It’s coming time to open up the shop once again. Networking and professional mingle is my absolute favorite thing to do as a shop owner (besides pattern drafting, sample making, preproduction rundown, cut, sew, QC, etc. Just anything but billing and taxes) and here is a chance to get some people together. Come if you are in the market for wholesale fabric, development and production services, or any of the like. Come also if you are curious about the fabrics that are available domestically or want to feel out the scene. Come also if you are looking to get inspired.
Open shop! August 23 + 24, 2023 from 10AM-5PM. Stop by and take it in!
Saturday, May 20, 12 pm-7pm
I am very excited to open the shop after a long hiatus for pandemics, childbearing, etc. and to invite some of the brands we work with to show off their amazing goods. Come by and take a look at the range of our work: Children’s, resort and swim, Men’s, Women’s and unisex fashions, as well as sports uniforms and home/personal care goods.
I will be there to talk production and you can meet some of the brand owners themselves. Check out the selection, see what local people are up to, and bring home a few new favorites!
Find us in the southeast bottom corner of the Thorp Building! 1618 Central Ave NE MPLS – Suite 2
Park south of the big white building where Central Ave and the railroad tracks come together. The first door on the south side of the building (facing the tracks) is your way in, then follow signs to the shop! Suite 2 in the basement, near painter Toni Gallo.
I know it’s a little late for a year-end recap, but gee whiz! I’ve been busy! So maybe it’s a good sign that I’m late in reporting what went on in 2021 – maybe it means that the 2022 round-up will be a longer and even more diverse list of projects. Here’s a taste of some of the work, changes, and new additions of the last year.
Production work completed in 2021
- 30 blanket wool ponchos
- 516 cushion inserts and covers
- 61 luxury bathrobes
- 20 herb filled eye masks
- 50 jersey dresses
- 20 printed totes
- 20 printed mini backpacks
- 40 printed zipper pouches
- 51 vintage-inspired uniform blouses
- 52 organic fleece snap front hoodies
- 47 kids’ thermal pullovers
- 89 clergy tunics for women
- 54 clergy vests for women
- 88 blanket wool coats
- 34 fleece sweatpants
- 172 baby carriers
Cutting Room Work in 2021
- all of the above, plus:
- 130 maxi skirts
- 311 wrinkle-free tanks
- 497 travel face masks
- 889 COVID face masks
- 40 stretch jersey dresses
- 40 beanie hats
- 110 adaptive knit jumpsuits
Thrilling Acquisitions
- A staging table – a dedicated spot to prep bundles after stack cutting
- 3 additional sewing machines – A brand new Juki MO-6841 overlock with tape guide (inserts elastic or twill tape into the seam; A brand new Juki 8700-7 automatic single needle; a used Brother DB-2 automatic single needle from my friend down the hall. Now we have three sewing pods; imagine all the simultaneous work that can be done.
- Amazing skill at adjusting and fixing the above machines. One (that’s me!!) learns by necessity.
- The Whole Space: my dear shop mate retired from upholstery and I discovered myself as the mostly happy single tenant of the entirety of Suite 2.
- Mini Fridge, Microwave, Broom, Ladder, Trash Can etc, see above.
- A Pregnancy, actually. Stay tuned for that
- 100’s of dollars worth of sewing machine feet – some were completely worth it
- A cutting buddy! I trained a very good person to cut with me in times of need.
- A family of dress forms, all drummed up used from friends and colleagues. Now available: Dad Bod, “Plus” Gal, and Little Kiddle in addition to the very unreal 36/26/36 Wolf lady form I have used for over a decade.
2021 had coronavirus, riots, summer heat and drought, and rumors of war. There were new clients, changes in the shop and in our family. It was a wild ride and we got through it with some creativity and plenty of mutual aid! Here’s to a bonkers 2022 round up including a long list of super fun and exciting completed projects. Including pregnancy and labor!
p.s. all links to clients’ websites have been provided with written permission from the client.
I am raising at least one boy (sex for child #4 yet unknown) and he is boy through and through. He is athletic, energetic, and deeply involved in his play – or art, or reading, or really anything he does besides chores. And he gets messy.
Okay, that was a long time ago. But you see what it does to his clothes. Stains, holes, tears, it’s tough to be a garment for a boy.
