the Beatrice Blog

Yes!! We’ve been waiting for almost a year to finally be able to share this with you! It’s seriously one of the coolest projects we’ve ever been a part of here at Beatrice.

The perfect job for Beatrice

Last year, when the pandemic was in full swing, our friend Mondo hit us up out of the blue. Our hearts did a little flutter! We were a little starstruck having been big fans for ages since seeing him first on Project Runway. He told us he needed to fit a client in a hurry who was nowhere near him in New York City – in fact, she was in a different state.

That client turned out to be none other than Ginger Minj, the multi-talented performer, actor, and singer from Orlando, Florida who you’ve seen compete on RuPaul’s Drag Race many times. We had to pinch ourselves.

Mondo needed our help to solve his fitting dilemma to complete his look for filming asap. We jumped at the chance of course!

A “make it work” moment

Beatrice was the perfect solution. Ginger could scan at home in Florida and then we would pull an all-nighter or two to turn around the form in 72 hours. Not usually doable, but we had to make it happen for Mondo. There just weren’t any other viable options to drape the look and get a great fit (pad a standard form? Um, I don’t think so.) Even with that crazy fast manufacturing time, he’d still have only a few days to create his vision once Ginger’s Beatrice made it to NYC.

Thanks to Ginger and her willingness to wing it, she produced a fantastic scan for us using her own clothing. Unfortunately, we had a little snafu with the expedited shipping over the weekend, which cut into Mondo’s design time. Arrrg! It was a total nail-biter, but Mondo pulled it off despite it all.

And who can deny the results! Congrats to all who made it happen!

👏👏👏

Our goal is to get a Beatrice into the hands of everyone who’d like one. Right now, that’s not possible. With just the two of us and one cutting machine, Nate and I can only make so many each month in our home workshop. So, we’re off to the races to expand our production capability as fast as we can.

Like we mentioned last month, we’re interviewing candidates for our production assistant role which is going extremely well. It never ceases to amaze me how many creative, motivated people are out there, especially in the sewing world! We’re hoping to introduce our new team member to you all by early August.

On the new production studio front…

We’ve assembled most of the furniture and purchased the new sewing machines and equipment. I’m still waiting on our custom cutting mat which I’m SUPER excited about. I will upgrade my personal setup with one if we end up really liking it…no more cobbled together, running off the end of the mat situation for me, WOOHOO!

The plan over the next few weeks is to move our finishing and shipping operation over to the new space to see what we’re missing in terms of supplies/equipment. Then we can sort it all out before we start training our new team member. Lots of things happening at once.

Machine #2

Until recently, having only one cutting machine was fine. It’s essentially a well-performing prototype that Nate built in the early days that got our company off the ground. Now, having just this one machine is a liability. It’s time to take everything we’ve learned with that awesome little prototype and build the next generation.

To that end, Nate’s been designing a new, mo’ betta CNC that’s got all kinds of improvements specifically for cutting foam bodices. The new bells and whistles will make production a lot easier but also just having TWO machines (and later this year, THREE) will make all the difference in increasing capacity since Nate can run them in parallel.

Nate placed his first part orders today and can’t wait to get started on the build in the coming weeks. Like most big moves at Beatrice Forms, it’s a family affair: Nate’s dad Larry will be helping with the assembly and I’ve been recruited for my type-A soldering skills. We’re hoping to have machine #2 online in a month or so.

Once we’re done, I’ll have lots of pictures for you!

As you all know, demand for our forms has outgrown what Nate and I can make here in our barn workshop. Good problems, yes!

So, last week we took the leap and signed a lease for our first office. It’s located inside this super cool, collaborative workspace called The Studio (Boulder) that used to be a velodrome of all things! Yup, that’s an Airstream inside where we can have meetings if we want. 🌟 Our neighbors are other creative businesses and artists, as well as Sanitas Brewery and an awesome taco truck outside.

As a part of this expansion, we’re also looking for a creative, and detail-oriented custom garment sewist to join the Beatrice Forms team in Boulder, CO part-time starting in July. This team member will help us sew custom covers and finish forms, pack scan kits, and ship all those goodies out the door.

We’re a growing startup that cares passionately about supporting garment creators in getting beautiful, well-fitting results no matter if they’re sewing for themselves at home or costuming actors for a major film production. If you’re excited to be a part of something new in the sewing industry that’s solving real problems for people in all shapes and sizes, this job could be for you!

To learn more and apply, click here.