She says the indie pattern companies will also benefit from the improved quality once the printing services consolidate. Small says they plan to continue these contracts. Outsourcing the envelope printing will allow for higher print quality and capability as well.” Small says the closure and consolidation are not related to the cyber attack the company faced at the end of 2020 which shut down production for over a month.īesides printing and folding patterns for the Big 4 pattern brands, the Manhattan plant also prints and folds tissue for many indie sewing pattern companies.
“We had been hearing consumer complaints about the quality of our tissue,” she says. Small says the Simplicity printing plant can print on a sturdier tissue. The pattern envelope printing will be outsourced. Printing and folding for pattern tissue will be consolidated to the Simplicity plant in Wisconsin. “Anyone who was anyone worked at McCalls back in the day,” the source we spoke with said. Most will be laid off, while some will do their jobs virtually. Before the pandemic, there was a round of layoffs and last week remaining employees were told of the forthcoming closure. It once employed 1200-1300 people, according to a source we spoke with who wished to remain anonymous. The Manhattan, Kansas plant has been in operation for approximately 50 years.
That number is down to 20-30 million today. “We are grateful for the dedication and service of our employees there.”Īt its height in the 1970s, Simplicity and McCalls combined printed 200 million sewing patterns each year. “It was a difficult decision to close Manhattan,” says Abbie Small, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Craft at Design Group, the company that has owned McCalls and Simplicity since January 2020. It has five tissue presses and two folding machines. The plant currently employs 85 people and prints and folds sewing pattern tissue. I’m all for using technology, but this has a different feeling for me.The McCalls printing plant in Manhattan, Kansas, will shut down at the end of 2021. What happened to making things with love? Making things as a creative outlet? Appreciating the process? I don’t know. I totally understand using a projector, but add in the high price, all the gadgets, the subscription service, it grates on me. It’s resembling fast fashion in a way it feels weird for me. If the goal of this is trying to speed up the creation process (and from the tagline, it is) I just can’t get behind that. There’s something to be said about process over product. Many of my patterns are vintage, so they won’t be projectable.
Side rant, but why are we trying to “speed up” sewing as a craft? Isn’t the fun of sewing to make things with your hands because you enjoy it? I honestly love pinning the pattern, making adjustments, and handling the paper. Not even all the available patterns can be customized. This is definitely an industry thing that needs to stay industry. It’s expensive on top of having to rebuy the patterns or do the subscription model. I don’t see this having widespread appeal. But I guess that’s not really their target market here. If I could have a program that I could take a basic pattern and make whatever customizations I wanted… I would literally only have to buy the one block pattern. If it was actually infinitely customizable, then what need is there for the pattern company aside from the software. The listing on Joann website says “infinitely customizable” and I don’t trust that very much.
I’m very very interested in their program though. I know from the FB group that that can be a huge issue for some people, and having it automatically calibrate would be a great selling point (not an $800 selling point tho lol), especially if you have a space that needs to be packed away often.
Mccalls sewing patterns movie#
And I can use it to watch a movie every once in awhile (mine isn’t ceiling mounted)Īfter reading the manual someone posted below, I’m very curious to see how well it calibrates.
Mccalls sewing patterns full#
I got my projector 2 ish years ago for like $50 on sale, full price was $75. $800 for a single use projector, a stand and a cutting mat (that’s too small to cut any substantial pieces on anyway) I knew it was going to be an outrages price, but DAMN.
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