Internship at Dollie & Me: Week's 7 & 8 - Train goes on chugging...

Days 11 & 12 + 13 & 14  3/14, 3/15 - 3/21, 3/22

Missed a few days posts but all I have to say is that those few days went well, nothing more than the usual. I remained busy, some of my highlights being attending a technical design costing meeting I attended on 3/14, where I learned some new terms, understood the importance of the bottom line, and the frustrations that come with the manufacture of clothing overseas. It has it good points as well as its bad, but when something goes wring? It really can go VERY wrong, so following up on things every step of the way is really key. 

On 3/22 I helped Adira with a special project she is working on to expand the future of Dollie & Me's design market. I won't mention it directly here, but if it's successful, I'm certain that it will be adorable. I did some of the initial research for the project, and my hopes are that I can be a real part of it in the long haul. 

That same day I also made design boards with basic technical instructions to hand off to Alexander Doll for manufacturing. It was a simple task that I completed easily and efficiently.

I wasn't in the office last week because it was my Spring Break. I plan to be there bright and early this coming Thursday. I wonder what tasks await me. 

Internship at Dollie & Me: Week 6 - One Simple Day

Day 10 - 3/7

This week I only had one day in the office since I put in two full days last week. It was another great one. I had a very steady and uncomplicated workload which involved filing CADs into Blue Cherry for input into the system, as well as creating the doll sized CADs. Nothing too amazing, but it helps a lot, because it was a lot of CADs! I think there were like 31 styles! I only was able to get through half of them, but it's fine since Erica was going to take care of the rest. At least I made her workload substantially less. I also tagged and copied a few garments that were being sent out for production. 

I also transported some dolls that were going to be sent to Kohls down to Alexander Doll down on the 12th floor. I derped a little bit though when I forgot the name of the woman I was supposed to give them to! A sweet woman in the showroom did help me find who I was looking for though, and the crisis was averted, but I can't believe I did that, haha! It was a little frustrating on my part, next time I'm repeating names to myself a million times. It was like in one ear and then it somehow popped out my brain.

I'm back in next week at normal schedule, things are as usually, going well!

Short one today guys, until next week~

Internship at Dollie & Me: Week 5 - Preparing for Market Week

Day 8 & 9 - 2/28 & 3/1

I must say, this past week was an amazing one. Everyone in the office was busy preparing for Market Week, where the buyers come in to see the season merchandise and make their picks for sale from the line. It's a crucial time for any mass market design office, and everything needs to be perfect.

For the two days I was at the office last week, I prepped samples - glittering the prints, sewing on bows, pom poms, adding and removing buttons, and more. 

And the most fun thing ever, I got to dress up dollies!

I dressed up a bunch of dolls for the new displays. I brushed and styled their hair, added ribbons, made them look all cute and presentable. The hardest thing was finding shoes for them all, the shoes were all over the place in random places! In the end, Cynthia, the head designer, was thrilled with all the dolls, and we added them to the front desk, as you would see them the first thing when you enter the showroom.

Recently they've also installed a blackboard wall and placed the new holiday line samples on it. Gail, the print and illustration artist, drew on embellishments to the board display using chalkboard markers. I wish I could share photos of it but they can't publicly release images of anything until the season has passed of course! Just trust me, it was absolutely adorable!

In addition to dressing dolls for the display, I also photographed images of the dolls for promos for the buyers to see. I photographed the dolls in their new season ensembles and paired those photos with the illustrator CADs of their corresponding girls look. I did it perfect, Jason used my photos for the description placard in one of the showrooms and I printed out copies of the boards I created for the buyers. 

I spent two full days at the office this past week, so next week I'm only in for Thursday and Friday I have off. I'm guessing by then Market Week will have been dwindling to a close. Not sure what to expect next week actually...

So far I'm really enjoying my time at Dollie & Me!

Internship at Dollie & Me: Week 4 - It feels like a real job

Day 6 & 7

Man, this week really made me feel like I'm becoming an asset to the design team. I'll sum everything up in one post since the work I had to do this week bridged over the two days I was there. 

So yesterday I had to make color sheets for the new print samples. I cut color samples from our swatch archive box and stuck them to the printouts of the print samples. Doing this is always a tedious process but a very necessary thing to do for sampling and lab dips and making sure the colors are exactly right. They were needed for a Buyer's meeting that afternoon. 

Afterward, I got my first stab at doing a tech pack. They were re-using an old style for the new season, just recolored, so I had to update the tech pack for it. I changed the colors of the print and solid on the CAD and then filed the individual callouts into the database. It felt good because I was getting to do something that I came there for, which of course is Technical Design. With so many styles and seasons going on for many stores and market tiers, the more help the better. 

I also glittered a Holiday dress. It was so cute, a lovely magenta rusched bodice dress with flocked mesh overlay and velvet bow. The flocking was all black and Cynthia, the designer, wanted some glitter added to the sample, so I got a'glitterin! Glittered a few of the flocking dots to make a pretty pattern. I really liked how it looked, and I wish that dress was in my size because it was so cute!

