[00:00:00] Lisa Woolfork: Hello, stitchers. Welcome to stitch, please. The official podcast of black women's stitch, the sewing group, where black lives matter. I'm your host Lisa wool fork. I'm a fourth generation sewing enthusiast with more than 20 years of sewing experience. I am looking forward to today's conversation. So sit back, relax, and get ready to get your stitch together.
[00:00:40] Lisa Woolfork: Hello everybody. And welcome to the stitch. Please podcast the official podcast of black women's stitch. I am very, very happy to talk today with miss Zena, Henry, who has, who's also known as Z, Henry 88 on Instagram. And Xena came to my attention because she does wonderful makes I just love [00:01:00] singing the things that she makes.
[00:01:01] Lisa Woolfork: And then she did this walkthrough of a pattern organization system that I had not heard of before. And I am very. Into pattern, organization and sewing organization in general. So I invited her to come onto the podcast today and to talk with us about her system. So welcome Xena. Thank you for being here today.
[00:01:21] Zina Henry: Woo. Yay. Hello everyone. I am so excited. So excited, Lisa, thank you so much for having me. This is. So awesome.
[00:01:29] Lisa Woolfork: Well, it's, it's gonna be awesome for everybody, cuz we are gonna learn how to get our stitch together with this pattern organization system. So let's, let's get, before we get into that, tell me about how long you have been sewing and what you're sewing.
[00:01:39] Lisa Woolfork: What do you, how would you describe your sewing
[00:01:41] Zina Henry: background? Oh, wow. Yes. So, um, I um know that you are a seventies baby and as well as I. And so, yeah, I know, right. Give it up for the seventies. and I started sewing probably around age eight or nine, and my mom sewed, she made all of my clothes or most of my clothes.
[00:01:59] Zina Henry: And [00:02:00] so. Picked up an interest just from seeing her sew. And I would sew Barbie dog clothes, which I know is how a lot of us got our start was making clothes for our Barbie dolls. Um, and so I would use her scrap material and then she would show me I never owned a sewing machine. Like I would always use my mom's sewing machine.
[00:02:19] Zina Henry: I just remember that old Kenmore that she had and it had the table that it inserted in. And then you pull it. And, um, I took, I started taking sewing classes or home economics in sixth grade and I sold, uh, or I took home economics from sixth grade all the way through 12th grade. So I took it every single year.
[00:02:39] Zina Henry: And when I graduated from high school, I don't know what happened. I. Don't know if I just forgot about sewing, maybe none of my friends were sewing, so it just wasn't an interest. I went to college, I had a son in 91 and I got married in 96 and I met the wonderful man of [00:03:00] my dreams. And I was telling him about sewing and how I used to love it and how I did it.
[00:03:05] Zina Henry: And that nobody was sewing anymore. It seemed like it was a. Calls, I couldn't find anybody or community. And then, um, we bought our first home in 1999 and he designated a room in the ho we had four bedroom. Uh, we have four bedroom we're in the same home and we have four bedrooms and he said, this room right here is going to be your sewing room.
[00:03:26] Zina Henry: And I was like, oh, okay, cool. And I hadn't even thought about sewing. He bought. My first sew machine and surgery, and I'd never heard of a surge before. Wow. So this was, yeah, this was the first time. This was a whole new world. And keep in mind. I hadn't sold anything since I graduated from high school in 1998 and here we are in 1999.
[00:03:48] Zina Henry: And so we, you know, I. Had he, and he bought me a sewing table from a singer store, um, here in Memphis and the table had, you know, it would house my [00:04:00] sewing machine and my Sur, um, and the surge that I, it was the old white machine. And then the old 9 34, the brothers 9 34 der, which I've upgraded since then.
[00:04:12] Zina Henry: Um, but the sewing table, my whole room, everything was designated for me. And I made curtains for our. Because we had just moved in our house and I made all the curtains in, um, most of the rooms. And then I don't know what happened after that. I stopped sewing again. Uh, probably because I went to school, got a master's in education in EDS and education, uh, started teaching.
[00:04:35] Zina Henry: And of course, you know, life happens after that. When, and you got a little busy, a little busy, went back to school for a library certification life took over again, went back to school again for marriage and counseling. Certification and master's degree. So I don't know what happened. And then I found a community.