Recently I met a lady who is raising two adventuresome boys, and she was looking to support the playful, creative, and curious spirit of the child with a garment that could allow for movement and durability. It’s meant to be the ultimate play pant and I was lucky enough to help her develop and produce its first run.
It’s called the Play Hero pant and it features a soft, organic cotton base fabric that allows for a full range of motion – all the climbing, stooping, leaping included – with durable cordura nylon reinforcements at the knee and seat. A special bonus: the seat pad doubles as a pocket for stashing treasures.
The cordura is rigid but the pants don’t wear stiff: here is the back stretch panel in action our model, my 9 year old son – a sturdy but not particularly big fellow wearing a size 8:
This past winter he lost his snowpants a mere 3 weeks after their purchase new; more classic boy. The Play Hero pant quickly and efficiently replaced them as his all-around outdoor pant. Check out the pant, the story behind Wild Mill Kids and all their other offerings here.
I would like to share with you a nice invention for the shop. If you can guess what it is before I tell you I’ll give you some fun points that you can spend when Coronavirus goes away – just drop me a line and I can credit your account.
Did you figure it out? It’s a tube turner, but if you want to wear it as an earring you can have fun points for that also. A job we are currently working on in the shop requires a 6″ strip of fabric to be sewn into a tube and then turned so that the seam is inside and the right side of the fabric is out.
Usually turning a sewn piece is easy because there might be a stitched corner into which I can wedge my turning rod. This piece is a tube so there is nothing for the rode to push against, and it’s too narrow for fingers to fit easily inside for turning.
My fancy Tube Turner 2020 pins to the sewn tube and gives us a nice anchor point – we fit the triangular hat piece over the pointed end of the rod and push the tube of fabric down over the hat and rod. As the tube passes over the Tube Turner it slips from inside out (Right Sides Together) to right sides out. And we are ready to move on to the next step.
Allow me just a quick moment to introduce you to one of my favorite projects to work on here in the Aletheia shop: Nine56 Studio. It is a very classy young brand with a vision for every day clothing that is polished and comfortable at the same time. They call it elevated loungewear – and while I do not spend very much time lounging in the shop, you better believe I have a couple of Nine56 pieces in my regular rotation.
I mean, sometimes I do get a rice krispie bar and a coffee and eat it at my desk. But usually I’m working my butt off, because I have to.
You can see the aesthetic: clean, simple, just a little easy, and coordinating, and with luxury fabrics (organic cotton on the left!). But beyond that, the thing I like most about working on Nine56 pieces are the little construction upgrades throughout the collection – bartacked pockets, stitched-thru waistbands, and the continuous bound neckline-becomes-tie – which in production makes one feel like a sewing goddess.
Which, you might be asking, are the pieces that you own? Of course! That would be the two most fabulous pieces in the collection – the David crop pant in black, and the Shelby wrap top in green.
The David is cozy enough to sleep in but I also get compliments when I wear it out. And here am I in a very meh BlackBerry Selfie, showing off a little red hair against an awesome garment-dyed shade of dark mossy green.
Growing the Line-up
A sewing contractor loves sewing machines as much as she loves her shop, her work, and her business in sum. For me, my sewing line-up is like a large family which I have raised to adulthood, mostly with success (there is still a machine that asks me for money now and then); I beam with pride as I recount their interesting professions – each one is really good at at least one thing – and brag about what they have done with their lives (tote bags, crop pants, etc). It’s also like baby fever that never subsides: I am always wishing for just one more.
There is a reason why you should love sewing machines too, whether you are looking to have a design produced or just like purchasing good designs: proper machinery defines the type and level of goods that can be made in any shop or factory, and also the time it takes to produce them. For instance, a better quality shirt will often have a flat fell seam along the side and running up through the sleeve. This is a special seam that wraps all the cut fabric edges into a unique fold and is held flat with two rows of stitching. The finished look is neat and uniform, and it is a strong seam that wears well. Without the right machine, this type of seam would take at least three passes with a basic single needle machine – one to attach front and back, one to catch the folded seam allowance, and one to complete the double stitching look… and quite possibly a trip to the ironing board somewhere in there to make sure the fold is consistent. Plus a fair amount of struggling to topstitch into the narrow part of the sleeve where it meets the cuff. With the right machine, one can do all of this in one pass, and expect a professional result without the struggle. Hence, a beautiful finish done in less time, costing the designer less to make, and allowing that designer to sell at retail at a lower price point.
