Group project #2 – design elements

The theme for my intro to apparel design’s second group project was design elements. Each group had to make a presentation to the class about design element. Some groups were assigned different types of garments such as woven tops, swimwear, and pants. Other groups gave presentations about garment features such as sleeves and necklines. I was in the collar group.

The groups delivered PowerPoint presentations. Pictures were required, but we did not need to bring in any samples. My group’s presentation included flats and photos. Sewing a few collars would have been fun, but if I had been in the jackets group I would have been a lot happier about not needing to make samples.

There were eight people in my group. We each had a few collar types to research. Mine were bertha, mock, cape, and portrait. The bertha collar is a round flat piece of fabric that extends over the shoulders. A mock collar is a neck facing that extends over a top’s neck opening so that it appears to be a collar. A cape collar appears like a small cape worn over the shoulders. A portrait collar is made with two broad pieces extending from the neckline that lie flat against the body and overlap at center front.
The PowerPoint presentations had to be loaded onto the instructor’s computer to use in class. I uploaded my group’s file, which gave me an opportunity to add one extra slide. It is not apparel, but the design process is the same. Many Stout apparel design graduates go to work for Kimberly-Clark designing diapers and incontinence pads, so I figured a cervical collar would be OK. But mostly I inserted it for comedic value. The class thought it was funny, and the instructor appreciated it too.

Happy Festivus

I try to keep my blog positive, but not today. Today is Festivus when we air our grievances.

Intro to apparel design: It often seemed that the purpose of this class was to make us want to change majors. The instructor spent a lot of time explaining that the major is too difficult for us and that we will never achieve our dreams of fame and glory. I want support from my instructors; I do not want them to try to get rid of me.

Home sewing: Most of the construction classes at Stout focus on home sewing techniques. I should be learning industrial sewing techniques. Minneapolis Community and Technical College has industrial sewing machines only. Unless I go to work for a company that makes home sewing patterns I will need to know industrial sewing techniques.

Cut and sew knits: I love sewing. This class should have been fun, but it was not. Pattern making was not one of the prerequisites for this class, but the professor thought it was. I had to design all my own patterns, and I was graded on my pattern making. The class should have focused on construction techniques rather than pattern making and design techniques. I am also annoyed that there was no mention of coverstitch machines in the class. Stout has one industrial coverstitch, but this class used only home sewing machines.

Wisconsin: It is too damn cold, and I hate snow. Land’s End and American Girl are here, and Target is next door in Minnesota, but we do not have fashion. I will need to spend some time in New York.

That is it for now. Thank you for listening, and please feel free to use the comments section to air your own grievances. I hope you have a happy and joyous Festivus, and I wish you luck as you engage in your feats of strength.

Group project #1 - color boards

This semester I worked on three group projects in my Intro to Apparel Design class. The first two projects are long since finished, and the third one is due on Monday. Project number one was a color board.
The department keeps all the boards. They are currently on display in our conference room. Mine is the charcoal gray one sandwiched between the browns. At the start of this project my class was shown the boards from last year’s intro class. Next year’s freshmen will get to see mine. I hope mine is shown to them as an example of what to do rather than what to avoid.

The purpose of this project was to learn about colors so we will understand how to use them in our designs. I am not sure what I learned. I found lots of gray fabric and gray items, and some of that stuff made it onto my final board in what I hope is an attractive layout, but what does that have to do with apparel design? I used to own a charcoal gray suit, I currently have a few pieces of gray apparel, and I have a few yards of gray fabrics, but I do not think there is anything I can do with that apparel and fabric now that I could not have done at the start of the semester.

Is this type of color boards used in industry? I have seen trend boards, color swatches, and fabric swatches, but outside of this class I have never seen three dimensional color boards like these. I think my group did a good job, but I do not find these boards inspiring or even aesthetically pleasing. As I look at the boards all I see is a lot of monochromatic stuff thrown together haphazardly.

While this project taught me nothing about colors it did provide a good lesson about group projects. Each group had eight members. That struck me as a large number for a project like this. I think a group of three or four would have been more than sufficient. The vast majority of my group’s work was done by four of us. The remaining four members showed up to some of our meetings, watched us work, and made an occasional comment or suggestion, but ultimately I feel they contributed nothing to the project. The other two projects had similar size groups with similar problems. Three or four of us do all the work, and everyone gets the credit. OK, I know I sound a little bitter there, but the past week I have been spending a few hours every day working on a group project while a few of the people in my group have done nearly nothing. Grrr. Two more weeks to break.