[00:04:53] Zina Henry: Um, and I think it had been over 20 years, like I think Instagram was coming out and I don't remember when Instagram [00:05:00] first came on the scene, but I think I found out about it maybe in 2014. So it had been a while since I'd made anything. And then the first thing I tried to make was MCCA 69, 88. And that, uh, it, it was wearable, but I never.
[00:05:16] Zina Henry: But I could see how my skills had kind of degraded from all those years of me not doing it. Hmm. And I was like, wow. Okay. But in the, in the same time I was buying patterns from Hancocks, still buying fabric because I had a room now, so I could store everything. Yes. Yeah. And so I would still collecting all of these patterns and all of the fabric and all of the notions and everything.
[00:05:42] Zina Henry: And, um, then. I I said, okay, well, there's a community out there, which I had no idea that people were still sewing. So with this community came a newfound love for me to start sewing again. Um, however, I just didn't do it for some reason. It was [00:06:00] like, Hit or miss. And then eventually my son took over half of that room for a recording studio.
[00:06:06] Zina Henry: Um and then it just kind of fell apart and then he moved out. And so last summer I got my room back and was I reorganized everything, but in the process of reorganizing everything, I realized that I had. Ton of patterns and a bunch of fabric. And I, I just had no kind of system. I didn't know what patterns I had.
[00:06:31] Zina Henry: And then I realized I had bought patterns that I already had. I, I was buying duplicates because I didn't know what I had. And so when I was reorganizing everything last summer, I was like, I need a pattern organization system.
[00:06:47] Lisa Woolfork: That sounds, it sounds wonderful. You know what? Cause I was looking at some of your photos from your on Instagram and I see your room is really well organized.
[00:06:56] Lisa Woolfork: I think that you have a lot of great color coordination. I see that you [00:07:00] have that. Um, I think it's the Ikea peg board. Yes. Um, where you can put up patterns that you might be thinking about or planning out your fall stuff. Um, like all these things I can tell that you're interested in having an organized.
[00:07:13] Lisa Woolfork: Let's talk a bit about like how you organized your room overall, like what some of your goals were, because now since you had taken that hiatus and you've had that long break from sewing, when you jumped back in, you were like, okay, I really gotta get this organized. What were some of your plans for the room itself?
[00:07:29] Lisa Woolfork: And then we can talk specifically about the patterns
[00:07:32] Zina Henry: themselves. Okay. Yeah. So I don't know if I had a. Full plan. I think I just knew that the space was mine originally. And, um, I was sharing like a little corner with him, with my son. And so when he moved out and then when I finally was able to get in and then just get everything out.
[00:07:56] Zina Henry: That shouldn't be in there. Then I could kinda look [00:08:00] back at the space cuz he had blocked the closet off in the room. So I couldn't even get in the closet. I didn't even know what was in the closet and my goodness. Yeah. he was, he had taken over the space and so there was a desk that we had bought, uh, like a little, I think we got the desk from Walmart.
[00:08:18] Zina Henry: It was like a little homework station desk. And I knew that I wanted to keep that because. Said this would be a great place to plan to write out, uh, anything that I have going on to draw to just think so I said, okay, I'll put this in the kind of in the corner, it'll be kind of out of my way. And so, um, I knew I wanted peg boards cuz I had seen everybody with a peg board that sews and I was like, okay, I gotta have a peg board cuz I gotta have a place for scissors and um, notions.
[00:08:49] Zina Henry: And for. Ham, which I heard that you have a lot of those
[00:08:55] Lisa Woolfork: do tend to enjoy a good ham Zina. I do like a good ham or two, or [00:09:00] maybe more than two who need to, this is not really my interview. I'm interested in what you
[00:09:09] Zina Henry: this. Oh yeah. So, um, yeah, so I had to have a pegboard. I was like, yeah, every good sewer has a pegboard or two. So I knew that that was, um, gonna happen. And then I, I knew that I would, I had a few of the hanging mannequins and so I was like, oh yeah, they'll fit in the closet when I'm not using them. But I had bought one of those hospital stands.
[00:09:34] Zina Henry: I'm not sure what you call 'em they're the, the where you hang the Ivy bag
[00:09:38] Lisa Woolfork: on. Yes, yes, yes. I know. I know exactly. It's something for the Ivy, drip. I don't, it's some kind of stand. Are you using that for your iron, for your gravity feed iron? What are you using it for?
[00:09:47] Zina Henry: So funny. No, I'm using it for my hanging mannequins.
