7.24.2004 Industrial patterns...and more.
I've long thought that a
way to disseminate new information about body sizing and ergonomic fit
would be to develop an entirely new sort of pattern format (which could be
difficult to teach) to provide templates that others could then use to develop
their designs. Additionally, these patterns could form the basis of design for a
company that currently lacks their own patterns (or the means to develop
their own) or be useful to an existing company that desired some
experimentation with regard to their current modeling of fit. After thinking
about it a bit, I also realized that an industrial pattern could provide the
basis of instruction in industrial methods which is something most people
seem to want. So, in a nutshell, that's what I've been working on. I just
haven't written about it.

I'm working on the format that the pattern instruction should take; the
design of the education as it were. This is more difficult than it sounds. It's
very difficult to design a way to train people to do things that are usually
taught standing side by side and one on one. What I've done is to make a
sample product from a sample industrial pattern and photograph the process
step by step. Ideally, this process should be video-taped but I don't know
when I'll be able to do something like that, so for now it's basic photographs
boiled into jpegs. Once I'm confident of the instructional format, you'll hear
about it (if you've registered here or at my commercial site,
http://www.designer-entrepreneurs.com).

Btw, I've been reading two excellent books on the topic. One is Train of
Thoughts by John Lenker. It's marketed to be about designing an effective
web experience but that's such a cursory description as to be insulting of the
intellect that generated it. It's about designing the presentation of information
to people in ways that interest and enlighten them and without insulting their
intelligence in the process. Absolutely thought provoking. The other book is
Information Anxiety2 by Richard Saul Wurman, aka project
leader/mastermind of the mindboggling web (and print) project known as
UnderStAnding (Understanding USA). Find that by going to
http://www.understandingusa.com; it's an amazing demography resource.
Anyway, Wurman's book Information Anxiety2 is information architecture,
pure and simple. The man is absolutely brilliant and much more interesting
than I can express right now.

I digress. I'll be loading a sample of this edu-format next week as a test
project (available from this page). It's a demonstration of how to make welt
pockets. What people don't realize is that the reason welt pockets look so
good in rtw is because we use automated equipment, specifically, the
machine is called a "Reece" machine (and welt pockets are known as "reece
pockets") and brand new, models start at about $25,000. What I've done is
designed the sewing process to follow the actions of how the machine does
the work. So, you'll end up folding and sewing the thing up the way a reece
machine does it. Oh, and "Reece" is a sewing machine company. They make
all kinds of cool machines used by sewn product manufacturers. And I'll bet
you could find their website at reece.com.

Oh, and in the process of sewing up this model (which is a leather vest), I
must cite the grace and helpfulness of my merry assistant. This photo is only
a second after she completed her inspection of threads (ripped them off the
machine with her teeth so I don't think they met with her approval).



















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This site was last revised July 26, 2004