How long would you give a friend to get the hang of sewing before you told her is wasn't working out?

Question

I have a friend who I'm subbing work out to for my business. I make custom baby items. I am on a time crunch with my orders as my items are custom made, at any given time I am sitting on 30 orders, every few days, each one takes 2 1/2 hours to produce.I hired her to take the extra stress off. Her profits are her own but it is my name on the product. She doesn't seem to be taking it seriously or picking up sewing the item very quickly, lots of sloppy mistakes. How long should I give her until I know it's not going to work out? IMHO, I'm giving her the opportunity to make decent money and stay home with her kids. I just feel like she should devote a bit more time and effort to it. How long would you give a "new" sewer? I don't remember making these mistakes when I first started. Help?

Answer 1

If they aint got it,they aint got it!! Taken it to Coro St factory

Answer 2

I'm not sure if this was mentioned already, but I'd just tell her I needed to talk to her (to make sure she'd be ready to hear something "serious").  Then show her *examples* of what wasn't right, or how late she'd been and how often, or how many items she'd made, etc, and explain that you're afraid you'll have to let her go if the work doesn't improve within a week/2weeks/whatever.  

The improvements, or lack thereof, should be noted in writing, and given to her every few days/etc. so she can see that she's doing better or isn't, and where the problems might be.  

Depending on how well she does, you can then feel comfortable in telling her that it just isn't working out, business-wise, and she'll have had the time to see that and make any changes she would ever make.

You can also sympathize with her in terms of how hard it must be to work at home but be firm in continuing to say that the problems are too great for your business to bear. And you can show support by urging her to find something she can do which uses her particular "talents" and temperament and isn't as affected by her home-situation.

(Some people are just more detail-oriented and precise than others who may be more "organic"...those people can be very creative/etc and self-disciplined when they're interested in something, but they're not the best types for doing the kind of work you need done.)

Good luck, and glad I'm not in your shoes! (but then that's just what comes with not being a one-person business unfortunately...you'll need to develop the skills for being a boss and dealing with those situations just like she'll have things to learn about being a good employee...trying to do that with a friend is doubly difficult)

Diane B.

Answer 3

How much time did you spend teaching her exactly how to do this?

Did you look at her quality of work before hiring her?  Did you ask her how long it takes her to produce an item of that quality?

Did you explain how much time it takes YOU to make them?  How much slower do you expect her to be, who has not spent several hours a day at the sewing machine for the past several years?

Did you show her and give her a finished sample of each type of thing she's being expected to make, for quality control?  And did you explain that these samples represent a MINIMUM standard for the finished item?

And what type of machine does she have?  Is it of the sames type and durability as your own?

Does she have dedicated sewing space and supervision for the children while she is working?

If you do not have the answers to these questions, while you may still have to let her go, you cannot blame her for the poor quality of the work she is producing.  It rather looks like both of you went into this without thinking about it properly.

Answer 4

ONCE.

I had the same problem with a friend. All he had to do was cut rectangles with a cutting mat, ruler and rotary cutter. He did fine in training, but when the work came back, I had to buy new material and do it all over again. He took shortcuts that he didn't think would be noticed, and I don't have years to wait for him to understand. He will do it right when I'm there, but then do something else when he is alone.

She may be a good friend, but if she was going to "get it", she would have by now. Thank her for trying, or chicken out like I did and tell her business has fallen off and you don't need the help any more.

.

Answer 5

I agree with once.

If this is for your work and you are selling this stuff I would not let her do any more sub standard work for you.

You should find someone that already knows how to sew. Hand sewing can take someone years to be able to do work fast and good