Happy Monday everyone! This week, we want to introduce you to our lead sewer, Maria. Maria has been with Great Pretenders for nearly 20 years! Before watching the interview, can you guess how many protective face masks our team has sewn in the last 4 months?
Lindsay: Hi everyone! We are here today at Great Pretenders, in our basement with our sewers! Today we are talking to Maria. She is going to tell us about what she does here and give us a little sneak peak of what goes on down here!
Lindsay: Take it away Maria! What is your role here? How long have you worked here?
Maria: My role here is the lead sewer, and I have worked here for around 19 years.
Lindsay: 19 years! Can you walk us through what is happening behind us in product
Maria: Yes! Right now we are working on Sequins Princess dresses. Do you want to know the steps?
Lindsay: Yes tell us the process!
Maria: Over here, we surge all of the skirts together, and then after the surge we move over to gather and elastic them. And then at that point, we go to the next machine and assemble all of the top. After the top is all assembled, then we go to another machine and we attach the top to the skirt and the dress is complete!
Lindsay: Awesome! We know that we have been making face masks constantly since COVID-19. Can you tell us how many masks your team makes in one day?
Maria: 1100!
Lindsay: WOW! That’s amazing! How many masks has your team made since we have started making face masks?
Maria: 90,000!
Lindsay: 90,000! That’s incredible!! What are some challenges you face day to day?
Maria: The biggest challenge are the machines. They break down and we have to work around them, try to fix them and still try to reach our daily goals.
In this photo, you can see the counter clock that helps us keep track of how many products our team makes in a day!
Lindsay: I really want to know how old were you when you learned how to sew? And did someone teach you how to sew or did you pick it up on your own?
Maria: I knew the basics of sewing. So I came here and applied for the job, and I have learned everything on my own as I go. Nobody taught me, and I was 33 years old when I started.
Lindsay: That’s amazing! You are amazing Maria! Thank you so much for meeting with us today!
Shop our Sequins Princess dress and face masks below!
