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Simplicity instructions (Moderated by Sharon1952)
Posted on: 1/29/06 11:47 PM ET
Hee hee. Simplicity's web site says they are looking for a full time instruction writer for patterns. Now's your chance!! We all complain about instructions--but who will dare??? (Located in NY.)
Posted on: 1/30/06 0:01 AM ET
In reply to missmerm
I saw a job posting on simplicity.com a while ago that said something like "No self taught individuals accepted." I thought that was kinda stinky but I don't know any better.
Rules me out!
After thinking about it for a while ... hey! That means I'll never have the chance to write pattern instructions for them even though I was hoping to make a mid-life career change. So even though I'm self taught using their patterns, I'm just not good enough, right? Is that what they are saying?
Darn it all anyway.

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Rules me out!
After thinking about it for a while ... hey! That means I'll never have the chance to write pattern instructions for them even though I was hoping to make a mid-life career change. So even though I'm self taught using their patterns, I'm just not good enough, right? Is that what they are saying?
Darn it all anyway.

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Leah
Posted on: 1/30/06 0:06 AM ET
In reply to Leora
Pretty funny, isn't it??
Posted on: 1/30/06 1:06 AM ET
Hey, look at the bright side... if they only want those with a formal education, maybe they're aiming for consistency across the line 
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... but what do I know?
Re: Nows Your Chance (posted on 1/30/06 8:24 AM ET)
I worked as a temp in the office of a fashion design school and would have to agree that "not self taught" means that they want the technical vernacular of design used. We all know what a gusset and a grommet are, but if we didn't we could look it up. If we didn't know the generally accepted terminology we could really mess with some folks heads. At least with using the correct techical term it can looked up, but if you used a regional term or one term used by quilters, or knitters it could mess up our minds! I am guilty, myself, of using terms like "dangly thingie" and "that part that is hanging below the other stuff"(and don't tell me you could really understand that!)
So, I am pretty sure they want someone who will refer in the directions to some term that is in every sewing directory!
But, I could be wrong (though I would never admit that to DH!)
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So, I am pretty sure they want someone who will refer in the directions to some term that is in every sewing directory!
But, I could be wrong (though I would never admit that to DH!)
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JanieV
Posted on: 1/30/06 9:21 AM ET
Well, I'm a technical editor, and procedure writing is one of my specialties. Perhaps I could edit for them and test the procedures as I go along. I wonder if they'd include an expense account for "test" fabrics? 
Claire - clearly dreaming still this early in the morning.
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Claire - clearly dreaming still this early in the morning.
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Claire
~~~Sewing is my form of meditation, escape, and entertainment.~~~
~~~ I have no idea how many yards of fabric I've bought this year - I don't want to know. I just want to see my closet fill up with finished clothes I like and can wear. ~~~
~~~Sewing is my form of meditation, escape, and entertainment.~~~
~~~ I have no idea how many yards of fabric I've bought this year - I don't want to know. I just want to see my closet fill up with finished clothes I like and can wear. ~~~
Re: Nows Your Chance (posted on 1/30/06 11:17 AM ET)
I wonder if the writer will really be able to write original instructions, or if that person will be required to compile instructions from a set of pre-determined steps? I've often thought that's how the Big 4 generates pattern guides...not by writing new ones, but just by 'cutting and pasting' in the appropriate little text/illustration set ...such as 'insert a zipper'... into the appropriate place.
-- Edited on 1/30/06 11:18 AM --
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-- Edited on 1/30/06 11:18 AM --
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Lisa -- so much fabric, so little time!
http://sewrandom.blogspot.com/
http://sewrandom.blogspot.com/
Posted on: 1/30/06 11:31 AM ET
Lisa, that is most definitely how (it appears) they do their instructions. And as further proof, look at the patterns that don't use those alone, i.e. Today's Fit and Palmer/Pletsch. Their instructions are even worse, because they have the cut-and-pastes and then try to add in the more original instructions based on the designers' intentions (to teach methods of fitting). I find those ones particularly gruesome and disjointed.
Now as to saying "no self-taught", I think that's highly misleading and very discriminatory, for a multitude of reasons (and points out why the Big 4 will just never seem to "get it").
