a paper pattern piece.  They are being printed now and should be sent out very quickly.

The piece was lost at the last stage of the process, due to a communications glitch between software on two computers.  I had no idea this kind of problem was possible until it happened.   The rest of the pattern is so lovely though!  Check out what’s already cropping up in the Hummingbird Flickr group.

Piece A

Unfortunately, Cabarita was also printed with a piece missing.  It is the small, unassuming Piece A neck binding.  This was caused by another type of miscommunication that often happens at the beginning of working relationships.  Please click here for the downloadable pattern piece and the request form for a paper pattern piece.

While we’re talking Cabarita, I want to squeeze in a little bit of fun- the Cabarita Community Galleries page.  I wasn’t sure whether we’d do these for RiFFs, but I had many requests so here she is!

Delays

And these issues on top of the delays we’ve had getting the shipment prepped for you!  The Southern Hemisphere shipment of Hummingbird and Cabarita patterns are tied up in customs.  I expect to have them Tuesday or Wednesday and will immediately drop everything to send them out when they arrive.

Quality Control

I take your sewing very seriously, and these issues grieve me more than I know how to express in words.  Instead, I’ll tell you the actions I’ve taken lately to tighten up Cake production and quality control:

-Testing: this is done by the Cake team, and the next pattern is almost ready for the set of Red Velvet testers to play with.  This allows me to delve even deeper into fit and fine-tuning the cut, and also means we many people trialling the sewing experience.

-Editorial Checklists: I have been building extensive editorial checklists since early this year.  Putting together a pattern requires more moving parts than I would have thought possible a year ago, and the checklist helps me make sure I’ve included all the relevant information.

-Susan: I hinted before that Susan from Moonthirty was joining the Cake Team.  She helps me test proportion and fit, but that’s not all.  Susan’s role is to help me coordinate the files for printing for each production run and to cast a sharply critical eye over every word and line and piece of the process.

She’s objective because she doesn’t live inside the work in the same way I do.   Susan polishes.  She dots the i’s and crosses the t’s.  This is her special talent, and I’m grateful she’s joining us.   She and I have been building our working relationship in this capacity for a few weeks now.  We’re doubling down our checks and cross-checks for the Red Velvet Collection. (oh yes, oh yes, it’s a collection…)

-Presales: I would never, ever ever have been able to build Cake without your support through the crowd-funded presaling.  However, running a company this way breeds errors of the type I’m handling right now.

I am not running any more presales as the primary source of funds for Cake Patterns productions.

That is not to say we won’t have a big old party online with special introductory prices on patterns (that’s too fun to quit!), but it does mean I am no longer selling you a concept during the presale.  I will be selling you an actual paper pattern I have in my hand- one that I know is precisely the way it should be.  I came to this decision over the weekend, and I believe it is the right one for Cake.  (It will also mean immediate delivery for the next round of patterns!  Hooray!)   The Red Velvet Collection presale is still slated for next month, I will have more on that later.

I apologize for any problems or inconvenience these issues have caused you.  If there’s anything else at all I can do for you, please don’t hesitate to let me know.

I need to be quiet this week on the blogging front while I continue to keep on top of the Hydra and prepare for the Hummingbird Sewalong, and I do so hope I get a chance to make my Hummingbird Dress sooner rather than later!