Behind the Scenes at Craftsy

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Lazies, From start to finish, let me tell you about my trip to Denver to film my class with Craftsy. There was a ton of prep work before I left home. Much like when I travel for most of my business adventures, most of the hard work is done before I leave the driveway. Then it’s all just a matter of showing up and doing my thing. I have to say, it’s usually an adventure. Today is all about the stuff you won’t see in my Craftsy class. Remember to enter the giveaway for my class on last week’s blog post. Link at the bottom.

Takeoff
I like limey green. My luggage is limey green, some of it anyway. It’s easy to find – big green bags with the word Lazy strewn across. There is no line of people waiting to run off with this, I assure you.

I always travel with my limeys. Love my Tutto luggage!

Glamorous Business Travel
This might be what you think it looks like when I travel. Not even close.

I did get the start treatment at Craftsy and I appreciate their
attention to detail and effort to make the experience good all around.

This is what I feel like from time to time while on the road. Nothing is wrong in this picture. By the way, ever since my sister taught me how to text, I take selfies on my trips and text them to her.

No Joan Hawleys were hurt in the filming of this class.

A Room With A View
The accommodations are very, very nice. I get to press my clothing in very nice rooms and look out on beautiful scenery.

I always travel with my Press Perfect Iron Safe in case the hotel iron is challenged.

Nice view from my room of the mountains and the Denver Performing Arts Center.

The Big Show
We taped my class over three days. Three other instructors were there filming at the same time. They were lovely ladies, all teaching something different. We caught up with each other at the beginning and end of each day.

Then, a lot of work takes place. Days and days of talking, showing, sewing. Explaining, pressing, pinning. Set and reset the work table between each step. Take and retake. You forgot to say this. Your thumb was in the way. Let’s do it again.

Here’s a shot of the studio from the seat of the technical director at the back of the room.
Those are his two computer monitors at the bottom of the pic.

Filming
The set was pretty cool, all decked out in sewy-themed goodness. To film, Craftsy had three cameras going on me all the time: straight ahead for me talking to the camera, directly overhead to show my work on the table, and one over my left shoulder for details and at the machine.

My first instruction from Craftsy was the most awkard to accommodate. Talk to the camera in front of me while showing my work to the camera over my left shoulder. That’s like driving a car and reading a map in your side mirror. What? Exactly! It’s counter-intuitive. At first it was a brain-cruncher, but I got past that and it felt oddly comfy and natural by the end of the shoot. It made me feel like you were sitting next to me at the machine, working with me.

Under the Table
Because I’m tall I asked Craftsy to raise the work table for me so it would be comfy. Then they asked me to take off my shoes. I was totally good with that! And, I wore my comfy yoga pants through the whole shoot. Okay, that’s almost the truth. I call them my yoga pants, they are actually my jammie pants. Let’s just keep that between us, okay?

Scripting
Before I left home, I had many phone meetings where we scripted what would be shown for every segment of the class. We didn’t script my words, just the steps. A segment was every time I switched between sewing machine/cutting/pressing efforts. There were many segments. They lasted from about a minute to perhaps 7-8 minutes. I must say, laying out the whole class in that format was brain work. Exhausting brain work that can only be rescued, refreshed, and supported with tons of coffee.

Step-Outs
I prepared what are called step-outs for the class. This means preparing a part of the project ahead of time. This also means having enough fabric to make several parts of several projects, done to different stopping points along the way. In coffee terms, it would be like having four coffee makers on your counter, each prepped to a different step in making coffee, ending with a hot cuppa cuppa – that’s a happy ending. Think: logistics, notes, more logistics and finally more notes. The rule of thumb here is – you can’t have too many, so make a whole lot.

Squirrel Attack
In the middle of it all, just when I thought I had found my groove and was invincible, this happens. A squirrel pops up on the teleprompter.

I have no words for this. Darn squirrel. Okay I had a couple of words.

A technician from another studio stopped by for help in figuring out how to load an image onto the teleprompter. That squirrel popped up in the middle of my words and I nearly fell over. I have an unhappy past with squirrels. I know for sure that one in my yard has tried to kill me.

Breaks
The Craftsy studios were housed in a delightful building with some shared lunch and restroom space with other businesses. From the signage to the lunch tables, the artwork was fun and funky. The restroom sign caught me off guard as I initially thought it said ‘no man’, which also means woman, I suppose.

Beauty
Craftsy has a make-up artist do hair/make-up for all the instructors. That was very nice, I must say. However, I was told to not put on any make-up or do my hair before leaving the hotel each day. Um, no. I feel at least a little courtesy make-up and hair effort is in order to go eat breakfast in public. It all worked out fine.

Marathon
My trip to Denver was the first of four trips in a row beginning the middle of April. That’s a lot for me. I don’t usually travel that much. I’m home now. I’m pooped.

I left Denver feeling really good about the class I taught and the work I did. Thanks for coming along with me on my trip. It was absolutely fabulous.

Enjoy!
Joan