NIWOT -  When Lauren Chlebowski wanted to launch her contemporary women's clothing line, Ollie Sang, she took her sketches to industry expert Nora McCray.

Owner of Sew Fresh Studio in Niwot, McCray is a 30-year fashion industry veteran who offers consulting services to fledgling designers. The former owner of a mix-and-match knitwear collection in the mid-1980s, McCray is one of three who invented and produced the Tilt'able, a tabletop add-on that fits underneath a sewing machine to ease sewing strain. The company now is owned by Ergonomic Advantage.

Now focused on fashion coaching McCray helps designer entrepreneurs get into the game at a minimal cost.

McCray charges $150 per hour to review a designer's rough ideas. She refines sketches and pins down a collection to the strongest four or five pieces. From there her price drops to $85 per hour for sewing a muslin prototype of each of the items in the designer's line. Muslin is a type of cotton fabric.

"Muslin is used because you can draw on it, and it doesn't distract like patterned fabric would," McCray said. "This way the designer can see clearly how a jacket drapes and if the lines fall where they should."

Four or five muslin drafts are typical for this phase.

McCray will make recommendations concerning textile choices next. "I know how fabric handles and what body shapes look best in different fabric weights and patterns." She said it's the designer's job to figure out how to get the collection sold. "She'll need to define her target audience and find out what that market is willing to spend on clothes."

McCray's in charge of getting the clothes to fit, "and it has to fit in order to sell."Her most significant skill, according to Chlebowski, is technical skill in sewing. She called McCray, "One of the best at what she does." Though Ollie Sang launched five years ago, she still relies on McCray's expertise. The designer recently spent about $500 taking a new jacket through the muslin draft phase with McCray.

McCray recommends that her clients bring each prototype pattern to her colleague, Jeff Maley, a CAD designer who can take a tissue-paper pattern draft and transform it into a precise, factory-ready pattern. The designer is then ready to approach a cut-and-sew facility or a factory that can produce small to large quantities at little advanced notice.

Several are located in Denver, according to McCray.

Completed collections can be taken to industry trade shows where designers hope their wares will catch the fancy of industry buyers. According to Chlebowski, booth space can cost between $1,000 and $10,000 per show. Project Las Vegas will cost Chlebowski $6,500 for the three-day event. Other choices include selling through consignment outlets like Buffalo Exchange in Boulder or The Fabric Lab in Denver.

Sew Fresh Studio staffer Jenny Milne, a Virginia Tech graduate, sells her designs at similar outlets in Austin, Texas that cater to independent designers.

"The smaller designer is more flexible because of her lower upfront costs," McCray said. "She can respond to industry changes faster, so in some ways she is able to be more competitive than the larger houses can be."

In addition to her help with Ollie Sang, McCray consulted with Jessica Franz-Christensen, a former sewing student, when she introduced Jessica Scott Ltd., a maternity clothing line that took advantage of the industry push toward eco-friendly choices. The line sells clothes for "eco-conscious mom-to-be" as well as baby bedding.

Other successful launches include a children's collection of fleece wear and a mother/daughter line that drew on Asian themes, inspired by the founder's experiences as the adoptive parent of a baby girl from China.

While McCray teaches classes and specializes in custom one-of-a-kind dresses and alterations, it's fashion coaching that's "the best and most fun of all the hats" that she wears.