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Monday, 15 April 2013

Working in the clothing trade

I thought I'd pop a few pictures of the place where I'm doing a spot of work at the moment. I drive down a country road. Pass the flower growers' paddocks full of purple and white. I'm not sure what flowers they are but the are very picturesque in the morning sunshine. Left into another country road, passing paddocks of magnificent Murray Grey cattle, and a bit further along, a strawberry farm. No traffic, apart from maybe the occasional tractor. I park outside a house,walk across a lawn, to this....


 A Garage. But inside it is like this....
The cutting room!

My patterns

The other garage. 3 people work here.They are having their lunch out on the deck in the sunshine

And this is Cheryl. It's her factory.
Every day she needs to get enough work cut for her machinists . About 40 garments a day for the 2 machinists. No taking days and days to make garments here!

I'm really enjoying being here. Just walking across the lawn to the main house to get things or ask something is a real treat .
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2 comments:

  1. Juliet20 April 2013 at 14:19

    40 garments a day??? They must all be cut and pinned in advance, right? And sewn in a production line a la Ford style, not all one at a time?

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  2. Apples and Pears20 April 2013 at 19:27

    PINS??? Not likely! I've learnt heaps about cutting this month. First you lay out the fabric in the most economical way. It may not always be the entire garment, maybe the skirts fit well, but the rest of the garment wastes space, so you work out how much fabric you need for each part of the lay, then cut a pile of fabric. Say, six of each colour each size, so you could have 24 layers on your pile. Cut them out with the cutter (until someone cuts through the electrical cord accidentally! that was me!) Pile them all up with a pattern piece to show the size at the bottom, and then repeat till you have the entire lot cut. And very often you are working with 2 sizes at the same time, so you have to keep your wits about you in case you cut things wrong.
    Shove it in a basket, walk across the lawn( I love that bit!) and give it to Hini or Shirley
    They will pick up the pattern pieces and sew all the shoulders, overlock bits , etc. But yes , they are made in a production mode, but there are only 2 machinists, and they work on different styles. I am in awe of their efficiency.

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