[00:09:50] Zina Henry: Whoa. You know, and that's what I use like cuz and when they're not in the closet, I can hang them on that. Stand to take pictures or to even [00:10:00] look at something that I'm making. I don't have a formal dress form, which is my goal. I wanna get one. So I'm using kind of mannequins to like, look. Items that I'm working on or, um, to pose them for pictures and yes, before I could get in that room, it, you should, I had stuff everywhere, Lisa.
[00:10:19] Zina Henry: I mean, I had stuff in the, uh, den in the living room. I was taking pictures. By the window in the kitchen, everything was all over the house before I could get in that room. that's right. Yeah. I,
[00:10:32] Lisa Woolfork: that makes sense because you know, sewing stuff just proliferates, you know? Yes. You get the pegboard and then you hang some patterns on it and then you got your scissors and then you've got like, oh, well I need to have the paper scissors and the fabric scissors.
[00:10:45] Lisa Woolfork: I need to have a rotary cutter. I need to have, I need to have the paper rotary. I mean, it's just like, it's very easy to, um, Stuff just kinda multiply on you. Yeah. And so, and it spreads out.
[00:10:57] Zina Henry: It can totally spread. And I just didn't [00:11:00] know, you know, I was so glad to get back in there that I had to come up with something.
[00:11:04] Zina Henry: And then I kept trying to figure out where, where would I put fabric? Like I had a few of those pull out bins, the three, the ones that stack on top of each other, but they're three and yes. So I had a few of those. So I went and bought like a bunch more. Well, not a bunch. I. Seven total mm-hmm . So I went and bought those and then I said, okay, that's gonna be kind of like my drawer system for fabric.
[00:11:26] Zina Henry: Then I said, what can I put patterns in? Because I wanted the, the Ikea desk that I think Brittany Jones uses.
[00:11:35] Lisa Woolfork: Yes. Mm-hmm. yeah, I forgot what that's called. It is a nice one. It's white and it has kind of shallow drawers mm-hmm or shallow dips for the handles.
[00:11:43] Zina Henry: Yes. Yes. That's. And I said, man, I, but I did not wanna pay that price for it.
[00:11:48] Zina Henry: So I said no, and it really wasn't going to fit in that space. Uh, it was gonna be way too big. So, and I wanted everything in one area. So I said, okay, well what's [00:12:00] next. Then I said, oh, a file cabinet. I could get a file cabinet. So then it was this. For searching for a big file cabinet that would house all the patterns.
[00:12:09] Zina Henry: And, um, I ended up buying a file cabinet, but then a friend of my husband said he had two in his garage that he wasn't even using and that he was gonna give to us and he'd bring them to us. Uh, yes, please. Thank you. Exactly. So then I took the one back that I bought, um, that I paid almost $200 for
[00:12:29] Lisa Woolfork: good
[00:12:29] night.
[00:12:30] Zina Henry: Yes. For a foul cabinet. Yeah. And it was used.
[00:12:35] Lisa Woolfork: Wow. Was it one of those, um, about the file cabinet? Was it one of those super sturdy ones? Like the kind they have in doctor's offices? Because that's because, I mean, I feel like we bought a file cabinet recently from staples to hold our, um, you know, just household materials and stuff.
[00:12:52] Lisa Woolfork: And within a month, the top shelf. The top drawer had collapsed into the bottom drawer. Oh wow. And the whole thing was just [00:13:00] garbage and they were like, well, did you buy a, a protection plan? And I'm like for a $50 file cabinet who was buying a protection plan for a file cabinet? Yes. Why are you making such trash file cabinets that fall apart after you know, less than a month of use?
[00:13:14] Lisa Woolfork: Yeah, that was a foul
[00:13:14] Zina Henry: cabinet is supposed to hold files that are heavy.
[00:13:18] Lisa Woolfork: Yeah, except for this one, which absolutely did not. And so we ended up going to a surplus store. I work at a university. My husband does too. And so they had, cause I was like, I know good and well doctor's offices, lawyers, offices are not buying their.
[00:13:32] Lisa Woolfork: Their file cabinets from office supply stores. That's just not possible because these things are so flimsy. So we did end up finding one, um, for like a ridiculously low price that was so heavy that it took my husband and my son to get it down the stairs. Oh wow. They, I think they must have put concrete blocks in the bottom.
[00:13:52] Lisa Woolfork: I don't know what they did, but that junk was heavy and we're gonna have to like, It's gonna stay. If we ever move out of this house, that file. Cabinet's gonna stay [00:14:00] right here. um, cause nobody wants to move it, but it's, it's good. And it's reliable. And I bet if we, if it was not surplus property, we would've paid like the $200, you know what I mean?
