Podcasts
About Heather Zager | MADE Apparel Services Founder and Owner
Heather Zager found her calling when she signed up for a beginning patternmaking course and realized she had a passion for technical design. She subsequently enrolled in the Apparel Design and Development program at Seattle Central College and graduated two years later with her Associate of Applied Science Degree.
After graduation, she began working with Meta assisting in developing and designing augmented and virtual reality wearable tech gear. In 2020, MADE Apparel Services was born with the idea of helping makers, inventors and entrepreneurs bring their own sewn product ideas to manufacture. Since then she has worked with various businesses such as Santa’s Tailor, Feathered Friends, Wolfpack Gear and Classic Accessories, helping them achieve their goals in design, development, patternmaking, sewn construction and manufacture. Today, Heather continues to grow her knowledge and share her experiences with others to bring their visions to reality.
Episode 8 - Concept to Customer Part 4 - Preparing for Manufacture
Host Heather Zager talks about manufacture in this final episode of her four-part series called Concept to Customer. This is the fourth of the most common areas of confusion or misunderstanding among new designers, areas that Heather wants to demystify. Having already covered design concepting, material sourcing, and size and fit, she now discusses manufacturing. She explores what manufacturing is, what types of manufacturers are available, and imparts advice and all the necessary details about getting a product to the manufacture stage.
Episode 7 - Concept to Customer Part 3 - What to know about sizing and why you should give a fit.
Host Heather Zager talks about size and fit in this third of her four-part series called Concept to Customer. She explains exactly what fit and size are, technically speaking, and what they should mean to a garment and the customer wearing said garment. Historical context and a modern-day leaning towards vanity sizing are also addressed in Heather’s deep dive into how to best size and fit the garment being made for the ideal customer to wear.
Episode 4 - Concept to Customer Part 2: Material Sourcing
Heather Zager discusses the second topic in her four-part series called Concept to Customer in this episode. In the first episode she introduced us to design concepting and today she talks about material sourcing. She explains the foundation of fabrics and how they are made, differentiating between natural and man-made fibers as well as how fibers are turned into yarn. Everything from roll size to fabric weight is addressed in this episode to aid in swatch searching.
Episode 1 - Concept to Customer Part 1: Design Concepting
Design concept boards ensure that your idea is being developed correctly. Heather noticed that many clients don’t know what design details to communicate and how to communicate them effectively through their concept boards. So to start, she defines a concept board as a single-page illustration of your design idea that visually describes all the features and details of your design. She then lays out five easy steps for understanding and creating a design concept board.