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?

Tee hee - Shrinkage.

I can confirm that the Free stiching is available at the Mad Hatter since this is where I got mine. But now that I see the option it does look pretty cool. But still, I prefer the old fashioned way. Besides it's 10.50 for the hat! I'd rather spend another 7 bucks on the sweatshirt I bought which is WAY cool.

BTW - Since they have this new stitching and wish to market wisely they should have those options posted some where. I had no idea there was a computer option until today!

They may be doing test runs to guage demand and feasibility.

Ahhh, that's so CORPORATE of them.

Hey, I'm still snickering over "Hand Job" from earlier...

When I was in college, a friend did a presentation about movie villains, including "Oddjob" from Goldfinger. In front of a lecture hall of students, he introduced everybody to "Handjob" - a fiendish henchman from the movie Goldfinger... of course, I was the one in the class snickering like the Beavis that I am...

How Dilbert.

Just to be clear, there are 2 computer stitching things going on - the type pictured above, and the imitation cursive. Damn, knew I should have gotten a picture.

Perhaps mousepod will give us a photo of the one he bought?

Oh, and yes TT, the hand done has always been free.

I love the hand stitching, there's something nostalgic and happy about it(when it's done right :blush: )

And paying $7 for it :eek: that's a bit much

Picture coming up in a minute (as soon as I catch up on the posting). It should be noted that the computer cursive was free.

Ah, ok, cool. I stand (sit, lounge) corrected.

I don't like the gold ears... they look cheesy, like some kind of party favors that would fall out of a pinata

Here are Heather's Mouse Ears.
(I threw in some eye candy for those who don't like the gold look)

Can I get a little bit of whatever Mickey was smoking?

i got a free hand job on Main Street last week. but i am definitely gonna cough up the 8 bucks for the "sharon" look.

I like both the "Sharon" and the "Heather" (sorry mousepod, looks like your wife's name is now attached to this ;) ) and the Heather is free, so I'll go for that. That much money for something I'll never wear again - no thanks. Now I'm thinking of our very expensive wedding ears...but we wore those three times (Honeymoon, wedding meet, MA) so that was worth it.

We got Indi a pair of black ears at the Mad Hatter on Sunday and it was done by hand. I was sad that the stitching was white and not gold. No way would I pay $7 bucks for the fancy stitching. I also thought it odd that they charge more for the gold ears than the black ears. Does it really cost more to make?

Of course not. They charge more because people will pay more.

Actually, the gold ears have embroidery on the front that the black ears do not. Still, I'm sure they cost a dollar a piece to make anyway.

Hi, I am mamabot and I have spent money on stitching.

It was for a good cause. Brian really wanted his name on his baseball cap, but The Mod Hatter on Main Street told us it was not possible with the hand machines. They suggested that we head to the store across the street, where they have an embrodery machine that can write names on baseball caps.

We were able to wait for the hat while they fed it into the machine. The machine is quite impressive. There is a nice selection of fonts and thread colors.

Brian wears his Stitch hat with pride, and I would do it again if one of the kids asked extra nice.

Suprisingly enough, I kinda like the white on the gold ears. When described, it didn't seem like it would work. Maybe it looks different outside.

Edited to add: I bought the hat for Brian around a year ago.

I dig the gold. I want to snag a pair that says "Huggy Bear." Then I can wear 'em around NOS while sipping Juleps from a chalice.

Now I have images of gold chain bling "lanyards".

With FAO selling this Swarovski Mickey PEZ Dispenser,
I'm sure that bling lanyards can't be far behind!

On topic: when I gave H her ears, she told me that she's never had personalized mouse ears before. I just assumed...
It made us both a little teary.

That is one SWEET Pez dispenser! :snap:

That is one SWEET husband! :)

I just spoke to a previous CM who actually did hand jobs (hehehe I said hand job) and she says that the original black ears cost.....

8 cents per hat

:eek:

Well fo shizzle Miss Cadavizzle Pallorizzle. I'm also peepin maybe some pimpin' spinners for the Railroad and an off the hook system and hydraulics for the Twain. We 'bout to set it off in the D-lizzle!


(Damn me for watching Chapelle's show! :D )

I hope to get my new ears tomorrow. I will wear it in the park with pride and hang it on my bedpost at night. It won't go in with me in the shower, however...

Yay! :cheers:

Bwahahaha! :snap:

Ah, but which stiching?

Perhaps once we get our ears done we can post a pic of them here.

Too bad we'll never have as nice a CM as we did with these:

I am now with EARS!

I got mine today. Got the free hand stitching from Mad Hatter. Looks great!!