New Law puts Children's wear producers out of business

Please read this letter from Kathleen Fasanella. She writes and maintains fashionincubator.com and is very knowledgeable as well has generous with her time, talent and wisdom in respect to entrepreneurs in the fashion industry as well as with home sew-ers.

Dear Friends
There is a grave crisis in the industry and I haven't been here much lately because of it.

You know me. Yes I can rub people the wrong way but I'm not a kook, alarmist, extremist or conspiracy theorist. What I'm going to tell you is all too true. In a nutshell, as of 2/10/2009, National Bankruptcy Day it will be illegal to sell most products intended for children 12 and younger unless you undergo expensive product testing to certify your products as safe. There are no exemptions or exceptions. This includes wahm or grandmas making items for bazaars, craft shows, etsy, ebay, or just person to person sales. As of February 10, 2009 anything without a General Conformity Certificate is legally considered Banned Hazardous Material.

I have been at the forefront of this fight. I went to Washington DC week before last for a meeting with the biggest brands in the business and if they're scared, you should be too. Contrary to what many people may think, large brands are hurt worse. Small businesses do have some options that large ones don't but this is little consolation if you're small to start with.

Please read up on the topic (list of entries at close). Most of what you'll find on the web relates to toys but this affects clothes, bikes, games, jewelry, uniforms (even boy and girl scout patches!) materials used in science classes in schools, school supplies, books, video games, infant car seats, strollers etc. For example, one of the largest suppliers of science equipment to schools says he can no longer sell telescopes. It will cost $24,000 to test each one. This is not hyperbole or exaggeration. His statements to the CPSC and the estimate from the testing lab are right here.

What you can do:
First, I've opened a section of my private forum to the public. We are calling this the War Room for focused activism.

From this site, you can email all of your legislators by filling out one simple form.

Sign the petition.

Here you can find a lot of email addresses of legislators and CPSC folks to copy and paste into your email program.

The key problems are (for our purposes) clothing doesn't have lead in it but we have to test it for lead anyway. Previously we could use testing results from fabric suppliers to prove for example, flammability. This is not permitted for lead.

Second, excessive testing. Before you could test your components (fabric, zippers, elastics etc) separately since that's what goes into each item. Sure that is costly but it's worse because this is no longer permitted either. Now you have to have one of each completed unit (dress etc) tested. If you're only making one of a kind, you'll have to produce a completed sample garment for testing.

Third, there aren't enough labs. Assuming you had the money ($480-$980 per tested unit), you are only allowed to use a CPSC certified facility. Assuming there was (previously) equilibrium in the market btwn testing labs and the demand for services...well, with a multi-thousandfold increase in the demand for services, they aren't enough labs. Iow, even if you had the time and money, there aren't enough labs to do the testing.

This is the really sad part. Most of the small producers out there got into the business BECAUSE they were concerned about safety. They're using 100% organic materials, no chemicals and food grade finishes (on their toys). This law will put the very artisans who make the best products out of business. The people we want to stay in business and wish everyone made products like they do.

Entries from my site:
Safety Regulations that affect ALL children's manufacturers
National Bankruptcy Day
Unit vs Component Testing
What must be tested
Confusion run amok
Splintering serves no one
CPSIA and small manufacturers

Anyway, I appreciate your time in reading this message and I hope you will join us. If you're a consumer, I recommend buying your gifts for the year very soon. The big stores will be returning non compliant products by mid January in advance of the cut off date so be sure to do any purchasing by then.

Sarah Veblen Pants Fitting workshop in Western NY--outside of Rochester

March 19-20, 2009

PANTS FITTING WORKSHOP -- Hosted by Kim K. in Victor, New York

If you’ve had trouble developing a pants pattern for yourself, this class is for you! And Kim K. has graciously offered to host this two-day pants fitting workshop in her home in Victor, New York (near Rochester).