If the goal (as was suggested above) is to make sure common and accepted terms are used... well, presumably someone who is self taught is very aware of these, having taught themself how to sew (can you imagine someone teaching themself to sew successfully without learning all the general terminology of a pattern?? How would they do it?)
The other point is that Simplicity markets patterns to HOME SEWISTS. Not professionals, not industry consumers. HOME sewists. Perhaps the reason their instructions are so poor in the first place is that they are using just-out-of-design-school students (because they're cheapest-- trust me I am very familiar with this practice). Perhaps they should instead be using Ms. Home-Sewist-I've-Been-Sewing-For-Thirty-Years-Because-My-Mother-Taught-Me-When-I-Was-Ten. However, their job listing excludes this woman.
Foolish, IMHO. As I said, I don't think the Big 4 will ever get it. They just don't seem to understand their core market. Which is odd, really, for a big corporate business. You'd think they had market researchers for that kind of thing. Presumably they do. I suspect it's that the system is so intrenched that they're only hearing what they want to hear within the framework of their system. Oh well. Glad it's not my business.
-- Edited on 1/30/06 11:33 AM --
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Now as to saying "no self-taught", I think that's highly misleading and very discriminatory, for a multitude of reasons (and points out why the Big 4 will just never seem to "get it").
If the goal (as was suggested above) is to make sure common and accepted terms are used... well, presumably someone who is self taught is very aware of these, having taught themself how to sew (can you imagine someone teaching themself to sew successfully without learning all the general terminology of a pattern?? How would they do it?)
The other point is that Simplicity markets patterns to HOME SEWISTS. Not professionals, not industry consumers. HOME sewists. Perhaps the reason their instructions are so poor in the first place is that they are using just-out-of-design-school students (because they're cheapest-- trust me I am very familiar with this practice). Perhaps they should instead be using Ms. Home-Sewist-I've-Been-Sewing-For-Thirty-Years-Because-My-Mother-Taught-Me-When-I-Was-Ten. However, their job listing excludes this woman.
Foolish, IMHO. As I said, I don't think the Big 4 will ever get it. They just don't seem to understand their core market. Which is odd, really, for a big corporate business. You'd think they had market researchers for that kind of thing. Presumably they do. I suspect it's that the system is so intrenched that they're only hearing what they want to hear within the framework of their system. Oh well. Glad it's not my business.
-- Edited on 1/30/06 11:33 AM --
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kristine
quote of the day:
"People all over the world, join in -- on the Love Train, Love Train..." ~the O'Jays
quote of the day:
"People all over the world, join in -- on the Love Train, Love Train..." ~the O'Jays
Re: Nows Your Chance (posted on 1/30/06 11:31 AM ET)
Now that would seriously be a job that I could love.
I'd be good at it, too.
However, my credentials of "Mechanical Engineering Degree" and "Marketing MBA" along with "Self-taught sewist" and "Skating dress designer" probably isn't what they are looking for. Maybe I'll apply just so they can have a few laughs.
Dang.
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I'd be good at it, too.
However, my credentials of "Mechanical Engineering Degree" and "Marketing MBA" along with "Self-taught sewist" and "Skating dress designer" probably isn't what they are looking for. Maybe I'll apply just so they can have a few laughs.
Dang.
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Leslie
_________________________________
"Don't dress a certain way because that's all you've done in the past. Fashion is a very underrated motivator. It's just pieces of fabric, but it's such a powerful tool. It can change people's perception of you." - Daniel Vosovic, Project Runway
"The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it." - Moliere, French dramatist, actor (1622-1673)
_________________________________
"Don't dress a certain way because that's all you've done in the past. Fashion is a very underrated motivator. It's just pieces of fabric, but it's such a powerful tool. It can change people's perception of you." - Daniel Vosovic, Project Runway
"The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it." - Moliere, French dramatist, actor (1622-1673)
Posted on: 1/30/06 12:20 PM ET
It just doesn't seem like that hard of a job to perform.
Especially since they must have an editor going back over it for accuracy. Right?
You would think a home sewist would benefit the job since we are the ones that actually proof the darn thing in the long run.
-- Edited on 1/30/06 12:22 PM --
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Especially since they must have an editor going back over it for accuracy. Right?
You would think a home sewist would benefit the job since we are the ones that actually proof the darn thing in the long run.
-- Edited on 1/30/06 12:22 PM --
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Leah
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