True story...

The new sewing patterns went to print today and I can finally breath a huge sigh of relief. I wouldn't be lying if I said this was by far the most time-consuming and stressful of all of our pattern releases. And it's probably in part because I became a little (or a lot) OCD in the last moments before handing over the files. Now that it's all over, I think we made the right decisions, but at the time I was second-guessing myself and probably stressing out everyone around me in the process. haha

Case in point, this past Friday I was about to collect all files and burn the disk when I looked at one of our covers and thought it probably needed another "view" shown so everyone out there could easily see that the dress looks so different if sewn with other options and fabric combos. Keep in mind that we've already told the printing company that the files are on their way and they have scheduled their presses accordingly. I called Emalee and Jon over to my desk and presented my idea to them: re-shooting the cover with two models (two views) instead of one. This meant that Emalee had to drop everything and sew a new dress, Jon had to call the printer and say "Stop the presses!", and I had to call my friend Nikki and ask if we could pretty please borrow her adorable daughter for a quickie photo shoot that evening. Luckily all three of these people didn't look at me like I had three heads (or maybe they did behind my back) but we made it work...

Emalee sewed a new version of this dress in record time (seriously, the girl works magic on that sewing machine... sparks fly all around!). Jon got the printing company to agree to receiving the files today (Monday) instead of Friday as expected. And Nikki, brought cute little Anna, all full of smiles over to MODKID HQ after school.

I always let the girls goof off a bit before the real shoot so they can get comfortable with the camera (plus it's a great way for me to play with the lighting and get it just right) so here are a few of the practice shots we took that evening.

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Silly girls...

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Cracking up...

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Cute daydreamy looks...

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Then we got the pose I wanted but lo and behold, they didn't both look "perfect" in it, even though we shot over 50 photos of this pose alone! As you see below, the girls each looked better in a different version of the same shot.

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So that's where my other pal, Photoshop, came to the rescue. Take a girl from here and a girl from there, even out the background, sharpen a little over here, brighten a little over there, some creative cropping and VOILA!

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Then as I was ready to hit SAVE, my computer crashed and I had to start all over again from scratch. The photos were still there, but I lost all the Photoshop work I did for the past hour+. That's when I said "That's it! I'm done for today!" We ordered Chinese take-out, got a couple of beers, let the kids play in the back with the Wii and had a good laugh. On Saturday, I came in and worked my magic, in the quiet and peaceful studio, and the final picture turned out even better than the first one... so I guess everything happens for a reason. ;)

Retailers: if you have a wholesale account, you can log on to our wholesale site and pre-order all the new patterns. For the rest of you, you'll have to wait a couple of weeks to see them all up there... heehee... but I will sneak peek them all as I usually do here, so stay tuned!!

14 comments:

  1. I LOVE it!!! Sorry for all of the stress, but it is so amazing!

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  2. It looks great! I really enjoy the behind the scenes of your business post. I always wonder what it's like for other creatives in their day to day work lives.

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  3. Those girls are too cute for words! So much personality. And their dresses are beyond beautiful as well.

    http://shannonhearts.blogspot.com/

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  4. Annie5:29 PM

    OH WOW! Love this dress so much, Patty. Just like everything you do. Thanks for the look behind the scenes... love posts like these! :) Can't wait to see the rest of the patterns...

    Annie

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  5. Thank you all! Yes, I know now it was the right decision, even if it put us 3 days behind schedule and made everyone work over time. ;) One version has a bubble hem with long sleeves. The other has a straight hem with short cap sleeves. The fabrics alone make them look like night & day... the options *needed* to be shown, and I don't know why I didn't think of it weeks ago when I shot the original cover.

    These are the kinds of things I always wish I could catch or "see" before a pattern goes to print, but it's not always obvious to me at first. ;)

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  6. I have been going through all the 'sewing for little girls' style books on Amazon for months now. Nothing was inspiring me enough to order, some books are too frilly, some books looks too complicated (I am new to sewing) and many just aren't my style. Then I saw your book on pre-order, it looks perfect, just the right amount of girliness AND on trend! So I came to your blog to check out your stuff...and quickly pre-order already. Can't wait!

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    1. I'm glad to hear that, Louise! Hope you enjoy the book. :)

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  7. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  8. Julie Schubert1:26 PM

    Hello, I LOVE this whole collection of fabrics. To choose one, I guess it's the Modern Lotus in Purple. I am definitely going to purchase most of the fabric in this collection.
    Thanks

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    1. Julie, in order to be entered in the contest, you need to leave your comment under the contest post, not this one. But thanks anyway! :)

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  9. Anonymous10:42 AM

    Stargazer is my favorite!!

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  10. They are all fabulous - such gorgeous colors! Love the stargazers - I can almost smell them!

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