This is fashion?

Many fuzzy balls

As summer came to an end I found myself on a juggling ball sewing spree, but once classes began I no longer had time for frivolous projects. A photo of my juggling balls worked its way into an early assignment for Cut and Sew Knits as an example of what can be done with stretch fabrics. Save for that one cameo, my balls spent the semester in my living room neglected and unused.

I intended to share photos of my balls with you, my loyal readers, but with the excitement of all my classes my balls were forgotten. I will now remedy this shortcoming.
The blue and white balls are knit terry, the pink and brown ones are fake fur, and the rest are fleece. The red balls are stuffed with pinto beans, and the others have lentils. I think lentils are better.

Having balls is nice, but I cannot just leave them out. I went online to search for balls, and I now know their appropriate receptacle. I made a sack.

Stupid ice

Ice covered sidewalks are slippery. Who knew? Yesterday morning I walked out my front door, hit the sidewalk, slipped, and hit the sidewalk. Tomorrow morning I will have surgery to repair my fractured right elbow. I am done sewing for the semester. There are two projects left for my cut and sew knits class. I will ask my professor to give me an incomplete so I can finish the class at a later time. If I have to drop the class I will not have to retake it. It is one of many special topics classes. I need to complete 5 special topics credits, but specific special topics class is required. Whether or not I complete cut and sew knits I plan to complete the two projects. My power stretch garment project is a bike outfit – pants and jersey. My comfort stretch garment project is a onesie (with tush flap) and a set of pajamas or a bathrobe. I love biking, and I think I will enjoy my onesie.

A tough semester

Hi, I am back. I know I promised to write more. I am sorry. It has been a rough semester. I took too heavy a course load. The rule from now on is two apparel classes per semester, no more. I dropped two of my classes, so hopefully I will have a little more time now. I did not want to drop the classes, but I felt that if I kept them I would end up failing everything. Spanish and line development are gone leaving me with cut and sew knits, textile evaluation, and intro to apparel design.

Line development was the most time consuming class. I found myself spending more than 20 hours per week doing homework for it, and it is only a three credit class. Even with all the time I put in I had only a C- average. C is passing, so it was obvious which class I should drop. It is not required for my concentration, but it is a useful class nevertheless. I may take it again in the future.These two boys were part of my men’s collection. You see why my grade was so bad.

Cut and sew knits is my only sewing class this semester. I love sewing, but I am having some difficulty in this class. Part of the problem was finding enough time, but now that I am done with line that is no longer an issue. The big problem is that I need to draft the patterns for all my projects, and I have not yet taken pattern making. Pattern was not a prerequisite for this class, but the professor thought it was.
Some of my projects did not turn out so well, but I am pleased with this sweat shirt.

That’s all for today. I will be back soon with more pictures and some info about my other classes.

Cut and sew knits – first project

There is a story behind my outfit, but I do not think it would make things better; the picture really speaks for itself. This is just the fit muslin. I will bedazzle you with more photos after I finish the project.

Beautiful buttons and noble mollusks

I knew textile evaluation would be a useful class, but I did not expect it to be much fun. I am pleased to have been wrong about that. The textbook, Quality Assurance for Textiles and Apparel, 2nd ed., by Sara Kadolph looked like it would be a dry, boring read, but I am finding it quite interesting. In chapter 5, Specifying and Evaluating Materials, in the section about buttons, I found a passage that made me smile. While describing buttons made from naturally occurring materials Kadolph wrote, “These buttons are usually assumed to be environmentally friendly. If a button is made from a shell, the animal living in the shell has been, at the very least, removed from its home.” (2007). I hope you found that statement as poignant as I do. Please take a brief moment of silence to honor those brave mollusks who made the ultimate sacrifice to satisfy our need for beautiful buttons. Thank you.

Kadolph, S. (2007). Quality Assurance for Textiles and Apparel, 2nd ed. New York: Fairchild Publications, Inc.



















Briny Beach by Sir John Tenniel

Igor Stravinsky, Line Development, and a Horse

I will eventually develop a line or two in my line development class, but first I need to learn how to draw. I knew I would eventually have to take a fashion illustration class, but I did not know this one would be it. A good rule of thumb for college classes is to expect to spend one to one and a half hours studying and doing homework for every hour spent in class. So far I have spent six hours in line development class and about 15 hours doing homework for it. I have another six or eight hours of work to do for it this weekend. I should not complain; drawing requires a lot of practice. I am have already seen some slight improvement in my skills. I still do not draw well, but my croquis now at least resemble humans. I hope to have a few usable croquis by the end of next week.