[00:14:13] Lisa Woolfork: That you, that you had
[00:14:14] Zina Henry: paid. And so you had, mine was not that heavy. It was heavy, but it wasn't that heavy. Wow. And it did come from a surplus. Um, and
[00:14:25] Lisa Woolfork: it was still so expensive. I'm telling you, I've been recommend to people to check their different universities because Mo if your university is a state university, they have, um, they have to somehow liquidate those things.
[00:14:38] Lisa Woolfork: Oh, wow. And so they'll, they keep a, they keep a surplus warehouse of all kinds of stuff. We got that file cabinet may be $30. Okay. I'm sure it wasn't that much more than that. And they had tons of them because offices move or they outgrow them or they want something different, but it's not gonna, but the quality is always gonna be, at least it's, it's very sturdy, reliable type stuff, and they have all kinds of [00:15:00] stuff.
[00:15:00] Lisa Woolfork: And if you're lucky and if your university has like a drama department where they teach sewing, when they get rid. Sewing machines and sewing stuff. You can buy those at surplus too. I have not had that luck yet. Um, I have not gotten lucky to find a surplus sewing machine from, um, our drama department or our costing department, but I'm, I'm gonna keep my eyes peeled.
[00:15:23] Lisa Woolfork: Yeah. So you were saying you, you return the $200 file cabinet for your patterns and you got gifted to. Really good ones. Yes.
[00:15:31] Zina Henry: And, and the ones that he had were exactly like the one that I bought, they were, um, just black, which it didn't matter, cuz I was gonna paint them pink to match the room. So it didn't matter.
[00:15:41] Zina Henry: Yes. I saw that. I was like,
[00:15:42] Lisa Woolfork: he had pink file
[00:15:43] Zina Henry: cabinets. What coincidence no, they were black and um, It was so funny because I, I had searched high and low before I spent the $200 for that one, because I didn't want to, but I was like, it was the one I wanted. It was the long one. [00:16:00] It wasn't the wide, but it was the drawers.
[00:16:03] Zina Henry: They came out really long. They were long. So it was, uh, the depth of it was, uh,
[00:16:08] Lisa Woolfork: yeah. Yes. Well, that is excellent. So now you've got your file cabinets. You've got your file cabinets painted. They are coordinated. Your room is looking good. Your next step is to deal with those patterns. Yeah, so we are gonna take a quick break y'all and when we come back, we are gonna find out how, um, Z Henry 88 was able to organize her patterns in her newly freshly painted sewing room and sewing pattern cabinet.
[00:16:37] Lisa Woolfork: So stay tuned.
[00:16:39] Zina Henry: Oh, um,
[00:16:55] Lisa Woolfork: Here it's ditch, please. The official podcast of black women stitch, we talk a [00:17:00] lot about sewing, but if you want to see and not just hear about some of the things we've been discussing, feel free to join us on the social. You can find us at stitch, please on Facebook. And you can also find us on Instagram at black women's stitch.
[00:17:18] Lisa Woolfork: You can find photos of projects that we've been working on. Really interesting social commentary and. On Thursdays at 3:00 PM. Eastern standard time, you can join black women's stitch for a live Instagram chat again, that's every Thursday at 3:00 PM. So find us on the socials. Follow up with us. We are happy to hear your direct.
[00:17:41] Lisa Woolfork: You can reach out to us. Black listened to the podcast, Instagram official podcast. We'll help you. Black women stitch. And we are talking today with Xena Henry about pattern organization and Xena decided on Trello. And so we're gonna talk about that. And so Xena, can you tell me why you think pattern organization is [00:18:00] important?
[00:18:04] Zina Henry: Oh, wow. I can probably name a billion reasons why I, first of all, I have a ton of patterns, probably. Well, over 200 and. Every time I would go to get a new pattern or if I was just out and I happened to be in a pattern store or a store where they sold patterns, I would see something and I'd go, Ooh, I like that pattern.
[00:18:28] Zina Henry: And then I couldn't remember if I bought the pattern before or if I had it. And so a lot of times I would buy duplicates of patterns because I didn't know if I already had that pattern and I'd get home and then I'd go, oh, I. Two of these or three of these. And so I'd end up giving one away to my mom or somebody, um, or just keeping them just in, I'd say, okay, well, this one will be the one I, I cut up or if something happens to it, you know, or whatever.
