What do you want to be when you grow up?

Posted by Julie

I sewed my own “Beanie Babies” as a child.  That’s right,  I sewed ‘em up and stuffed ‘em with rice.  I think that was the first hint that I might become a soft goods designer… or one of Santa’s elves.

When these plastic pellet- filled plush toys became a craze, I was just the right age to want them.  But I was also just the right age to be required to use my own money to buy them. And when deciding what to spend my precious birthday money on, N SYNC discs were more of a priority to me than Beanies, so I never accumulated too many of the little critters. 

However, not wanting the Beanie fad to completely pass me by, I resorted to sewing my own.  I had already been sewing clothing for my Barbie Dolls for a couple of years, so why not plush toys?  I wasn’t to be trusted using my mother’s sewing machine yet , so I completely hand-stitched my first couple of Beanies. I even made my own little heart-shaped tags for them with made up names, just like the real deal.  I’ve always been obsessed with every little detail–perhaps another hint of what was to come in my adult life.

Stop the rampant abuse of textile terms!

Posted by Bryan

If you’ve ever bought a suitcase, laptop bag, or camera bag, you’ve probably read product descriptions (or listened to sales people) toss about the term “denier.” Unfortunately, most of what you hear is completely wrong (first of all, it’s pronounced “DEN-yer,” not “den-YAY”). It’s amazing how many companies are in the business of using textiles, yet completely misuse or abuse the word. Well, we won’t stand for it any more.

If you really want to know what it means (either because you love digging into technical details, or you want some ammo for trivia contests, or you want to be fun at parties, or you just have a lot of time on your hands), read on. If not, wait for a more interesting post.