The first assignment for the class was to copy a picture of a horse and a Picasso sketch of Igor Stravinsky. We turned both pictures upside down before copying them so that we could focus on just drawing lines rather than on creating a recognizable image. It sounds odd, but it worked. None of the students in the class had heard of this method before, but it seems to be a common technique for teaching drawing. Many thousands of art students have copied the upside down image of Picasso’s Stravinsky found in Betty Edwards's book, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain.
Before I began work on my horse I would have said that horse was far beyond my drawing skills, but to my great surprise I drew one. Other horses might not welcome my horse into their herd, but most humans can immediately recognize it as a horse.

Even after finishing the horse I was still skeptical about Stravinsky. The horse had long lines and few fine details. The same cannot be said about Igor. The only way to learn to draw is by doing it, so I got to work. It took a few attempts to get started, but by the time I finished the head I was on a roll and was able to finish the sketch. I am no Picasso, but for my first Russian composer I am quite pleased with myself.

I must learn to draw good croquis, but once I have some I can make copies to use for the rest of the semester. I need six croquis, each in a different pose. My attempts at croquis have not turned out so well thus far, so I will not be including any pictures of them today. Once I have some good croquis (or as my professor calls them, Best Girls) I will post photos.

The first few days of class

Classes began last week. I knew I would have a lot of work this semester, but I underestimated how much. All my classes will require a lot of work, but two of them will demand tremendous amounts of time. Despite the work load, I think this will be a fun semester.

Español
No hablo español ahora, pero quiero aprender. Me gusta esta clase. La profesora habla solamente español en clase. OK, I am not sure that is correct, but it is only the first week of the semester. By the end of this semester I should be able to write a little more.

Intro to apparel design
On the first day the instructor spent a lot of time encouraging people to drop the class. She stressed how hard the major is. She added that most students arrive at school knowing nothing about the fashion industry, and that whatever they expect is probably wrong. Day two was a little more positive. She addressed concerns students raised on the form we filled out about ourselves on the first day and explained what we need to do to succeed.

As I sit in the class looking around at my classmates I feel as though I am in a landing craft waiting to hit Omaha Beach. There are 100 of us now, but soon people will start to drop. By the time we make it to graduation fewer than 30 will be left. I hope everyone makes it, and I will help out my classmates if I can, but my number one concern is ensuring that I make it to graduation.

Textile evaluation
Everyone in class needs five yards of a fabric to run through a gamut of tests throughout the semester. The requirement was a plain weave with staple fibers. I thought my fabric was good enough, but it was not. My filling yarns were made with crimped synthetic long-staple fibers. They were too weak. I needed something with spun yarns. At least I was not the only one with bad fabric. As the class began its first tests three of us ran to Walmart to buy more fabric. My new stuff is 100% cotton. A blend would have been more interesting, but I did not want to risk buying another bad fabric.

Line development
This will be my most time consuming class. The first few weeks will be spent learning to draw, we will then move on to Photoshop and Illustrator, and finish the semester by designing lines of men’s and women’s wear. The professor said she felt it ought to be two three-credit classes – a drawing class and a line class – but the school wants the two topics combined into one. We will do the work of both classes, but receive only the three credits. So far I have drawn a horse and a lot of arms and legs. I need to draw a man with glasses for tomorrow. Pictures will be posted soon.

Cut and sew knits
This class is taught by the same professor I have for line development. She explained that while this is only a two credit class we will be doing the work of a three credit class. Everyone in class will make the same (or similar) items for the first four projects, and we will design our own garments for the last two. I think the design aspect will be more difficult for me than the sewing aspect. Pattern drafting was not a prerequisite for this class, but perhaps it should have been. I will have to draft the patterns for all six projects. The first four are a women’s bathing suit, a t-shirt, a hooded sweatshirt, and a bicycling outfit (shorts and jersey). I must then design an active wear item and a casual wear item. My casual item will probably be a fleece jacket of some sort. I have no idea what my active wear item will be.

That’s enough procrastinating for now, it’s time for me to get back to homework.

Textbooks and my fall classes

I picked up my textbooks last week in order to avoid the rush at the start of the semester. Between work and trying to enjoy my last few days of freedom I have not had much opportunity to examine the books closely, but I did give them a cursory glance before sticking them on the textbook shelf of my bookcase.