[00:18:59] Zina Henry: Um, [00:19:00] but I feel like it type of system for me. I I'm an organized person. I have to be I'm the
[00:19:07] Lisa Woolfork: same. I'm the same, like a lot, a lot of clutter, a lot of. It just really, it just gives me a headache. It's just like, I, I get overwhelmed. I'm like, I can't, I can't concentrate.
[00:19:24] Zina Henry: No, you can't function. So, um, so I needed something and I tried a couple of other things. I tried air table, um, which I feel like maybe a lot of people like air table, I'm a big fan of air table. I am a big fan of air. I'm gonna
[00:19:40] Lisa Woolfork: try. So tell me what you didn't like about air table, because I think, you know, this is why I'm doing the series is because I would love to know.
[00:19:47] Lisa Woolfork: I think anything that anybody is enthusiastic about. That's what I wanna hear about. If you are enthusiastic about your system and it's helping you manage, um, acquiring patterns and finding them, that's what I [00:20:00] wanna know. So tell me about why Airtable didn't work for you.
[00:20:07] Zina Henry: And it, it has been a very long time since I've tried at Lisa. So I could be off a little for me. It was the learning curve. I, and that's really kind of sad for me to say, because I feel like I'm really technical, logically sound. I know technology, but I feel like when I try to use air table, I just felt like it was tedious, which is funny.
[00:20:29] Zina Henry: Trello probably is very similar to air table. Now that I've used Trello, but I'm thinking that maybe time that I tried to use air table, I just, maybe, I don't know. I didn't have patience for no, but that's idea. That's good because
[00:20:43] Lisa Woolfork: you a system isn't gonna work if you don't use it. You know what I mean?
[00:20:47] Lisa Woolfork: Like, so it doesn't matter if everybody loves it. If it doesn't work for you, it's not gonna help you get your patterns organized.
[00:20:58] Lisa Woolfork: Yeah, exactly. [00:21:00]
[00:21:00] Zina Henry: It did. I think I uploaded two patterns and I still have it on my phone. I looked at them the other day and I have two patterns uploaded and I don't know why I didn't do anything else. I think it was just the, I couldn't learning curve. I couldn't figure it out or I just didn't take the time to figure it out.
[00:21:18] Zina Henry: Um, and then I also was, I thought about Google sheet, which would just be me going in and creating like a, uh, Excel file, uploading the patterns, the numbers. I wouldn't have pictures of the pattern. Right. So that wasn't going to work because. Yes
[00:21:39] Lisa Woolfork: to see. And for me, I think maybe the same way you feel about, um, air table is a little bit how I feel about Google sheets, Google sheets.
[00:21:47] Lisa Woolfork: I can do. But when you mention the word, Microsoft Excel to me, my eyes automatically, my eyes instantly glaze over. My sister has been trying to tell me [00:22:00] for more than 20 years, how an Excel spreadsheet works. And she's like, Lisa, you just put your stuff here in the tabs and then you press this button and then it'll calculate it.
[00:22:09] Lisa Woolfork: And I'm like, you sound like the one, you sound like the adults on a Charlie brown cartoon. You know how like when adults are talking to the kids, it's like, blah, blah, blah, blah. That's exactly. It's like Microsoft Excel.
[00:22:26] Lisa Woolfork: Pop pop column AB w pop, pop, pop. I'm like. No, no, it's just, you can just, you can just stop talking right now because I have no idea what the words you are saying mean. And I, I know what words mean, but everything you're saying to me is incomprehensible. So I I'm telling you, Microsoft Excel will trigger me so fast.
[00:22:51] Lisa Woolfork: It's like, no, it's like, it's like being thrown back into like seventh grade algebra. Again, I just get all like discombobulated and confused. So [00:23:00] I, it has to work for you. So tell me what, tell me how, when you sit down to access Trello. Well, tell me how it works. Is this, um, is it a program that you download from the internet?
[00:23:13] Lisa Woolfork: Is it, is it an app? Is it free? Is it paid? Like how does that work?
[00:23:17] Zina Henry: Yes. Mm. Okay. Yeah, no, all of those. So it, it, there is an app for Trello and there's also a web-based, um, internet program or link that you can go to. It is free. And it basically, I feel like it works similar to Airtable. Basically you upload your pitch or your, um, attachment, whatever you're going to upload.