I also re-did a print sample sticky by taking it off the old sample and re-sticking it onto the new one. It was also a really cute one! Jersey dress with a sewn on tutu in gold mesh, I really loved it.

it will be fun to see these garments once they are in stores and I can say to myself "I had a part in this getting here!" Which is exciting to me!

Then I did more print art color sampling. I believe they were factory approvals for screenprinting. Each print needed two color references, which I cut from the archive and stuck on. This is becoming my least favorite thing to do, but its a necessary thing to do, so I have no complaints. I had to go downstairs to the main floor of Kahn Lucas to get a color we ran out of, which was an easier task than I expected it to be (I'm always afraid I'd get lost when I go down there, it's so massive, but I'm getting used to it now I think).

Next week I'm staying 2 full days Thursday and Friday to help out with prepping for market week. I wonder what I should expect. I definitely expect to be busy. The week after next I get a break, doing a full day Thursday and no Friday~ Yay long weekend!

I'm glad so far my experience has been enriching. I hope it stays this way, it's nice feeling needed, doing you part, and at the same time getting trained for life's career. As far as I can tell I really won't mind working here once I graduate if they offer me the position. I wouldn't mind being a paid intern and then just move along from there. Also being a bridge company from a larger one is good, because it's a lot calmer up there. We'll see how it goes, only time will tell, but right now I'm optimistic. 

Internship at Dollie & Me: Week 3 - Lot's To Do

Day 4: 2/14/13

Valentines Day!

Though that had nothing do do with my day.

My day was color cards, color cards, color cards!

The new colors for 2014 season were in and it was my task to file the new colors, refill the old, which were pantone samples and other swatches. They all had names and numbers which I made envelopes for out of card stock and filed them all in. I also had to make color sample sheets for both Erica and Adira to have for their reference. 

Not a difficult task, but a highly tedious one. By the end of the day my fingers were raw and dry from folding the card stock and taping the sides for the fabric color samples. And by the end of the day, I still didn't finish so I had to leave it for the next day. Doing that takes a massive amount of time, thus why I saw my value because I'm sure that everyone else didn't have time to do that. 

Not much to say about that day, it was pretty straightforward, tedious, but productive. I know what I do is valued.

Day 5: 2/15/13

Now this was one of the busiest days.

I ended up doing a couple extra hours of overtime because there was so much to get done.

My day started off first with something I was looking forward to doing, which was placing the CADs for the Holiday season on their boards for production. Adira, head of technical design, and Cynthia, the head designer, went through the edits for the season with me and showed me which ones were pre-approved. 

I had trouble with it because the computer I was using in the back by the design wall was going SUPER MASSIVELY SLOW. Like, Illustrator was being so uncooperative. I would move a CAD and it would "spinning beach ball" load, it was infuriating! I had to work through it. 

But before I could get into the groove of doing that, Jason, EVP, changed pace a little and instructed me that instead of doing what I was doing, I would instead sort through the outfits the Toy Fair Fashion  Show, take them out of the trunks, store them on the showroom racks, and then figure out which outfit samples would be given to the models as a gift, as well as a doll for them to have. 

So I went through the tedious process of figuring out the girls sizes, who wanted what, and trying to get a doll for them that matched them nicest, which was hard because the spare dolls on hand were very limited. 

I did my best, and after hours of running around, sorting, organizing, and figuring out the best way to put everything together, I was done at 3pm. I usually leave at 1pm. I also had to finish the color sorting from the previous day. But it actually doesn't bother me, I don't like leaving things unfinished so I wanted to make sure the color sheets were done. Erica and Adira were very glad that I finished them up; anything I could do to ease their burdens you know?

Again, I know what I do is valued. 

Bonus: Dollie & Me Fashion Show at the NYC Toy Fair

Sunday, February 10th, was the first day of the NYC Toy Fair!

And on this day, Dollie & Me had a mini fashion show at their booth under Madame Alexander Dolls. My Supervisor, Jason, the Executive VP of Dollie & Me, asked me to come lend a hand the day of the little show. I jumped to the opportunity right away. 

At first I had no idea it was the Toy Fair! I arrived at the Javits Center around a quarter to 12, got my exhibitor pass at the front, and headed to the show office. Luckily I spotted Jason on the way, because if not I would have been completely lost in that huge place!

In my last post I talked about how I packed and sorted the garments for the show, and now I would finally see them in action. 

The little models were absolutely adorable. They were a mix of employee children and relatives, among them Jason's two daughters and a niece, as well as some other girls from various sources. 

Scary mishap though when we were going down the escalator with the garments and the garment rack came apart and the garments fell onto the escalator! It was so terrifying, I thought they were going to get caught in it! It was totally not a good idea to go down the escalator with that. I was worried when they did it that way, but in the end, no garments were harmed. 

The garments were then scooped up, placed back, and once we got to the upper hall the garments were divided out in order and then the mom's dressed their girls in one of the bathrooms. Slowly but surely everything was organized and going smoothly.

