I think I learn something new each time I go to the Garment District. After several weeks of back-and-forths, the patternmaker finally completed my grading. Only for me to realize how archaic the entire process is – my graded patterns are on pieces of crinkled up paper, stuffed in envelopes with pencil annotations all over. Mind you, I know more than a handful of very good designers who also go to said patternmaker for sampling, so it’s not like I’m the clueless one going to the wrong place! Now I have to tote everything over to a proper grading company – one that actually uses a computer! (ha!) to have everything scanned, checked, marked, and properly translated into garment specs. Still a few more steps to go before everything goes to the factory for production.