As of last Friday, Fashion-Incubator is five years old. Happy birthday to us, happy birthday to us, happy birthday dear uh-us, happy birthday to us.
In blogging terms, five years is practically doddering. Hmm, not sure I should have mentioned that.
A lot of the blogs that started around the same time I did or even after, haven’t been updated in years. That’s not to pat myself on the back, it is always a challenge to come up with content and remain topical. I think a lot of blogs fold because the blogger has moved onto the next phase of their careers. Understandable. In that context, I’ve failed to progress. Hmm, not sure I should have said that either. In today’s economy, treading water is almost a feat.
I’m looking at new changes, challenges and opportunities this year. It’s too soon to wax eloquent but hopefully my efforts will bear fruition. And with mine, yours too. What do you hope to accomplish this year? I love to hear all your plans, it is so inspirational. Here’s to hoping for five more years!
Related:
First Anniversary!
Second Anniversary!
Third Anniversary!
Fourth Anniversary!
Happy Birthday! I don’t know where I would be without Fashion Incubator or you, Kathleen! You have certainly enabled a lot of progress! I hope to see this blog into my personal doddering years! :)
Woohoo! You’ve been right here through much of my current career. Thank you! There’d be a big Kathleen-shaped hole if you were to go dormant.
Congrats on making it five years here at F-I! While it may be a challenge to come up with material to publish, I marvel at your output when the archives are posted each week. Best wishes for the coming year.
Happy birthday!! You are amazing, thank you for taking time out of your day to write such great information day after day in this blog, I’ve learn so much from you, comments from readers, and of course your book. Wondering when your pattern making book is coming out… hint, hint.
Thank you.
(How does one give a blog the bumps?)
And I would be nowhere without any of you! With all of the incredible insight you all leave in comments, there is no doubt that F-I is easily the intellectual leader of its genre.
Judy: it will be difficult to explain this book well and in context. It won’t be a book one can buy to use to make patterns start to finish. Rather, it will be a companion book to any other (or even no) book. It will include all the stuff that is never in pattern books, the boring minutia, a reference book. Like seam allowances for all number of treatments and finishes, what’s customary for interfacing patterns (according to product value/price). How to draft different kinds of stands, the kind of stuff I dislike having to re-invent or rework in my head because I don’t do them frequently enough. In short, it will be a pattern maker’s reference book.
oh my god Kathleen, if you really are working on such a reference book, where do I sign up? that’s the kind of knowledge/information that seems to be missing from… well, from everywhere!
Congratulations, Kathleen! I have learned so very much from you these past five years and I thank you!
Happy Anniversary!
I like the sound of that book. I frequently use an analogy from my former career as a carpenter when discussing building garments. “[Patternmaking] is 50 percent skill, and 50 percent tricks.” Having a reference point for those tricks would be sweet!
I discovered your blog this year as somebody who is interested in how the clothes I buy are constructed. But your blog is so much more, it provides food for thought on many subjects. Happy anniversary and all the best for all your endeavors this coming year!
Happy Anniversary!
I’ve been reading ever since I found this blog. I’m now able to make perfect welt pockets, thanks to you!
Wow Kathleen, if I could only do as much as you have done in the past five years, I would truly be a success!! And that is what you are, a success!!
You have taught me so much and I look forward to putting into practice the things that I have learned. And at the same time continue reading your site, because even though I have learned so much, I feel as if I don’t know enough to start to manufacture yet.
My goals for this year are to:
1. Go to bed at a decent time.
2. Get up early.
3. Stay organized and on top of duties. (My new motto “Slow and Steady Wins the Race”)
4. Work on growing our business and see what happens, if anything!!
Thanks, again for all that you do!!
Oh, and I look forward to your “boring” book!!!!
Congratulations on five years! Thank you for always being here, and for all the help that your blog + book have given me. You are wonderful!
Happy Birthday! I’ve been reading for 3 years , bought the book- it’s very helpful for knitwear designers too. Thanks for all the interesting articles
Happy Birthday F-I!
Kathleen, you and the blog are invaluable. I don’t contribute as much as I used to but will always refer to, recommend, and need F-I and the book. Congrats!
So glad you mentioned treading water as a good thing, I never know if I should feel thankful or depressed that at least my chin is above water ;)
My motto for 2010: “use whatcha got to get whatcha want”
My plans:
*hire someone.. anyone
*create a regular, consistent time to design
*recapture my initial motivation – get out of ‘survival’ mode
*international travel
*love more, laugh hard every day
HAPPY Anniversary! May all your dreams come true in 2010 :)
Your writing has and continues to be a great pilot for me while I’m navigating the wiggly world of knitting design. Your blog and my co. Chic Knits have grown together and the next year looks like more expansion for us while learning and progressing with all the new tools and outlets ever popping on the horizon.
Thanks for all your insight and generosity and here’s to many more years of success!