You can bring your own mock-up(s) of pants you’re interested in, and Sarah will do the fitting. Or you can try on mock-ups of three different pants styles that Sarah has already made up – then you and Sarah can decide which style is the best place to start for your figure. Fitting pants is a process, not a one-shot deal: often it’s best not to make too many alterations at once, in order to track what is working to obtain a better fit and what is not. So after Sarah has conducted a fitting on you, you will make the pattern changes and either make a new mock-up or change your existing mock-up, depending on the extent and type of alteration(s) necessary. Then Sarah will fit you again, starting to fine-tune the fit.

We will meet from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. each day. Muffins, coffee, and tea will be provided at the beginning of each day; lunch is on your own.

For those of you traveling from out of town, Kim has provided the following information. Victor, New York, is essentially at Exit 45 of the New York State Thruway (I-90). There are four nice hotels located within three miles of Kim’s house: Microtel, Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn Express, and Best Western. For restaurants, there is Eastview Mall about three miles away, plus quite a number of chain establishments (Uno’s, Olive Garden, Burger King, etc.). Directions to Kim’s house will be provided after registration.

For a more detailed description of this class, visit the Pants Fitting Workshop page (click this link or navigate from the Classes page). Class size is limited so that Sarah can give each participant plenty of individual attention. (Class fee: $390.00)

Cool Magazine

I just found this cool magazine that is online and are offering their first issue for FREE!!!!! If you likey, subscribey! We need more garment focused sewing magazines in the world!
www.modernseamster.com

Janet Lutz has out-done herself

Hi, I thought I'd bring everyone's attention to the new Calico Gals' newsletter which is so chock full of stuff, I had to stop reading it halfway through and then pick up the rest the next day just to process everything. I had to mark my calendar to review it again after Christmas so I can make sure to circle in RED all the stuff I want to do there once I consult a calendar.

Janet is another of the Shiny Happy Creative People locally that I had the pleasure of meeting. She has so many good ideas and I think has one of the best teams to hold our hands and teach us stuff.

Check it out at: http://www.calicogals.com/news.html

It is way cooler in color.

Shiny Happy People Part 2

Welcome back Gentle Reader, if you have continued with my short series you have proved to be a determined goal oriented personality, one who is sure to be admired.

The very best part of central NY, one in which is its best kept secret, is our people. I can think of no other better example than the people in our sewing community.

This morning, I find this in my inbox:

Subject: Important: Nadine's 2009 Business Plan Announcement
I just love this time of the year...especially this year! Those of you who know me, know I will never buy into any doom or gloom...I quite simply refuse. And it's not a 'head in the sand' approach...it's a creative approach really.

As talk show host Rick Gary from NewsChannel 9 put it to me a few years back, he referred to me on the air as the MacGyver of creativity...those of you who remember this tv series, this man could make a winter coat out of rubberbands, a found tube of caulk and tissue paper rolls. Those of you who know Rick, know he is very creative in his own right.

If this came from a fellow sew-er I might have been a bit offended about the implication but coming from a man, I took this as quite a rather large compliment. Those of you who know me, know I run my creative business the same way. Often in classes and clubs we take a pile of paint buckets, some leftover fabric strips and an iron and make a wallhanging that would make any guild member turn their heads!

Seems like many in business today are gearing up for a bit of an 'unknown' in 2009...I am gearing up for a fabulous upcoming year! For years (15 to be exact) you have all supported me and my business, encouraged me when I came up with new ideas, visited us during promotions, store events and have followed us from Fayetteville to Fairmount and back to the east...and as many tighten their belt notches, I intend to extend mine.

It is important to me personally to continue to create, share and inspire no matter what is going on in the stock market or repeatedly run by news media. This industry has proven one major thing for sure in the last 60 years... in good times, people sew and in bad times, people sew. Make no mistake, in the last 3 months we have all been thinking but somehow sitting behind a machine creating, quilting or embroidering takes us to a different dimension of sorts. Imagine what one piece of cloth cut up in pieces and a single stitched seam can do for our mind, body and soul?!

2009 Business Plan...it's about US giving back to YOU.
The tailend of 2008 has been quite successful for us and I appreciate your business more than this email could express...As we approach the upcoming year, there is only one thing I'm buying into and one thing only...the importance of time together, giving of ourselves and sharing. Sounds a bit story book but here's my big 2009 business plan: KreativeKindness...I intend on offering you a regular schedule of FREE creative classes and a place for you to come by for regular jolts of inspiration, positive thinking and kreativity!

