Greetings snugbugs! It’s a strangely sticky night for northern Minnesota and I’m trying to settle in after a long day of innkeeping, marketing clienting, sewing and a bit of plotting. I was up at 5 to get an early grab-an-go breakfast ready for guests at our B&B, Northern Comfort, and it’s been a full day since then. But it’s been nearly a week since the last post, so it’s time for an update!
The countdown is on! It’s the 23rd of September and set up for our first show is October 14th and 15th, which means 21 days ’till we pack up the van and head out. Over the next few days, Jeff will be clearing a space in our antique shop and studio that’s the same size as our booth at the first event, Cozy Cottage in the Woods. We’ve got a 15 x 10-foot space, so there’s a bit to fill. In addition to the 3 Snugbugs clothing, we’ll be lugging along our soaps and candles, some of our favorite vintage items and a few other treasures we’ve been playing with, including some hand stamped silver plate that we’ve made into super sweet herb markers that I may or may not be able to actually let go of when the time comes.
Last weekend mom and I got all of the fabric cut for the line, a little ahead of schedule as I had originally planned to get the basics cut last weekend and the ‘fancy’ (i.e. I wasn’t 100% sure on the designs) cut this weekend, but we powered through. That was a good thing, as my week ended up being fairly hectic and I put mom off from coming out to help with production a few days as I just wasn’t organized enough to send her off to work on her own.
She DID come over a few times, though and I was pleased with how well it worked out. I broke all of the garments into chunks and we’re doing all of one task at once. So the first order of business was assembling and pressing the miles of binding tape needed, as that’s my favorite way to finish necks and sleeveless armscyes. We’d already cut and bundled everything, so mom pulled out all the ‘strips’ from each garment bundle while I worked on some client work. Then we teamed up in the sewing room. Mom measured out and arranged shorter binding pieces into lengths long enough for each sleeve and neckline and I was at the sewing machine, connecting the smaller strips into longer, then handing back to mom who was at the ironing board, folding in half lengthwise and steaming. We cut pieces of twine the length needed for the binding for each sleeve and neckline, so it was easy for her to measure out everything without having to remember the actual lengths.
We reconvened today and finished up some embellishments that will likely end up on the skirts — lots of zigzagging and pinking of edges was involved, plus mom learned how to use the ruffler foot. While she worked on the embellishments and stay stitching all the curved edges, I sorted through the labels I had on hand and created some new ones. The picture above was kind of fun, in sorting through everything I realized I still had some of the very first 3 Snugbugs labels that I made while still in Minneapolis! I used those labels mainly for pincushions, which I still love making and wish I had more time for! I also had one of the Staunton-era labels which is now pinned up on my bulletin board. Those labels were used in all the samples I made when working on the first designs for 3 Snugbugs clothing. Today I reworked again in a version for Embarrass. I love my little collection of labels! I might be moving from place to place, but our little basset logo keeps following along!
Mom and I wrapped up by finishing most of the darts on the slipdresses and frocks. I sewed and she pressed.
Planning has been a bit difficult, as I don’t really have a concept of how much we can get through while we’re both working. But, if we work through things as scheduled, by this time next week we should be working on final tagging, pressing and labeling. I suspect I might have shorted how much time is needed for applying bindings to necklines and sleeves, though — always takes longer than I think it will!
See you back here, same snugbug-time, same snug-bug place (or thereabouts) — or if we’re not already friends on Instagram, head over there where I might be posting more process photos during the week. Or…. I might just post a lot of pictures of basset hounds and chickens, since they are such fun models!
