Satin Stitches, Ltd. | Designed For a Sensational Performance

© Deborah J. Nelson/Satin Stitches Ltd.

We just cannot seem to be rid of winter, here in Minnesota. Yes, yes…I know that if you live on the coast – East or West, you probably think it is ALWAYS winter here, in good, old Minne-snow-da! With global warming supposedly everywhere, what is up with our COLD and snow this spring? It is always fun to chat with business associates in New York, LA, Atlanta or Portland. Living in Minnesota, we always have something to talk about here, anyway. One day we have cold, another day we have heat, one day it is rainy and gloomy, and another day sunny and beautiful. That is why I love living in Minnesota! As the story goes – if you don’t like the weather, just wait a day! As I explained today to someone, via a telephone conversation recently: yes, we have it cold in the winter, but we also get an average of 15 days or so, each summer, in the 90’s with some nasty humidity! And some 100’s, which I can do without!

So what is with my weather report today?

Hoping for Spring, Here in Minnesota!

I realized that I am really used to a big variety of weather, and at Satin Stitches, we create a great variety of different styles of dance costumes. I love it! Like living in sunny California, Hot-Lanta or rainy Seattle and so on, I can’t imagine only designing and creating drill/military/high kick uniforms, or all lyrical costumes, or all sporty pom/all-star uniforms. I like to do them all! I don’t think we are able to get stuck in any ruts, (other than those snow-caused ruts), here at Satin Stitches! That is the beauty of custom work! A huge variety of design options.

This is something to think about as a dance teacher or choreographer. Could you run the risk of getting stuck in a rut? If you are working with the traditional studio schedule, you could be coasting through all your competitions, as you are probably in the middle of your season, only tweaking your kids’ dancing or if you don’t compete, working towards your end of the season-recital. Most of your creativity was necessary at the beginning of your season, to work out all your routines.

Most likely you are already thinking of new ideas for next year. Hopefully you will not be rehashing the same old routines. Hopefully seeing other dance studios compete against your studio groups, you will get rejuvenated and be able to get your creative juices flowing.

This is where we are here, at Satin Stitches. Because most of our groups need delivery of their new costumes and uniforms from August to March, we have rejuvenated and we have started creating new costumes for dance teams, professional dance and cheer teams, show choirs and even a possible Miss America contestant! Our regular clients know that we offer special discounts in the early spring to help generate business to help us get through our fall season without too much burnout.

How do we get a fresh outlook for helping our clients to come up with new costume ideas for next season? The best thing is for our clients to have an idea that we can work with and build on. Other than that, we check out new fabrics, colors and trims, we keep up to date on current street and couture fashions. We watch for trends in ready-to-wear that might influence dance costuming, with the new hot colors, new silhouettes, and fun details. As a designer, I constantly watch for influences from television shows, Broadway musicals, pop stars and the latest reality stars and what they have to offer.

All I need is a spark of an idea. I have a really large mental inventory of styles, silhouettes, colors, shapes and fabric drapes. I also always strip magazines and newspapers of historic and current costume and fashion photos. Luckily, I usually wait until my husband has read them! He really prefers his national news without holes in it. Ever since I became aware of the clipping files that libraries used to compile, I have been filing my own clippings in my costume files. I have hundreds of visually stimulating historical fashion and costume books, along with videos and dvds. Yes, I LOVE to look at all types of inspirational photos, movies and television shows that I mentally file away for future reference. Of course, when I need to, I can pull them out and get inspired once again!

When someone references a particular historic era or Broadway musical number, for example, I start searching through my reference materials. If I find that I don’t have what I need, I start searching amazon.com and eBay to FIND what I need. Of course I search Online for images, but I really prefer to have a tangible photo in my hands, that I can look at and study.

Once I am able to find some inspirational visuals, I can use these to come up with ideas for my new design project. Sometimes, I can draw from previous costumes that we have created. We are always careful to never duplicate anything. Sometimes we can make slight changes to a previous design, if we know that our original client will not be offended by our new version. Generally, it needs to be another color, at the very least. It also needs to be seen in an entirely different venue, such as a studio costume being reinvented as a high school dance team uniform in another region of the country, or a ballroom costume reinvented as a studio line costume, again, in a different part of the country. We pride ourselves on our true custom format, at Satin Stitches, and we cannot afford to duplicate and risk our reputation.

Our business is very seasonable. Spring brings on the rebirth of new ideas, and new clients. These new ideas flourish during the Summer and Fall, when we are the most busy. We head into the Winter, when orders become fewer, as the season is almost over. Then once again, we start again, with new, fresh ideas in the Spring! Bring it on, Minnesota, I am ready for the rebirth!