It wont matter what machine you own or what your skill level is...Our small shop will be positively busting at the seams with new projects and an awareness to create with your stash, try new things and think outside the box a bit...BUT...here's the only cost to you ladies: you have to pass on an act of "KreativeKindness" to someone else.

Your fee for these free workshops is quite simply returning the gesture in some way to someone else. Pass on an act of random kindness: teach someone a new project, share an idea, give a project you've made to someone you haven't met yet, sign up to teach a free class with us or come by and visit with the group.

Sew-ers have been given such an incredible talent and opportunity to overcome through creative venues, share with others and be part of such an inspiring network...so I'm pulling out the duct tape, cheese cloth and the rusty window screen and getting busy for 2009...we hope you will pencil in these classes in your 2009 calender!

Be on the lookout for another incredible announcement coming in your email box and home mail boxes soon! Yahoo!

Watch for the upcoming KreativeKindness class schedule...arriving in your email box just after the Christmas holiday!

Wishing you a joyous and blessed holiday season! -Nadine & Family

She has a blog at: www.ifwishesworewings.blogspot.com, this is listed on our "Links you can Use." I will soon be starting a blogroll feature here on Syracuse Seamsters that will feature our local blogs so we can all transmit this kind of optimism and happiness to each other.

I honestly feel that creativity, our expressions of it transmit happiness to others. We get excited about our projects and how we can adapt other's projects making changes and making them our own. It opens us up to possibilities. When I talk to Nadine, she has infectious enthusiasm. You know that feeling I am talking about. You get it talking with other individuals here and at Expos and classes. You feel it at the solar plexus and it helps to inspire you, it raises you above all your daily barriers to create. Suddenly it seems silly that we let those stop us. We are so lucky to have this kind of dynamism and we have it in spades here in our sewing community.

Nadine is but one of our Shiny Happy People here. We have many. Please. Gentle Reader, be prepared for another.

Shiny Happy People Part 1

Gentle Reader, please find a comfortable spot and a few minutes to read this lengthy blog post. The below article describes the findings of a recent study on happiness done in London. I don't usually copy and paste entire articles from internet news but this one I feel will only increase optimism and smiles.

Study: Happiness Is Contagious
Cheer Spreads Easily, Even To Complete Strangers

(AP) Scientists reported Friday that happiness is contagious, and that you may have complete strangers to thank for the smile on your face.

In a paper published Friday in the BMJ, formerly known as the British Medical Journal, American researchers tracked more than 4,700 people in Framingham, Massachussetts, as part of a heart study from 1983 to 2003.

When they analyzed the data looking for happiness trends, the scientists found that happy people passed on their cheer to people they didn't personally know - and this transferred happiness lasted for up to a year.

"Happiness is like a stampede," said Nicholas Christakis, a professor in Harvard University's sociology department, one of the study's authors. "Whether you're happy depends not just on your own actions and behaviors and thoughts, but on those of people you don't even know."

Christakis and James Fowler, an associate professor of political science at the University of California in San Diego, previously found that obesity and smoking habits spread socially as well.

For this study, they examined questionnaires that asked people to measure their happiness and found distinct happy and unhappy clusters that were significantly bigger than would be expected by chance alone.

Happiness lasted for up to three cycles: to the friends of friends of friends.

Happy people tended to be at the center of social networks and had many friends who were also happy. Having friends or siblings live nearby increased peoples' chances of being upbeat.

Happy spouses helped too, but not as much as happy friends of the same gender. No effects were seen with coworkers.

Christakis and Fowler estimate that each happy friend boosts your own happiness chances by 9 percent. Having grumpy friends decreases it by about 7 percent.

Being happy also brings other benefits.

"Happiness has a protective effect on your immune system and you produce fewer stress hormones," said Andrew Steptoe, a professor of psychology at University College London who was not linked to the study.

Other experts said people shouldn't assume they can make themselves happy just by making the right friends.

"The psychological health of your friends is a predictor of your own mental health, but to say you can manipulate who your friends are to make yourself happier would be going too far," said Stanley Wasserman, an Indiana University statistician who studies social networks.

