Chapter 227 Ready-to-Wear Styles
Chapter 227 Ready-to-Wear Styles
Tie-dyeing is indeed a very complex technique. He explained it at length, but even Wen Yuxia, let alone the workers in the workshop, was completely confused.
Left with no other option, He devised a teaching plan: every morning they would learn tie-dyeing, and in the afternoon the female workers would weave cloth in their rooms while the male workers continued dyeing monochrome cloth in the backyard.
The next morning, Wen Yuxia and the four Bei Yi sisters arrived at the farm on the outskirts of Beijing on time, each holding a small notebook.
This time, Mr. He didn't go straight into tie-dyeing like he did yesterday. Instead, he started with the most basic aspect: fabric selection. Choosing fabric may seem simple, but there's a lot to it. Different textures and patterns of fabric will produce drastically different results after tie-dyeing.
Wen Yuxia listened attentively and took notes, striving to record every word He Shi said in her small notebook. The He couple's wish for the rest of their lives was to travel all over China, and she felt embarrassed to keep her in the workshop as a teacher indefinitely.
Most of the workers were illiterate. Today, she brought the four Bei sisters to the class so that she could record what Madam He said and then have Bei Yi and the others explain it to the workers that evening.
After a few days, two clever female workers had already grasped the basics of tie-dyeing. They laid out simple patterns on the fabric, following He's instructions step by step.
They carefully removed the knots from the fabric, pried open the "bumps," and looked at the white pattern on the fabric. Everyone's faces lit up with excitement.
Madam He nodded with satisfaction. These two picked things up quite quickly. With some training, they should be able to replace her in teaching the workshop workers. "Young Madam, I plan to focus on training them."
He Shi stated her thoughts directly, and Wen Yuxia nodded in sympathy. However, Wen Yuxia asked He Shi to take her along when she taught the two of them, and He Shi readily agreed.
After dinner, Madam He took Wen Yuxia and two female workers to a separate room for private instruction, while the four Bei sisters divided the remaining workers into four groups.
Each person took a group of workers to a room, took out their notebooks, and recited the knowledge they had learned that morning to the workers.
As the days went by, the two female workers who were being groomed for special training, along with Wen Yuxia, had already completed learning the highlighting techniques taught by Ms. He.
Madam He took out ten patterns and handed them to Wen Yuxia, saying, "Young Madam, all the existing floral fabric patterns of the Nangong family are here. When the Nangong family gets new patterns, the young master will bring them to you."
Wen Yuxia took the patterns and carefully examined them. She breathed a sigh of relief; thankfully, none of the patterns were the same as those on the fabrics from her previous life.
“The Nangong family and I are sharing resources, so it’s only polite to reciprocate. Grandma He, I also have ten patterns here. See if you can use them,” Wen Yuxia said with a faint smile, taking ten patterns from her handbag and handing them to Madam He.
In fact, Wen Yuxia had been drawing many patterns in her spatial dimension these past few days. However, she was afraid of frightening Madam He by suddenly taking out a large stack of patterns, so she only took out ten.
Looking at the pattern in her hand, He said in surprise, "The blooming flowers are so rich in layers, and there are even flower breakdown diagrams and annotations. This is too professional. Who drew it?"
"Can I use my drawing?" Wen Yuxia asked calmly. Madam He nodded vigorously: "Yes, you can use it. And these fabrics with these patterns will definitely sell very well after they are dyed."
The Nangong family's weaving and dyeing workshops received a 10% cut from He's profits. Wen Yuxia's designs not only earned money for the Nangong family, but she also made a considerable amount of money herself. He happily expressed her gratitude.
After seeing off Nangong Yangxu and the He couple, Wen Yuxia's weaving and dyeing workshops at her farm on the outskirts of Beijing were completed. The workers in both workshops were busy weaving, dyeing, and tie-dyeing.
Wen Yuxia didn't use the designs given to her by Madam He, and she also abandoned the ten designs she had given to Madam He. Wen Yuxia then took out a large stack of drawings she had completed.
Wen Yuxia looked through the pictures with Zhang Ling and Li Susu, and finally chose three simple yet pretty designs. She smiled faintly and said, "Okay, let's use these three to practice."
Zhang Ling and Li Susu were the two female workers that He's family focused on training. Zhang Ling was lively, cheerful, and loved to joke, so Wen Yuxia had her teach the workers tie-dyeing techniques every morning.
Li Susu is introverted and meticulous in her work, so it was perfect for her to be in charge of guiding the workers in tie-dyeing fabrics. The four sisters from Beiyi were also arranged by Wen Yuxia to work in the tie-dyeing workshop to assist Li Susu.
Wen Yuxia personally mixed the dyes, initially following the proportions taught by He, but after becoming proficient, she began to mix dyes using various plants based on her own imagination.
After numerous failures, Wen Yuxia finally mixed the dye she wanted. Her success gave the dye shop workers the courage to try, and everyone followed suit.
In this way, the dye house had more and more dyes available, and the variety of tie-dyed fabrics increased day by day. Looking at the ever-growing piles of finished products in the warehouse…
Bei Yi asked, puzzled, "Master, why not try to sell the fabric?" Wen Yuxia calmly shook her head: "Don't rush."
Initially, Wen Yuxia did intend to wholesale the fabrics, but later, looking at the exquisite patterns on them, she had other ideas.
To save costs, Da Xia's clothing store uses only solid-color fabrics. She wants to try making clothes with tie-dyed fabrics, producing only ten pieces of each style, targeting the high-end market.
A clothing store should have at least fifty garments hanging on the wall, which means fifty different styles. Bei Yi said with some concern, "Making only ten pieces of each style, isn't that too few?"
Wen Yuxia smiled slyly. Different colored fabrics could be used to make the same style of clothing. In other words, she had hundreds of patterns, and hundreds of patterns could be used to make a hundred different styles of clothing.
Bei Yi was taken aback by Wen Yuxia's statement. Different colored fabrics could be used to make the same style of clothing. She said with some surprise, "That works too?"
“Yes, it will definitely work,” Wen Yuxia said with a smile.
With the idea in mind, Wen Yuxia immediately set to work, incorporating the advantages of many ready-to-wear styles and adding her unique aesthetic sense. She quickly created ten satisfactory designs.
Wen Yuxia posted job advertisements at the entrances of all her shops and rented an empty shop from Xia Yichen to begin renovations.
The shop was divided into a front and a back yard. The front yard sold ready-made clothes, while the back yard made them. On the day the shop was renovated, Wen Yuxia asked Butler Tang to notify the female garment workers she had hired to go to work at the shop.
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