Saturday, July 19, 2014

Excuse us for the Interruption. We NOW have Interweb back.

Hey everypup ~Misty here~

Did you miss me?  "We" managed to whack through the interweb / cable line whilst trimming invasive Wisteria vines.  "We" happened to do it twice convinced it was a stubborn evil vine.

Shall we get back to the fun stuff and adventures?

Finally an App for that keyboard
So Mom headed off to China to visit a factory.

Want to see what a pattern making room looks like?
This is the pattern making room.
Every single pattern is hand made first and then put through a fancy digital machine.  This makes the "master" copy that can be fed into another fancy computer and calculate how to lay the patterns out in the most efficient way when the fabric is laid out.  Mom says this is the "boring" room because it involves tricky computer programs and a bunch of math.  But you get an air conditioned room to work in, that might be a bonus.  BOL.
Not a simple process making a garment.
Off to the sewing room.  Some of the workers were still at lunch, but this place was still humming.  BOL.
Always 1 person hates having their picture taken.  

This one still has a few more steps until it's finished.  Unless you like the rugged look.


Here's one of the machines Mom says she wants to run.  This is the embroidery machine and it goes so fast you can't see the needles even moving.  Starting out the TB Marlin.


Here is where they remove it from the poplin backing after the embroidery is done.


This is the machine that shows you exactly where the needle is stitching.  The number in the upper right corner is the amount of stitches per minute it is on.

There was an entire room filled with these embroidery machines.
Rows and rows of shirts getting gussied up w/ the Marlin.

More embroidery going on.
Mom told us the fairy tale story about Rumpelstiltskin and spinning straw into gold.  We wonder if the workers have heard that tale or have their own version.  Because if that pile of garments was sitting next to Mom, she says she'd give away her first born son as well (I'm looking at you Scooter), and that's all right with me.  BOL.

No wonder they asked for an extension on delivery when Mom was there.

Now here's a place Mom says she would NOT want to work at.  This is the washing and drying room.  The weather was already in the mid 90's and very humid.  Mom's hair was growing in uncontrollable ways, her back was balmy, her face was flushed from heat and then this room goes up about 15 degrees.  Between the washing machines and the dryers you can almost feel a cloud form and tropical showers about to start.


Washing machine.

Another washing machine.

Sorry no pictures of dryers - Mom only stayed long enough to poke her head in and head straight back out before she wilted.

Speaking of other places Mom wouldn't want to work would be in the pressing room.  Want to know how garments look so nicely pressed when they first come out of the bag?  See this guy down below.  He presses each size into the exact shape that is drawn out on the table in a template.  Then the clothes are folded in half and allowed to "rest".

There is a lot of "resting" for garments when they are being made.  First they roll it out and let it "rest" on tables.  This allows the fabric to "relax" so when it rolls out it won't try and curl back into the shape of the roll it came off of.  Then they roll it all out on big tables.  Then it is cut into patterns, bundle it up and it's allowed to "rest" another 24 hours.

Steam ironing into shape.
This man has hands of steel.  Those irons are connected to the roof where a continuous flow of steam can be had at the squirt of a finger.  He had all his fingers so he hadn't parboiled them off just yet, but this is not a place Mom would want to work in either.  Another hot and humid room.



So next time you just toss your sweatshirt onto the floor, remember how much care and attention was put into making that thing.  At least get it to the laundry hamper.  It was in enough laundry bins before even hitting the Pacific Ocean to head over here.  BOL.

I don't think you have to wait very long to buy a ticket.
 Have you had enough of southern China yet?  Want to head back into Hong Kong for the evening?  This is the bridge that turns corners as it goes across the channel.  It's very beautiful, and did you read that it has corners!!  That's the drivers head in the mirror, China reflected in the mirror behind us, and Mom had to wake up her co-worker in the front seat and demand he move the dangling object blocking her shot of the bridge.  Don't worry - he went right back to sleep once the picture was taken.  Everyone does on the long road trips to and from the factories.


Notice the driver is on the right side of the car, but we are driving on the left side of the bridge?
That's because the driver was Chinese and so was his car.
But we are in Hong Kong now and they drive on the wrong side of the road (the left).  BOL.

Hope you enjoyed the tour.  We're just glad the internet is back up and running again.

Sniff at ya later ~Misty~