[00:23:44] Zina Henry: You also put in the pattern number, sorry, let me start from the beginning. So Trello has boards, what they call boards and each of those boards can be whatever you want. Be they can be patterns for me. My three boards are patterns, fabric. Oh, excellent. So [00:24:00] you've used,
[00:24:00] Lisa Woolfork: you've expanded the pattern organization feature to include other aspects of your sewing.
[00:24:05] Lisa Woolfork: So it's really like a holistic approach. That's really
[00:24:07] Zina Henry: cool.
[00:24:12] Zina Henry: Sparkling. And so in each board, when you go into each board, there is there's, you can create several lists and each list can house what they call cards. And so for my pattern list, my, or my pattern board, my list includes from of course, VO butter, McCalls, you know, the names of your patterns. And for each of those lists, I have all of my VO, um, or Vogue.
[00:24:40] Zina Henry: List. However, that pattern number is 1283 tier or whatever, 12, 15 pattern number. You can upload a picture of the pattern. You can also put labels and the labels can be anything that you want them to be. So my labels are things like dresses. And so when I look at a pattern [00:25:00] pants and a shirt in it, have the skirt label, the top label and the pant label.
[00:25:05] Zina Henry: Which will pull up any number that's I wanna search for just say, I wanna make a top, but tops I office search for formal wear and it'll pull up all the yeah. Patterns that I've labeled formal wear. So for me, that's so handy when, um, not only when I'm shopping for a pet pattern to check really quick to see if I already have the pattern or if I need to search, uh, to see what a.
[00:25:34] Zina Henry: Looks like sometimes I've attached the back of the pattern. So that's optional. You can attach more than one picture or more than one attachment in Trello for each card. Okay. Um, so say I wanted to attach the front of the pattern, the back and the pattern art. Okay. I can do, or you can do as much. As many attachments as you want in each card.
[00:25:56] Zina Henry: And so it's helpful when I'm shopping for a pattern. If I can [00:26:00] check really quick to see if I already have it or to check, to see if I'm searching for fabric to see if I, how much fabric I need, if I've inputted the back of the pattern or to see if you know, This pattern is something that I'm thinking about making maybe what fabric would go well with it.
[00:26:18] Zina Henry: So if I'm search, if I'm looking for fabric, it's also helpful. If I'm looking to figure out what I'm going to make. If I say I'm just going to make a pants. Or a jumpsuit or whatever I can search by label and it can pull up all of the pants patterns or all of the shirt patterns. And I can say, oh, these are my options.
[00:26:39] Zina Henry: Let me think about what I'm going to make today or this week.
[00:26:43] Lisa Woolfork: That that is excellent. I really like that. I like the way that you can pull up. I like the idea of by creating so many different labels, it allows you to. Somehow use all of your patterns more fully. So [00:27:00] by that, I mean, you know, that there's all these patterns that might have like a Workday wardrobe.
[00:27:04] Lisa Woolfork: I think Butterwick does stuff like that. And so it comes with a jacket and a shell and pants. And so you can break all of that up and say, okay, I have a pattern for a shell. That's not gonna be a shell just by itself, but it's a shell that goes with the jacket from this combo, but you can just pull that out by itself.
[00:27:22] Lisa Woolfork: That is really neat. And I also like how you can have a variety of attachments. For the patterns, because for me having the information on the back of the pattern envelope, mm-hmm is so critical because that's where you get your fabric yardage. That's where you get what notions you need. Um, all of that description is already there.
[00:27:43] Lisa Woolfork: And so that's really neat to be able to pull that up. Now, are there any limitations on how many entries you can have for Trello in the free version?
[00:27:52] Zina Henry: I have not found that yet. And so I was thinking that it would cap off at some point when I, and I'm [00:28:00] constantly adding patterns, I just bought four patterns the other day from itsy.
[00:28:05] Zina Henry: And so I was thinking that it's going to cap out for me, but it has not yet. And I really wish that I could tell you exactly how many are store. Um, that's probably something that I just need to research on how to figure out how many cards I have, which it should tell me how many cards mm-hmm mm-hmm period, but I'm sure that I just haven't figured that out yet, but I know it has not stopped me yet.
[00:28:30] Lisa Woolfork: That's awesome. So you said you already, you know, you have over 200 and those 200 are in there. Not like they're stopping you at 25 and then you have to start paying or something like that. So, so that's pretty good. Let me ask about, can you use it across different platforms? Does it sync up? So if you have an I a you're a phone and then an iPad and then a laptop, do all of these things communicate with each other.