APRL 101 – Intro to Apparel Design & Development
This class is required for all freshmen starting in the apparel design major. Transfer students do not have to take it, but I thought it would be a good idea to take it anyway. The class serves as an introduction to the college experience and to the world of fashion design. I am already quite familiar with the college experience, but I need to learn more about the fashion industry. I enrolled in the intro class in the hope that it will cover all the information that should have been but was not covered last semester in my fashion industry class.
The three books for the class are Fashion: from Concept to Consumer by Gini Stephens Frings, Fashion: the Industry and Its Careers by Michele Granger, and Inside Fashion Design by Sharon Lee Tate. All three are about the industry, so it looks like this class will be what I need. My goal for this class is that by the end of this semester I should be able to choose a concentration within the apparel design major and have a basic understanding of what my career path within the apparel industry will be.

APRL 185 – Apparel Line Development
I know very little about this class. It is required for two of the three apparel design concentrations, and even if I choose the third one I will still benefit from it. I was expecting a business oriented class about how to market and sell a line, but it seems the focus of this class will be line design. I need to purchase a lot of art supplies, and the two textbooks are about fashion drawing.
In addition to fashion magazines and apparel catalogs I will be using Fashion Sketchbook by Bina Abling and Fashion Illustration for Designers by Kathryn Hagen. My drawing skills need a lot of improvement. Hopefully this class will help, but I expect I will be spending a lot of time on homework and that I will often feel quite frustrated.

APRL 250 – Textile Evaluation
This class picks up where last semester’s textiles class ended. Last semester I learned about different types of fabrics; this semester I will learn how to decide if a fabric is good and which fabrics to use for a specific project. As I pick up textbooks I look for ones with a lot of text highlighted. I keep hoping that students who took the class before will help me by telling me what is important. For this class I found a copy of the textbook that was not highlighted, but had a lot of Post-It notes in it. My highlighting strategy has not paid off, so I decided to try the Post-Its.Sara J Kadolph, who wrote the textbook for last semester’s textiles class also wrote this one, Quality Assurance for Textiles and Apparel. Last semester I often thought that textiles was more a science than design class, but after looking at my new book I realize I have barely scratched the surface of textiles science. This will not be an easy class, but it looks interesting and I think I will enjoy it.

APRL 355 – Cut and Sew Knits
This is my only sewing class this semester, and it is the one I am looking forward to most. I enjoy working with knit fabrics, and I was upset that I did not get to do so in last semester’s apparel construction class. I often feel that design programs focus too much on woven fabrics at the expense of knits. Most of the dresses we see on red carpets are weaves, while most of the apparel in Target and Walmart is knits. Learning to design high fashion garments is fun, but I am more interested in learning to make apparel normal people can afford.

Designing and Patternmaking for Stretch Fabrics by Keith Richardson makes me even more excited about this class. It seems that I will be learning not only how to sew knit fabrics but also how to design knit garments.

SPAN 103 – Elementary Spanish I
I am also taking a Spanish class for which I have a textbook, but this blog is about apparel design so I have not included a picture of it. I would rather take Mandarin or Cantonese, but Stout does not offer any Chinese languages.

Magazines and other school supplies

The professors for my line development and intro to apparel design classes recently sent me lists of supplies I will need this semester. Both classes require fashion magazines. I read Vogue and a few other magazines in the library, but for the classes I will need to cut out pages so I had to purchase subscriptions. I now subscribe to Vogue, Harper’s BAZAAR, W, and InStyle. Last night I went to Walmart and purchased the September issues of Vogue and Elle. With a combined total of 1,500 pages those two should keep me occupied until my new magazines start arriving.

Both classes also require a lot of apparel catalogs. I ordered catalogs from J. Crew, Land’s End, L.L. Bean, Eddie Bauer, and International Male. The first four sell clothing I like but can rarely afford. I will never buy anything from the fifth, but I think it might be a fun one to use in class. I will start collecting Kmart, Target, and Walmart sales flyers from the Sunday newspapers. I suspect we will be looking at a lot of expensive clothing in class, and I think it might be useful to have some examples of the clothing college students can actually afford.

I need a lot of art supplies for line development. I bought a large pack of colored pencils yesterday, and I still have all the supplies from my fashion sketching class. The list of required art supplies left me feeling quite nervous about the class. I was not sure what this class would be, but I was not expecting this. I will learn more next week once class starts.

