This serves as a brief introduction to Bundling. Bundling is how large quantities of goods are managed in many companies. This company bundled styles in quantities of 10 but it’s just as common to find bundles quanitified by the dozen. That’s a preference you’ll have to establish when managing the sewing end of your production. May I recommend units of 10? It simplifies the math.

This is a bundle of cut jackets ready to be sewn. Note how all the pieces are lain neatly with the ticket edges readily visible.

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When a jacket is sewn up, the little stickers stuck to each cut piece usually remain as seen below. There’s no reason to remove them and having labels intact can help you trouble shoot if pieces aren’t matching. I should scan one of those little tags so you can see the information they hold. I’ll amend this post with that info tomorrow. Anyway, here’s a photo displaying all those little labels.

You’ll note a plastic sleeve tucked into the bundle; these are the sewing tickets

The sewing tickets are the control for the bundle. The tickets are sequential, arranged in sewing order. The tickets describe the operation to be done, the quantity in the bundle, the pay per operation and the pay per bundle/operation. Here is a sample.

For example, the first line reads 22551D. 22551 is the style number. Next is 020403-which is the style reference number and could be better described as the parent-pattern that was used to generate this style. The style reference number is important if you’re the one who has to write up the sewing instructions in the proper order. Knowing the style reference number means you can (potentially, not always) pull up the instructions you’d written before and cut and paste, modifying as needed for this style. Of course, the pay scale is the same as for the previous operations as well. The next line describes the sewing operation. The third line indicates the pay for this operation. The pay for the operation Set Sd Panel (set side panel) is 0.026 per piece. The bundle count is next (10) and followed by the pay rate for the bundle. The last line are the barcode and inventory numbers followed by the size (this is a size 6).

I don’t want to get too far off track at this point but when stitchers talk about the pay for an operation, they usually mean the pay per bundle, not per piece. Also, I realize the piece rates shown here look low but this bundle is from 1998 and I know for a fact that even at these low rates, these stitchers averaged anywhere from $7.50 to $9.50 per hour. The definition of what constitutes one sewing operation is much smaller too. What you may consider one job would be 2 or 3 different operations for an experienced company. Lastly, you could see why a line sewer would resist sewing a zipper (for example) the home sewing way because it takes a lot longer but they won’t get paid for the time. Most likely, stitchers will have to “go on the clock” and off piecework to do your work. That makes them very unhappy! Employees everywhere complain about insufficient pay and stitchers are no exception but if they have to work hourly, they take a big bite. They won’t want to sew your stuff so please have nice patterns. The nicer and cleaner your patterns, the easier and quicker it is to sew them.

Here is another bundle. This one is WIP or Work in Progress. This means it’s been partially completed. The next operations for this bundle are bagging -closing and tacking, leaving only pressing and inspection. I have at least seven bundles like this. This plastic sleeve retains the tickets for the remaining operations, the stitchers having had removed the previous tickets to add to their time sheets. That’s how it’s done. You do the operations and pick off your pay sticker and add it to your pay sheet which you’d turn in at the end of the day -assuming the supervisor hasn’t retrieved them from your station periodically throughout the day.

Now, I have over 14 bundles or 140 units of these jackets (style 22692) that have been closed and I’m giving away. Silly me, I thought I only had 20 units total. I have 70+ other jackets that have not been bagged yet so if you’re interested in learning to bag a jacket, this is your lucky day. Yes, you too can have one of these beauties for the purposes of personal bagging inspection. If you want to see what our stuff looks like, this is it. Genuine WIP from a real manufacturer. Below is the front and back of what a finished jacket looks like:

If you decide to get one of these, this is what the thing will look like from the lining side:

…and from the shell side:

I need to get rid of these. Donors -don’t know if this is good news or bad news but you get an unbagged jacket free! In fact, I posted a offer on freecycle so hopefully these will be gone by sunset. I am keeping about 70 other jackets that have not been bagged for the upcoming tacking and turning tutorial. If you want one, let me know. Email me here.

Here is Right amid the bundles. The cat hair is free!