Because the study was done in a single community, further research is needed to confirm its findings. The study was also conducted before the rise of online social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace.

"This type of technology enhances your contact with friends, so it should support the kind of emotional contagion we observed," Christakis said, though he couldn't say if being on Facebook would make you happier.

Fowler said the study was the first tentative evidence of karma.

"The fact that happiness spreads from person to person to person suggests that these waves of happiness we radiate could eventually wash up on our own shores," he said.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/12/04/health/main4649393.shtml

We all have our days where we get crabby about living here; mostly in response to the overcast skies and frequent lake effect weather and sometimes we complain about the lack of economic boom that other regions have enjoyed in the recent past. We have short memories when it comes to the seasons though. After spending some time in many other parts of the country that enjoy better weather reputation, I am always reminded that while we have difficult winters, our Spring, Summer and Fall seasons are unparallelled and I think probably more appreciated because of our winters. We don't have the fear of wild fires, mudslides, or hurricanes and twisters that often mar the summer and fall in other parts of the country. We also have beautiful crisp mornings in the summer that are refreshing, our water comes cool off the tap and is not only drinkable but it tastes good. Our Spring and Fall and a good part of Summer allow us to run our homes without air conditioning or heat and we can open our windows and catch the sweet breezes.

Our lack of boom times is paired with the lack of dramatic downturns. Look on your street, I'll bet there are a few houses for sale but how many on your street is in foreclosure? How many compared to a street in Miami or Las Vegas? How much value has your home lost? Frankly, mine never shot up like a rocket so it hasn't really lost anything. I'm pretty certain, judging from the recent sales in my area that they have remained in the same neighborhood as they were in 2006.

One local phenomenon I have experienced in Syracuse is the lack of congested roadways. Yes, it does get busy at rush hours but it is nothing like the insanity of the Boston or DC area roadways. Our drivers are also very generous to each other. Every day, and I mean EVERY DAY, I either witness or experience one driver helping another out by allowing them in a busy intersection, out of a parking lot, into the lane in front of them, so the waiting car can get on their way. One good act inspires another. I have not seen this anywhere else in my travels, not even down South where people are reputed to be much friendlier than us NYers.

I don't mean to say that there aren't people affected by the economy here in central NY, after all, we are in NY, and there are bound be some big budget cuts because the state is running a deficit that keeps growing as Wall Street keeps busting and as citizens we will be expected to absorb it by doing with less and paying higher tolls and fees. However, as a community, I feel we are in better shape to help each other out. If rainy London can transmit happiness to each other by its practice, I am sure we can do the same.

Gentle Reader, please be patient. Likely you are wondering what this has to do with sewing. My next blog post will reveal all. Stay tuned for Shiny Happy People Part 2

Stash Busters

Do you have a large fabric stash? Is getting your sewing storage and work area organized a constant struggle? Do you seem to find fashion fabric not only on the shelf but also in bins, in the closet, under the bed, in the shed behind the house , in off-site storage? If you answer yes, you just might be a stasher.

Considering our hobby enables stockpiling, it is hard to resist the new fabric store in town as well as great online sales. While the fabric you are stashing might be also doubling as insulation, it is wise to look to the economic downturn, environmental concerns, the latest questionable safety of Asian imports, and the fact that our fabric might quite possibly outlive us and then be dumped by our husbands and children (oh, the waste!), I am proposing a sew-along group called Stashbusters.

In Stashbusters, you must use actual stash -- You are permitted to buy what fabric and notions necessary to complete a project --like lining, batting, trim, fasteners, etc. This can be applied to patterns as we have many patterns in our stash and if I don’t have the exact one I want to sew up, I know someone else must and could borrow and trace it off easily. The more fabric we use up from our stash, the more reasonably uncluttered and productive our sew rooms will be. We can show off our results at Show and Tell at the Chapter meetings and on our Flickr Group that I just started! To join: http://www.flickr.com/groups/957150@N22/ or go to www.flickr.com and enter “stashbusters” in the search box, the page should come up to join. When you enter your item, put your yardage used in description so we can add it all up!