It’s good for everyone! Fun for me to have all these unique machines, more options in design and construction, and a reasonable price point at the end.
So here are the newest machines in the line-up: an industrial buttonholer, the Reece S2, and the Chandew 581 button sew, which I bought from a retired tailor on a whim. Fraternal twins, you might say.
In the past I have used a vintage domestic to make buttonholes. They were beautiful buttonholes but man, they were slow to make. This new-to-me Reece can sew and cut an entire shirt placket in less time than I could make a single buttonhole on my old setup. Jackpot! And it’s a similar story with the button sew – a single button, sewn on by hand, with all the threading, getting caught in thread, running out of thread, sewing, winding, tacking, and trimming can easily take 2 minutes each (which is 100% cost prohibitive in production!!). Now I am sewing on buttons in a true fraction of the time, and passing along the efficiency to the labels I sew for.
I won’t get rid of my vintage domestic though. I’ll take it with me to my grave.
I’ve been busy, busy in the shop as of late, getting to know a new-to-me clothing line and prepping a couple of their styles for production. Meet De Nova, a bathrobe that looks nice, feels nice, and is really quite fun to sew.
The sample is in an off-white and black stripe french terry but there are 3 colorways to sew up – and two lengths, long and short. It’s a bit of an organizational feat keeping all the styles, sizes, and colors in their proper homes but I know I can do it.
The biggest challenge thus far (besides the timeline, which is always a challenge, so nothing noteworthy there) is finding THREAD to match the teal. I think I looked at all the options from my supplier in turquoise, blue, and green and none of them look good – nor even acceptable. I’m going to have to get tricky on this one.
Check out their online store for some nicer shots: mydenova.com
Great news! The machine I’ve been hoping and longing for has finally arrived. No, it’s not a human baby, it’s a foot press for securing snaps without sewing, grommets and rivets without pounding… and as far I can tell, attaching whatever hardware a design may call for.
Right Side! 
Left Side!
The last time I needed snaps regularly was with my reclaimed fabric children’s line, in which I used a 3-piece hard plastic assembly to hold my snaps in place while I fumbled for the hammer and whacked the snap (and my thumbs) into place. Now I am set up to use this little baby for ligne 20 ring snaps – once the dies are set up, all I need to do is set the hardware in the dies and step on the pedal. I will use both hands to grip the fabric and there will be no hammering. It takes a fraction of the time. So, less tedium for me and less $$$ for you and your customers. Other fabulous features:
- machine base is 20″ X 20″ – nice and compact for a low-overhead studio and completely moveable
- a built-in hardware tray! No searching for studs and sockets
- fresh coat of paint thanks to its former owner, “Jim”
- a history: it was an extra from the J.W. Hulme bag factory in St. Paul
- 1/4 of the price of a new machine. YES
I am planning to give it a spin this week with a set of canvas totes – I can’t wait to see it in action.
Yes, the factory.
It was time to get out of the basement long ago but the stars were lining up on their own time. I’m proud to give you a short, short introduction to my fashion factory, right at the heart of the NE arts district – though, truth be told, it’s a “garden studio”, so a little lower than the heart, maybe liver might be a more accurate metaphor.
I am setting the workshop up as the ultimate lean factory floor. No unnecessary tool will occupy a square inch of space here. Every useful corner will be utilized. I purchased exactly the equipment I will need to cut and sew for fashion and spared the expense on unnecessary luxuries.
The view from the Juki 6500
Necessary luxuries, however, are another story. Though we are in the basement, this garden studio has lots of natural light – and curtains make it optional. Plants freshen the air when we close up the windows for winter. I have a sink adjacent to my steam iron so I can save the 20 paces when it comes time to refill the water reservoir. And there’s a mini-fridge.
Union Special, Rimoldi, Juki, Singer.
A few new finds are in the machinery lineup – and I must admit, I’ve never had such a buyer’s high as when I brought home my new-to-me Singer bar tack machine. It’s a joy and a thrill to operate, especially when the thread trimmer automatically finishes off the job. I now have one good machine for whatever type of clothing job may arise – so keep ’em coming.
I’m ready to show the place off. Come visit!
Contract Apparel Sewing in MN - Low minimum cut and sew 