[00:28:55] Zina Henry: Yes. It is one email address that you're putting in and you [00:29:00] log in, you can log into all of those devices and it will sync through all those devices.
[00:29:05] Lisa Woolfork: And so when you go to the store, say you go to the fabric store and you are trying to think about something you wanna make. Do you bring your phone? Do you access Trello while you're there?
[00:29:17] Lisa Woolfork: Do you look at the, the, the fabric that's there and say, oh, I think I might wanna get this piece. Instead of like sitting down to flip through the pattern book at the store, do you pull out your Trello and kind of flip through.
[00:29:29] Zina Henry: Yes all the time. And I have something else. I have a note section that's just in, I have an iPhone.
[00:29:36] Zina Henry: So just in the note section of my iPhone, where if I'm at home and I happen to see a pattern that I want, or that something sparks my interest, or if new patterns come out, I write those number. I have a list. So that list just for me, Lets me know, these are the things that I want. And I also make sure that I don't already have them.
[00:29:57] Zina Henry: So when I get to the store, I'm looking at my [00:30:00] list and then I'm also comparing it with Trello. So I'm looking kind of at both of them. And Trello is for me is like, when I'm getting them, I'm like, okay, these are the things that I'm gonna input. Especially after I first bought a pattern. These are the patterns that I need to input into Trello either while I'm at the store or as soon as I get home, or as soon as I get in the.
[00:30:22] Zina Henry: But yeah, I reference Trello. My phone is right beside me while I'm at the pattern station. Usually when I'm at a pattern store, that's
[00:30:30] Lisa Woolfork: fantastic. Cuz I could definitely see how it save you money. Like I know I have, I had, I buy duplicates because I, I just remind myself, I'm like, oh, well I guess I really like this style because I bought this pattern three times.
[00:30:44] Lisa Woolfork: um, so. I think that even just saving you the, the money of buying duplicates, you know, this is also really helpful. Would you say that this, um, that Trello, that this system is equally helpful for someone just starting out their pattern [00:31:00] collection as it is someone who's already established with 200
[00:31:03] Zina Henry: patterns?
[00:31:04] Zina Henry: Yes. I would definitely say that. I would say if you, even if you. 20 patterns, uh, at the bare, even if it was less than that, you can always start this because I feel like someone who's just starting out, this is just the beginning of you getting patterns and you're starting to collect. The ones that you love, this is a great way to see everything that you have.
[00:31:29] Zina Henry: This is a great way to plan what you're about to sew. It's a great way to make sure you're not buying duplicates of patterns. It's a great way to organize your patterns, to look at, have something to reference, to look at the back of the pattern, to be able to see the line art, if you wanna draw, uh, or even see what this pattern.
[00:31:49] Zina Henry: Is possibly going to look like in the fabric that you're thinking about. This is a, an awesome, I love Trello and I don't, [00:32:00] I just kind of in my search for looking for something. , this was the one that stuck with me
[00:32:08] Lisa Woolfork: that it sounds like you really are getting a lot of great use out of it. And I just wanna like remind folks that this is also free.
[00:32:16] Lisa Woolfork: Like that is that, that's just one of the things that, um, I find really, you know, that that's also a great draw. For that. And I also love how it's cloud based and how the, the information can sync up across devices, because, you know, you could put something in on your laptop, you could put something in with an iPad, you could put something in on the phone, on the go really easily.
[00:32:39] Lisa Woolfork: And all of it goes to the same place. Um, and I, I just keep thinking about folks who are just getting started. It is nice to be able. Start small and to start gradually instead of, um, which is what you did and what I did, which was like, okay, I have to sit down with all these patterns now mm-hmm and input all this information.
[00:32:59] Lisa Woolfork: [00:33:00] And that definitely is, um, very challenging. And the only it is yeah. And time consuming. So time consuming, the only reason I'm gonna talk about this, cause I'm gonna do an episode about air table and my own organization system. The only reason I was able to do what I was able to do. Was because I was able to hire high school students to come and help me.
[00:33:21] Lisa Woolfork: Um, I remember you saying that and it made all, I paid them and I gave them cookies and they took stacks and stacks of patterns and made them work. And that's the only reason that I even have a top drawer of my cabinet done. Um, because if I had to do it all on my own, starting out with the number that I had, it would be too, just too overwhelming.