One by one the girls came out in their little outfits and were given their matching dolls! Then the girls practiced their walks and smiles. The results were simply adorable! 

Then the head designer, Cynthia, came over to me and said that if she could she'd dress me up and put me in the show too, haha! They are always raving about how adorable I am, its funny. I get it a lot though. 

Then at 2pm, it was time to start the show!

Here's a few photos...

Lining up!

Down the runway they go~

Group photo!

It was a lot of fun! I hope there will be more events like this!

And here's a few more pictures of the displays...

Too cute! The colors and designs and the mini doll versions of everything bring me such joy.

I'll be back in the office Thursday for my 3rd week on the job, it's going well thus far I'd say.

Internship at Dollie & Me: Week 2 - Keeping Busy

Day 3: 2/7/13

Another great day at the office. The days challenges were met simply. Dollie & Me is having a mini fashion show at the Javits center this coming Sunday, and I was asked to organize and account for all the garments that will be featured in the show. I checked sizes, steamed and pressed some of the wrinklier items, and swift tacked the Doll outfits to the hangers. This took most of the day, but it wasn't difficult or stressful, though the steamer burned me a couple times (steam is hot people...steam is hot...beware).

I also took a trip out to the garment district with Erica to pick up a couple fabrics for the samples.

After everything was organized I went onto pasting the paper prints to the garment samples to be sent out for production. I also glitter painted where its supposed to be glittered, which is always so fun! This is done manually because it's too time consuming to have every single sample screen-printed so we do the print samples with sticky paper. 

On Sunday, I will be going to Javits to help out with the fashion show. Should be fun, I hope everything goes smoothly! I hope all the little models are sweet and cooperative!

Day 4: 2/8/13

It was treacherous getting into the office! A snowstorm is now in full force and it wasn't fun getting into the city with that. I managed to get to the office at about 9:40 am, which was a little late but it's okay because I stayed a little later, until 1:30 pm opposed to 12. It was a very busy day, I did a lot in a very short amount of time. I packed all the garments for the show in a rolling travel case that was getting picked up in the afternoon, covering each garment with plastics, and packing shoes (including little doll shoes) and other random thingies. It took awhile to figure out the best way to get everything in and fitting, but I managed to do it.

After I did that I quickly photocopied the samples that were going to be sent out today for their records. I wanted to make sure everything was finished before I had left, thus staying later, which is never a problem to me. I don't like leaving tasks unfinished, and every time I have time managed well enough that everything gets done at a convenient time for me as well as being efficient for everyone else. 

Internship at Dollie & Me: Week 1 - A Simple Start

So last week I began my first true internship at the Girl's wear company, Dollie & Me. It's a branch of Kahn Lucas and Lancaster which does girls apparel for major department stores such as Kohls, Macy's, JcPenney, Walmart, and so on. Dollie & Me however is a little different, because not only is it cute clothing for little girls, but the matching outfits for their doll! 

Dollie & Me recently acquired the licence to Marie Alexander Doll Company, in which they make companion dolls, similar to that of American Girl, for a much better and more affordable price point. 

Day 1: 1/31/2013

When I interviewed, I mentioned specifically that I want to dabble mainly in the field of Technical Design, meaning tech packs, specs, CADs, and WebPDM. My wishes were in fact granted.

Jason, the Executive Vice President, told me the morning I arrived in the office that I would be working closely with Erica and Adira, who are in charge of Technical Design at Dollie & Me. They were excited, as they are quite busy and sure could use the assistance, and I, being the eager and willing to learn intern, was equally.

On the first day I was given a working area, introduced to the various members of the office, and then jumped right into work. It was surprising how time flew by as I completed my tasks. I was instructed to photocopy samples for future references for their tech books. They make all their samples in house, and they only make one of each, so things disappear. It's important to have backup, and thus the photocopying. 

It was tedious, but I didn't mind doing it. Someone has to do it don't they? It seemed like a good starter task. I basically did that for the entire time I was in the office that Thursday, which was 9am - 6pm. They were surprised I was there that long! I didn't find the day challenging or frustrating, and everyone in the office was nice and accommodating to me. 

Day 2: 2/1/2013

This was an exciting day. I got on their web interface, Blue Cherry, which is a program sort of like WebPDM. I got log-on info and I was good to go. Indira gave me a very nice and simple to understand run-through of how the program worked for what I would need to do today, which is load in the CAD images from Adobe Illustrator into the Blue Cherry technical files - which encompass all the specs, trims, fabrics, sizing, and everything that goes into factory producing a garment. 

I sized, cropped, and edited all the CAD flats images for importing into Blue Cherry. Unfortunately I wasn't granted saving rights for my user login, but I was able to load in all the images and created image folders on the interface. I was so happy to be doing what I've always wanted to on a professional level. 

I can't wait to learn more and do more in the Technical Design field. I want to be able to write entire tech packs, not just load in images. Hopefully it wont be long until I do.