King's Daughter's Kitchen

In Wal-Marts in the ten highest-profit stores in the U.S. in the Fabrics and Notions Department is a customer trial Fabulous Me Machine. Adult customers choose available fabrics, scan in notion barcodes, type in a chosen pattern number, and enter their size choice on a computer key pad. Specially trained employees help customers load fabric to a roller, place notions into correct slots, and check entered numbers. Employees enter the total number of pattern pieces to the Fabulous Me (FM) machine.

When everything is lined up, an employee presses the cut pattern button. The employee and customer watch as the machine works. Next, the employee helper presses the FM piece #1 button. The Sew button displays lines for sewing the first piece. The machine opens. The FM flashes remove excess. The helper removes unnecessary pieces, now marked with chalk. Then, he or she aligns the piece to be sewn on the dotted lines displayed by the machine. The employee reseals the machine and presses Sew. The FM proceeds to sew all pattern pieces in this manner. When the pattern pieces are sewn and ready to form a garment, the employee places the pieces to a now complete garment outline, reseals the machine, and presses the Attach button. The garment is sewn together, front. The helper flips it. The back is sewn.

Notions are placed on the garment front. A plexiglass sleeve blocks the garment front from its back. FM attaches some limited notions. Full beading, t-shirt screen printing, and double zippers, for example, are not available. Fabulous Me is meant to make garments from fabrics and notions readily available in-store to give customers and employees choices, not headaches. The whole process, from holding fabric and notion choices at the Fabulous Me counter to touching a finished, unique garment should take a little more than thirty minutes.

Using the FM will cost the price of fabric and notions plus ten dollars specialty employee time and five dollars machine maintenance for every garment. The customer is responsible for incorrect sizing. Sizes from machines are employee verified before garments are started. These sizes are machine and hand printed on receipts and garment tags. Finished garments are non-refundable. Photos of garments are stored longterm in store security footage.