A trio of balls

My sister recently took up juggling, and she asked me to make her a set of juggling balls. It seemed like a reasonable request. She suggested I stuff them with split peas, but I decided to use pinto beans instead. I was more likely to eat the pinto beans than the peas, but I thought the peas might split further under the stress of juggling. I will pick up some more pinto beans tomorrow, and today I will eat garbanzo beans.

I had never made juggling balls or any other sort of balls, and I did not have a pattern for balls, but how difficult could they be? Armed with a ruler and a piece of chalk I sketched out a quick design. My plan was to learn what was wrong by sewing it, but to my great surprise it worked out well. I completed the set, although on the third ball I had to augment the pinto beans with some great northern beans.

I used a piece of fleece I found in my fabric collection to make the balls. I have owned that fleece for at least six months. I do not remember what I originally had planned for it, but it works quite well for juggling balls. Does this justify my habit of buying lots of fabric I do not need? This was the first project made entirely on my serger; it was used only for seam finishes before.

My pattern worked, but I think I can make better ones. I will experiment with a few other designs. All future balls will be made with matching color thread. I did not have cones of red thread; I will buy some tomorrow.

A trio of shirts

What is the collective noun for shirts? Herd of shirts? Gaggle? Flock? Bunch? Oh well, it really does not matter, three shirts are not enough to deserve a collective noun. I will figure it out after I make a few more.

Anyway, during finals week last semester I made a shirt for my presentation in my fashion industry class. I made another two in the next few weeks. My plan was to make at least three more before posting pictures here, but then classes and work got in the way. I had time to make one shirt for work, but I will not be showing you a picture of that one yet. You will have to wait until I make a few more work shirts, and then I will post pictures of all of them. In the mean time you will have to content yourselves with these belated pictures of the three shirts I made in June.

I wore this shirt for my fashion industry class presentation. I started it using an industrial machine at school, but the lab closed after classes ended, so I had to finish it at home. I began work on this shirt after finishing the one for my sewing class. This one is a little nicer, which reinforces the point I keep making about the importance of experience. The shirt is heavyweight unbleached muslin. I like this fabric a lot; I will dye some blue to use for shirts for work.


This was my fifth long sleeve tailored shirt, although only the third one to be completed. My technique still needs a lot of improvement, but I do now know how this pattern works. I wanted to add something to this shirt, so I made box pleat pockets with pocket flaps. I think these pockets add a nice bit of character to a shirt. I may add epaulets to the next shirt I make with this fabric.

The moment I saw this print I knew I needed to use it for a shirt. This is the shirt that got me insulted at Jo Ann Fabrics. I am still annoyed about the implication that men do not sew, but I now enjoy this shirt even more. By wearing this shirt I feel I am shouting out, “fuck you” to everyone who says only women sew. On a more technical note, I should point out that that the left placket could have been better. It is well made, but the print does not line up. I prefer attached plackets to folded in ones, but with this type of print a folded in placket would have been more appropriate. Mistakes are how we learn.


The next shirt was well made, but I am not sure if it is aesthetically pleasing. I bought two spools of multicolor thread because they were on sale, but I did not know what I would do with them. I thought maybe a black shirt with green, yellow, orange, and red topstitching would look good. Now I do not know. Is it fetching or hideous? I will have to wear it and see what sort of comments I get.


I think multicolor topstitching is more appropriate for women’s wear and that it would work better with denim. If my sister ever sends me her measurements I will make such a shirt for her.

Summer vacation

Hi. Sorry it’s been so long since my last post. I’ve been too busy with work and class to sew anything or write about all the stuff I’m not sewing. But now that classes are finally over I can take some time to update my blog.

I took three online classes this summer. The two business classes are required for apparel design students, and the gym class is required for all students at Stout. I plan to take most of my out-of-major requirements during summer sessions so I can concentrate on apparel design during the school year. I took weight training, basic merchandising (which ought to have been called retail management), and intro to international business (which was aptly named). All three were online classes. On online gym class seemed odd, but I took it anyway. I had to keep a journal documenting my workouts, take a short quiz, and write two short papers. Going to the gym was fun, and I intend to continue working out now that the class is over. The two business classes were interesting, but they required a huge investment of time. Perhaps the professors give more assignments in online classes, but the big problem was that each class compressed an entire semester’s workload into just four weeks. The classes did not run concurrently, so at least I did not have to deal with both at the same time. For the past eight weeks I have spent more time each day doing homework for one class than I spent last semester when I took five. I enjoyed the classes, but I think I would have learned a lot more had they gone slower. Two concurrent eight week classes would have been better than two consecutive four week ones. Oh well, maybe next summer. I got an A in all my summer classes so I can’t complain too much.