[00:33:43] Lisa Woolfork: So, and yeah, so that, I'm really glad that, that, that Trello has worked so well for you. I mean, I could tell that you really loved it and that it had such good usefulness for you. And so I'm so glad we're gonna talk to you today about it. Anything else you want us to know about Trello before we conclude?[00:34:00]
[00:34:03] Zina Henry: Yes. Yes I do. Cuz I think not just for pat, I know we're talking about patterns, but even with my fabric board, I'm able to go, which took that was kind of time consuming too, to get, take a picture of every. Piece of fabric that I have, and be able to put that in that fabric board for those different sections.
[00:34:23] Zina Henry: So I have a section for velvet, for cotton, for, uh, it, Y knit for tool, for whatever, and then to be able to have a. Picture of what that fabric looks like and how many yards I have of that fabric. Um, and then the labels in there are things like, yes, for me, that's, it's, what's important, like non stretch, two way stretch or four way stretch.
[00:34:45] Zina Henry: And so your labels can be whatever. And so I think Trello can be used for several different. Things for organization in your so in room,
[00:34:55] Lisa Woolfork: I think you're right. And I really do love that the way that you were able to say that. Okay. So [00:35:00] Trello organizes my patterns. I got about 200 patterns in there now, plus I can organize my fabric collection, plus I can organize my makes, cause I'm already taking pictures of my outfits so I can put the pictures of me wearing my stuff in the actual Trello, you know?
[00:35:16] Lisa Woolfork: And so that is also, that's a, that's an additional layer of benefit that I think is really great.
[00:35:22] Zina Henry: Yes, I love
[00:35:23] Lisa Woolfork: it. Oh, I'm so glad. Xena, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us today about Trello and pattern organizing as well as a more comprehensive approach to sewing organization in general.
[00:35:34] Lisa Woolfork: Um, where can people find you on the socials? I wanna make sure that we include, um, that information in the show notes so people can find you.
[00:35:42] Zina Henry: Cause the Z Henry 88 is actually the beginning of my email address. And so. Everybody now has a name for Instagram, which is their brand. I never changed the name because when I first started with Instagram, it just, it was my email address.
[00:35:59] Zina Henry: [00:36:00] And I was like, oh, okay. Um, so for me, someone is strictly a hobby. I love it, but yeah, Z Henry 88 on Instagram. And. I use the hashtag Xena is sewing because it's easy for me to keep all of my makes in one place. If everyone just wanted to see things that are only dealing with sewing since I don't have a brand name.
[00:36:19] Zina Henry: Um, so hashtag Xena, Z I N a. I S S E w I N G. Xena is sewing. I will be
[00:36:27] Lisa Woolfork: sure to include that in the show notes. And thank you again, you have been listening to the stitch please podcast. We are talking about pattern organization with Xena Henry who loves Trello. So please listen and think about what, uh, what Xena has told us about Trello and see if it's right for you.
[00:36:45] Lisa Woolfork: Thanks so much. Y'all. Bye. Bye. Come. Bye.
[00:36:55] Lisa Woolfork: Thank you for joining us for this week's episode of the stitch, please podcast the [00:37:00] official podcast of black women's stitch, the sewing group, where black lives matter. There are a variety of ways that you can support the program and you're doing it right now. By listening to the pro, by listening to the podcast, it does help us grow.
[00:37:15] Lisa Woolfork: Another way to do that is to rate the podcast, review it, subscribe to it. All of these things are ways that you can support the podcast without having to spend any money at all. If you would like to spend some money to support us, there are ways to do that as well. You can make direct donations to our Patreon site for monthly contributions, as well as one time contributions to.
[00:37:38] Lisa Woolfork: Cash app or Venmo. And finally, we have another cute, very adorable way for you to support the black women's stitch project. It's a pin, a P I N enamel lapel pin. That's very cute. It's about two inches wide and one and a half inch tall. And it's of the black women's stitch logo. [00:38:00] And that is $15 with free shipping to the us.
[00:38:04] Lisa Woolfork: And so if you drop $15 in the PayPal, Venmo or cash app accounts, and then send me your email. No, not email. If you send me your mailing address to my email, either at black women's stitch@gmail.com or you send me a direct message on the black women's stitch Instagram page, we will put the pin in the mail to you.
[00:38:28] Lisa Woolfork: Um, again, free shipping, $15 for the pen and all of this goes to support the black women's stitch project. Thank you again for joining us this week. Come back next week and we will help you get your stitch together.[00:39:00]
