A few weeks ago Joan Hawley was chatting about Fall Quilt Market and mentioned her fascination with Clover’s New Yo-Yo tool. So when a box arrived from Clover with new stuff including samples of each size, I have been speculating on some sort of extreme Yo-Yo Project.

One of the interesting new magazine for sewists is Cutting Edge

I can’t wait to hear what Joan has to when she see the the Winter Issue and this fun project

Cutting Edge – Wild Things p.78-79

It is just giving me visions of a HUGE Yo-Yo-Purse, covered in Tiny Yo-Yo’s on Joan’s arm, or for me perhaps on the back of a Jacket, just have to decide if I should just read the directions in the magazine or try using the Clover Tools as a “template” to make a HUGE tool from card board and then on to a “PROJECT”

Just something silly to think about and maybe do during the long cold days of winter

Whether it is a block or swatch and sketch, it all starts with the design concept created by the Designer.

Hardly a day goes by that someone in some “designer” group does not ask “What’s Selling”

Design is like art, those who sell best may have all the technical skills to do what’s popular, creating “on demand” and they are one type of designer.

In those same discussions there are also those who make the extremely valid point,
Long term success is when the Designer chooses to take the risk of making their own kind of music and first producing the design and then worrying about where to sell it.

Everything after that “might” be done by hired guns or by the Designer, but there are a number of separate tasks that “someone has to do” in order for a design to move from mind to the runway or pattern or chart.

Not necessarily in order, but here are a few of those tasks
• Pattern Writing
• Tech Editing
• Pattern Testing
• Model Maker
• Photography
• Illustrations
• Romance Language

and more.

The Goal of this series is to share my perspective and hopefully you will add your comments and ideas. But the place to start, well, perhaps some music will help Something LIke the Mama’s & Papa’s … Make Your Own Kind Of Music

Wheat

P.S. To read more posts in this series, select the category

It Is All Just Business
from the side bar or Search for Designer Resources

Designer Resources is about the functions that enable a designer to offer the consumer the best possible product.

These functions are often done by the Independent Designers themselves or as a service they “hire”

In some cases, the various functions might be done “by the same person” whether that is the designer or someone hired for the task.

What is important to the success of your product is that SOMEONE does each task and we recognize that they are very separate functions.

Not everyone is good at everything – but as my early telecom mentors taught me, Stare & Compare can be a very useful tool – maybe that’s why I have long been a fan of “web pages that suck.com”

You can learn a lot from studying what is “not good”

HTH

Wheat

P.S. To read more posts in this series, select the category

It Is All Just Business
from the side bar or Search for Designer Resources

I love the quilt art list, forget the awe inspiring links to the fabulous work of these folks,

My favorite feature is that hardly a day goes by that something is shared to make me giggle, like yesterday’s story about a problem with an artists digital camera and adjusting lighting trying to eliminate an odd shadow that kept appearing.

That is until her husband mentioned her bangs seems to be blocking either the flash or the lens…

(Name with held to protect the guilty)

How apropos of the season that DC Area Artist Betsy True shared this note:

” Periodically we have the discussion on odd things that are mailed. Here’s a
related photo that was in the November 2006 Smithsonian magazine

Which links to a specific photo on the

Smithsonian website:

Reminds me of TH’s story about sending building materials to Alaska.

If you would like to see some of Betsy’s quilt art, I have added her to the Blog-A-Venturers in the side bar.

Thank you Betsy for my late morning giggle

Peace of the Season

Wheat

If you frequent group and forums dedicated to Designers, Teachers & Retailrs, hardly a month goes by that someone does not “come on”, post a message about how they are in some way new (New to Designing, Teaching, Show Owning or just new to the list)

Usually these message go on to ask for advice on some subject and FWIW, this is why I read those groups more than anything else the answers and ideas often inspire other ideas, or add to existing plans or otherwise modify my “business plans”.

SO for those just starting out, IF I had it over to do again I wish I had listened YEARS earlier when TH and Dave McCormick and all the great programmers who tried to get me to stop wasting valuable coding time and learn the basics of CSS.

And here is where I plug the book I call my Web BIble,

HTML for the World Wide Web with XHTML & CSS: 5th Ed.

By Elizabeth Castro.

ISBN: 0321130073

Peach Pit Press