{This is the second post in a series about our transformation from totally-not-fashion-designers, to convincing a talented pattern-maker that we’ve graduated from fashion school. Part I can be found here.}

Before leaving the States, I bought the “fashion bible” – The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Sewn Product Manufacturing. I read it cover to cover, and realized there are a lot of people out there just like us, with an idea, but no real knowledge about how to produce clothing.

The author calls them “designer entrepreneurs.”

So we started with an idea. At the time, we were kind of inspired by our discovery of infinity scarves. I thought it would be cool to make a scarf that was reversible four ways, and could be a regular scarf and an infinity scarf too. My mom thought we could turn it into a purse as well, so I gave that a go.

Using some cheap, ugly fabric, I started sewing.

It was a wreck. I don’t have the patience for sewing.

So I had a fugly, unfinished scarf in my closet and was back to square one.

Then, I sat down with a pencil and started sketching. Everything. It wasn’t pretty. After looking at my drawings, you’d be surprised to learn that I supposedly have good motor skills.

But I kept practicing. For all of two or three weeks, and little by little, things got a bit less fugly.

Shannon arrived in Guatemala. We finally talked about our ideas, and started forming the real base of our line in our minds. And we both drew, more and more. It turned out that she didn’t need three weeks of extra practice; her motor skills are apparently more evolved than mine.

With two people, the process takes a little longer. We’re still working on the kinks. What color should this be? Should these straps snap or tie? Should this be loose or tight? Where is this going to fall on the calf?

We finally came up with some rough sketches of what we wanted and deemed them “acceptable,” but we would have been embarrassed to show them to anyone else.

That’s when we learned about croqui’s. And spec sheets. And sizing charts. And how to convey a design to a professional.

And that’s what we’ll share on Friday. {r}