Who Makes Your Clothes?

Have you ever wondered who makes the clothes you buy/wear?

While I was dismantling a wool jacket several weeks ago to someday make into a braided wool rug or other project and I began to wonder who or how many people were involved in making this garment.  It was time consuming to rip out the stitching and as I went along realized how much skill went into it.  Tailoring.  My maternal Grandmother knew how to tailor.  That was the kind of work a woman could do in her era to make a little extra money.  I've done a ton of sewing but never learned the art of tailoring.  I could tell the shoulder pads were hand made and the marks inside the fabric for the darts and placement of the stabilizer were done by hand.  Then there was the lining, too. 

A Liz Claiborne jacket made in Korea.  I kept finding these little pieces of paper with the numbers 331 on them.  How long did it take for them to make it?  What were their working conditions?  What pay did they receive?

So, Mr. or Ms. 331 you did a fantastic job on the jacket, I'm impressed.  I'm sorry the moths got to it and ruined it.

I did up a gift basket for a customer yesterday that she's donating to the "City of Hope" cancer center fundraiser.  It's one of those Keurig coffee makers, 3 packs of coffee singles and some bottles of different jam.  She brought in the goodies & basket, then I did the rest.  Nice for a change.  Haven't done a gift basket for awhile.

Oh man, it's time to go and a customer just brought in pictures, some china pieces, cups and saucers to ship to 3 different places and I thought I might get outta here on time tonite!   UUggg!