Happy Anniversary Kathleen :)
Happy Anniversary and Congratulations! You were willing to take the risk to start this forum and you have done so much more than just ‘keeping it going.’ You are so right when you say, “there is no doubt that F-I is easily the intellectual leader of its genre. ” And ou are right to credit members and comments, however it would not be possible for F-I to keep it’s focus and continue to push the limits without your continued diligent efforts. Enjoy the day…go for the whole week!
I so appreciate your wisdom, forthrightness and humor. Thanks and happy anniversary. And I’ll be in line for that boring book, you can bet on it.
Yay! Everytime I visit – I learn something new! Thanks for keeping up with what’s fresh and relevant. Hip, hip, hurray!
Congratulations Kathleen! This is an impressive milestone.
You definitely merit a pat on the back for drawing in so many people from far and wide, all with the same interest, and not only teaching us something important, but urging us to teach each other through the Forum.
Happy Anniversary Kathleen,
I don’t know how you manage to write everyday, but I sure am glad you do.
I’m really glad to hear you are putting both your writing and pattern making talents to work in a new book. You make learning fun. I have become a much better pattern maker since reading your blog.
My company goals for this year include
Learning more about web page coding and updating my site
Adding sewing tutorials
Adding 60 new patterns
Remodeling my sewing room and
Attend a convention
Happy Anniversary and thank you !
Congratulations!!!! Thanks for all you do with so much passion and integrity. I consider fashion-incubator to be one of the best resources I refer people to. Cheers to the next 5!
Kathleen,
Good going. These past 5 years of info have been fabulous. Have you ever noticed how logical all things patternamking are?
If only the rest of the world were as logical!
Thank you for making me look smart, Kathleen! My biggest goal is to get back in the studio and make clothes. Often.
Thanks again.
Congratulations!. I’m new here and I really appreciate all the valuable information on this site. So far I have spent most of my time just reading the archives.
Happy anniversary!
The book sounds like nothing I’ve seen and everything I’ve wanted – can’t wait!
Congrats! Thank-you for all that you do!
A reference book sounds great! Your knowledge is like gold, and it will be an investment for anyone in the industry to get your current book and a reference book if you decide to write one. Hope you realize how many people you have helped with this blog, your hard work does not go unnoticed. I introduced your blog to a friend and former boss Mark Miller and we will discuss your entries all the time, and of course he bought your book. Again thank you for this blog and hope that you continue to enlighten us for many more years.
I have to add my Thank You.
As I dodder along in my semi-retirement, this is my ongoing link to the fashion business (the real fashion business, not the glam and glitz). I have been with you for three of those 5 years I think, at least 2 1/2. You always have something to make me think. And I will definitely buy that pattern/reference book.
Keep writing, girl. I hope we grow old together.
Happy Anniversary, Kathleen! I am in the process of moving–how coincidental that I just came across a whole three ring binder of Designer Network Newsletter from Apparel Technical Services Q3 1997. Ring a bell? Anything that bears your signature is worth its storage space in gold. Thank you!
Better late than never, I guess…Congrats! Long time reader, first time commentor – love the blog, and appreciate all of the education about “the business”, and your part in it. I’m one of those “satellite” types that dabbles in a little home sewing, but all of this information is very useful to someone like me. Thank you very much for your generosity, and I wish you at least 5 more years of fun and frivolity!! (ha, ha) Truthfully, I really hope that everything goes spectacularily well for you, in everything that you do!
What Vesta said (and I cannot bear to repeat it or think of it.) We will always need you Kathleen! We do not want you to progress away from us!!!!! Thanks for five fabulous years.
Happy Anniversary!!! =)
I found your blog at the right time, fairly early in it’s life, and I can truly say it changed my life. I became enthused about the industry again, cancelled my change-of-career plans, and learnt how valuable your book is by – oh, the shame – not following it’s advice. (In my defense, my business partner was highly experienced in business and I took her advice not yours. Hah, stupid, stupid)
But, it led me to my passion – teaching, and this year’s phase is to move from an emphasis on teaching high level skills to hobbyists, and start teaching basic skills to designers :-D I’m nearly considered an expert in my region now, and I keep telling people it’s not me, it’s your book that is the source of the good stuff.
I can’t thank you enough. Where shall I send the deposit for your next book?
Just catching up after being away. Sorry I missed this on time, but add my congratulations and gratitude. Thank you, Kathleen!
Happy Anniversary, Kathleen for F-I
Your post(s) on Vionnet’s bias dress pattern brought me here. I started reading in 2006. I bought the book pretty soon after that and have suggested the site and the book to a number of people. It really is in a class by itself–especially in covering politics, policy, and of course cats.
Hey Kathleen and crew, Happy Birthday! Wow, has it been 5-years already? Where does the time go? From the git-go I’ve been a BIG fan! Keep up the awesome work. W-