Behind the Seams Part 2! by Leslie |

Hey ladies!Time for another look “Behind the Seams” with the Quacker Factory Design Team! Here is a picture I love of “all the girls” from the Design Team hanging out with Jeanne and I.

It’s one of my favorite pictures as this was taken on Jeanne’s Birthday shortly before she got her Angel wings. We have all known each other a long time! I’ll let Leslie tell you a bit more!

Hello fabulous Quackers! Leslie here! It’s great to step out from “Behind the Seams” and tell you a little bit about what we do. That’s Susan and I with Jeanne in the photo below. The three of us have been working together ever since QVC discovered Jeanne on the 50 in 50 tour way back in 1996. At the time, Susan and I worked for QVC and that’s how we met Jeanne. To make a really long story really short…after we fell in love with Jeanne, her quirky personality, and her ability to make women sparkle, shine, and laugh along the way – we both ended up working for her! Here we are back in those early days!

Jeanne taught us so much over the years, but my favorite thing that I always remember was not only how to make a woman look good, but how to make her feel good too!

Some other “Jeannism’s” that still ring in my ears every day:

Everyone has a voice that wants to be heard and expressed through clothing!
Don’t try so hard to fit in when you were born to stand out!
Own who you are – and if ya don’t like it – CHANGE IT!

We always told her “Jeanne you are changing the world – one Sequin at a time! And she’d always reply with her adorable giggle and a smile! It’s really been a joy for me to have been on this Quacker journey for the past 17 years!

To borrow a line from Willie Wonka, Jeanne lived in a world of “Pure Imagination” and it was our job to help take all the great ideas from Jeanne’s creative brain and turn them into clothing. To sound really fancy, we call this “Product Development”.

We take all the creative ideas and organize them with the manufacturers. Each “idea” has to get specific instructions telling the manufacturer exactly how to make and embellish the clothing. And it’s the same process with this design too – our “Quacker Factory Pen and Ink Floral Fantasy” design which all of you voted on!

You’ve already met John, our Lead Design Artist and seen his beautiful sketches for this idea. Once the Artwork is finished – John sends the Paper Art on to me!

My goal is to turn the Paper Art into a beautiful prototype sample. I take the Artwork and prepare a “Technical Package” that will get sent to the manufacturer. This package will contain lots and lots of instructions and details – they don’t call me the detail gal for nothing! As I once told a Quacker customer, John does all the drawing and I do all the typing!

For all of the Embroidery on the artwork, we choose the perfect color of Embroidery from our thread book, which contains over 3000 colors! We will also do that with any Sequins or Rhinestones shown in the Artwork.

We have to blend together all of the colors so that the Sequins, Rhinestones, and Threads all “sparkle and shine” together and look fabulous!

I also give the manufacturer a “Pattern” to follow for making the sample, what type of fabric and fabric colors to use, and any special sewing instructions they need. When all the details are all ready to go – the “package” – along with the Artwork gets sent to the manufacturer. About 4 weeks later we will see the idea “spring” to life! It’s like Christmas morning when we get the box back from the manufacturer. We rip it open and can’t wait to see what our creation looks like! So I hope you enjoy these early glimpses of our first samples of the “Quacker Factory Pen and Ink Floral Fantasy”! I really think you’ve “picked” a winner!

PS. Look at this adorable sign we found…”Happiness is not a destination it is a WAY of life”…kind of says it all!