On gold mouse ears and computer stitching
 

Saw a few ears around on Sunday. They're selling them all over the park, not just at hat stores. BTW, there are more hat stores than I ever realized. Before MA we never noticed "Frontierland Hats" before, and I didn't know until yesterday that the Briar Patch had been converted to a hat shack.

A CM at Frontierland Hats informed us that he had only "computer stitching" and that if you wanted the old freehand stitching you could still get it in the Mad Hatter shops. We didn't see an example of computer stitching until later.

While waiting for fireworks we noticed a woman wearing gold ears with a BIG BOLD NAME in burgundy on the back, obviously embroidered by a computer. (Someone took a picture, please post it!). After talking about her while standing 3 feet away she and her friend talked to us about it, saying it cost $7 extra and you can pick any color you want. She also said that the eventual idea is to eliminate the free stitching! :mad: As if those scraps of fabric and plastic weren't overpriced enough already! Someone call CM Matt and smack him around if he okayed this!

Later on we were at the Briar Patch getting Mousepod's best girl a pair of ears and discovered that they had computer stitching there but it was different than the lady's. It was in looping cursive, an attempt to imitate the hand-guided stitch of old. They offered a white thread only. When we mentioned the stitching we'd seen, the CM said "oh no, that's only reserved for baseball caps and other hats - never on ears." We almost got into a fight with her on that. :rolleyes:

So we still don't know the whole story.

Really? I went & got my ears the other day. I didn't even know there was other "stiching" available. If I had I wouldn't have paid additional. I like the old fashioned way. Besides, isn't that the perk of buying those hats?? I don't even plan on wearing it!

Hmmm...I suppose it's not too bad (the one in the picture) as long as they don't get rid of the hand-stitching. It does provide a choice as far as color and letter style. I don't think I like the idea of the computer stitching the traditional cursive. That should be left to be done by hand. The font from the computer does look good, and that'd be too hard to do by hand.

Sharon has a lot of rings. I like the butterfly one.

Thanks Hastin! :)

Gotta check out if there are font options or anything.
It's sad, really.

I do feel obligated to say however that I did not verify for myself whether the free hand stitching was still available. Must stop at the Hatter's next time.

When mousepod and I were looking at the cursive ones, he brought up that maybe it's hard to learn how to do it by hand. We talked about how sometimes you see really badly done ones, where you can't even read what's written on them.

Seeing the computer done cursive, I can see the appeal. Nice, neat stitches. But seven bucks?!

And now that I mention it, I realize that I did see a hand stitched one yesterday - lindyhop got a gold pair that was definitely hand done.

We got a hand job on ours. Es muy better.

I asked the girl (in Mad Hatter) about the hand process. She says it just takes a lot of practice. They practice on paper towels. And have a fair amount of mistakes (including one while making mine). Hmm... I think it would SAVE them money to just give away the machine stitch - less shrinkage.

Just what are they stitching? :eek:

It's a masterpiece of marketing. Come up with a way to produce your product for less (reduced shrinkage and reduced need for special staff training) and yet market it as an improvement at an increased cost. I don't know whether to applaud or cry.

True.
Seven bucks does seem like a little much. Considering the hand stitching is free, right?