The Pattern Department

When I began manufacturing my inventions, Swaddleaze & Blankeaze, I used a place called Rice Mills, a Southern company that has since gone out of business. My design guru there was a wonderful woman named Linda Lednum. She was singlehandedly responsible for taking my primitive (see image at left), if not hilarious, designs and turning them into actual products. And she never laughed at my liberal use of made-up terms to describe design elements or changes that I wanted made to production samples. After Rice Mills closed, Linda procured the pattern making software, digitizer and plotter from them and started a home-based company called The Pattern Department. She now offers her fabulous services to designers, experienced or new. Linda says, "I work with the designer to create a first pattern from a sketch or garment. I digitize it into the system and can then grade it into all sizes needed. Garment patterns are where most of my experience lies, but I have done patterns for other things as well. One of my most unusual patterns was for a wheelchair cover to protect the item during air travel!" Linda can also help designers with things like costing, cutting efficiency and recommending overseas manufacturers. Linda emailed me yesterday to tell me that her new business was doing very well and said that her "claim to fame" was working with me on my products along my way to being a "mogul". Without Linda, my products would still be floating around in my head, probably covered in cobwebs by now. But don't let her fool you--working with me is not her claim to fame. She has worked with companies like Lands' End, One Step Ahead, Gap, Nordstrom and Nike. What makes Linda special is that she offers her expertise to designers BIG and small in the same professional, helpful manner. I can tell you from firsthand experience that Linda is a real pro and you couldn't work with a nicer lady. If you're looking for a "design guru", look no further. Visit Linda at The Pattern Department.