the beatrice blog

Empowering people to make clothes they love to wear

What we’re creating with our Spoonflower Small Business Grant

By

Half-scale Beatrice covered in custom Spoonflower fabric

One of the goals we have at Beatrice is to inspire personalized creative expression. We accomplish this in a number of ways, like finishing our 3D scan dress forms as beautifully as we can and by making them as true as possible to the person they emulate. Until now, this has been limited to just body shape. 

Several months ago, Sophie and I started kicking around the idea of covering our forms with fabric in custom skin tones. Until now, we could never make them available in the way we envisioned because our low volume limited us to only a few batch-dyed fabric colors.

We also receive requests all the time for a draped woven cover, which is traditional for standard dress forms. Currently, we ship our forms with plain knit covers to keep them as affordable as possible. Woven covers always felt out of reach.

Could we solve both problems at once?

[Read more…] about What we’re creating with our Spoonflower Small Business Grant

Beatrice goes to Denver Startup Week

By

Sharing our wares at the Physical Product Showcase

I can say with confidence that Denver Startup Week has probably never hosted another dress form startup. But against the odds, Beatrice made a rare appearance at the Physical Product Showcase representing the latest in sewing tech alongside the IoT dog collars and food startups. Nate and I got a kick out of seeing attendees light up when they finally wrapped their heads around what we do!

[Read more…] about Beatrice goes to Denver Startup Week

Pack your bags, we’re going on a maker vacation

By

Nate & company at an advanced sewing intensive with Workroom Social at Fancy Tiger

Last month, I spent a weekend in Denver at Fancy Tiger Crafts sewing jeans with 12 other sewing obsessed ladies. Even though I’m not new to jeans construction, sewing a finished pair of jeans from cutting to wearing is a tall order for me in 2 and a 1/2 days. There’s no time to agonize over pocket placement or a wonky topstitch. You have to just let go and sew. And really, that’s what makes it so much fun!

Gathered around a table covered with neatly folded sample jeans in every size, our instructor Lauren (of Lladybird fame) began the workshop with a little goal setting for the weekend. Yes, we were going to learn her hard-won jeans construction tricks she’s developed over the years. But, this class was not about sewing a perfect pair of jeans. It was about proudly walking out the door in a completed pair of handmade jeans and feeling great about it.

Reflecting back on that crazy weekend, Lauren had it spot on. Whether you’re taking a multi-day class at a local fabric shop or flying halfway across the planet for a multi-week retreat, the reason we take these workshops is almost never about achieving sewing perfection. When I asked my sewist friends about their “why”, this is what they told me.

[Read more…] about Pack your bags, we’re going on a maker vacation

MAKE IT! Custom sewing tools caddy

By

sewing caddy - finished

Tell me this hasn’t happened to you: you’re cruising along on your project, maybe cutting out fabric with your rotary cutters – then you hit the end of the cutting mat and need your shears… hmmm, where did you last set those down?? Maybe they are over by your machine? Nope. Ugh.

My big problem is with rulers, absentmindedly putting them down in random places when I’m in “the zone”. Where’s my french curve? Ah, found the big aluminum hip curve but what I really need is the small clear one! The pains.

I think I’ve found the perfect DIY solution: a rolling, vertical tools caddy! To be fair, this was not my idea. I stole it from my awesome father in-law who built one for his workshop and was lovely enough to make me one just like his.

Since then, I’ve figured out how to build them on my own in an afternoon – let me show you how!

[Read more…] about MAKE IT! Custom sewing tools caddy