I did a little sewing at the start of summer, but I haven’t touched my sewing machine in eight weeks. My mother gave me a serger in June, but so far I have only used it for seam finishes. My goal for this week is to learn how to make polo shirts.

Again, I apologize for making you wait so long for a new post. I will try to never again go so long between posts. I will have some photos for you in a day or two, and I promise to post at least once per week for the remainder of summer and more often than that once the semester starts.

Interfacing lesson

A few weeks ago I made a hat. I used two different fabrics, a bottom weight twill and a medium weight plain weave. Interfacing needed to be attached to some of the pieces of each fabric. After carefully cutting out all my pattern pieces I fused the interfacing to the appropriate ones.

Everything was going well until I needed to attach an interfaced plain weave piece to a piece of twill that had no interfacing. All the pieces were the right size when I cut them out, but suddenly they no longer fit together. I preshrunk the interfacing and both types of fabric, but fusing the interfacing to the fabric caused it to shrink some more. The twill retained its size, but the plain weave pieces were suddenly far too small. I was able to salvage the project by trimming the pieces that did not shrink.

My instructor at MCTC taught me to fuse interfacing to fabric before cutting out pattern pieces, but both my instructor at Stout and the guide sheets in commercial patterns advise fusing the interfacing after the pieces are cut. I think my instructor at MCTC had the right idea. For everything I made since that hat I fused before cutting, and I have had no more shrinkage problems. This method requires a little more interfacing, but the stuff is cheap.

Insulted at the fabric store

This morning I was at Jo-Ann Fabrics. The woman cutting my fabric recognized my shirt’s print. I bought the fabric for the shirt at Wal-Mart, but apparently Jo-Ann also sells that print. She asked, “Did someone make that shirt for you?” I am a man, so clearly I could not be the one who made the shirt.

I cannot boycott Jo-Ann Fabrics, but I will not return to that particular location.

Semester review, part 3: textiles

Textiles was my favorite class and also the one I found most difficult. After watching students at Minneapolis Community and Technical College struggle through their textiles class I knew it would not be easy, but I was still surprised at how much I had to learn. I thought the class would consist of memorizing many different types of fabrics. I certainly had to do that, but there was so much more. It is not enough to know what fibers a particular piece of fabric is made of, I need to know everything about those fibers.

Each week there were two lectures and one lab. I found the lectures fascinating, but unfortunately a lot of my classmates did not agree with me. I meticulously took detailed notes while others connected with their friends or tended their farms on Facebook. I studied, did all my homework, and got an A in the class. I suspect the farmers did not do quite so well.

The class covered five broad topics: serviceability concepts, fibers, yarns, structures, and finishes. Serviceability concepts use the properties of a fiber, yarn, fabric, or finish to describe a textile product’s suitability for a particular use. I need to be familiar with these concepts and be able to apply them to specific products in order to choose the correct textile for whatever I am making.

We spent nearly half the semester learning about fibers. I learned the properties of many natural, regenerated, and synthetic fibers. With the aid of a microscope and a book of matches I had to be able to determine if a fiber was natural, regenerated, or synthetic. If it was natural I had to be able to identify it, and if it was regenerated I had to be able to tell if it was cellulosic or protein (azlon). As I studied fibers I often thought that the class belonged in the chemistry department rather than apparel design.

Yarns was the shortest, and I thought easiest, part of the class. Yarns are filament or spun, plain or fancy. Identifying fancy yarns was the hardest part of this section, but it was not too difficult.

Fabrics may be one of three structures: weave, knit, or non-woven. I had the most fun learning about weaves. I can visualize how a loom works, and I had no trouble identifying specific weaves. I found knits quite confusing. I learned enough to identify different knits, but I cannot visualize how a knitting machine turns yarns into fabrics. I suspect that if I spent some time with a knitting machine it would make a lot more sense, but looking at diagrams, pictures, and videos of the machines did not help me. I thought non-wovens were boring, but it might have been that we were nearing the end of the semester and I was very busy with projects for other classes. I was mortified to learn that the doll outfits I thought I made out of felt were really made with needle punched fake felt. I have nothing against the fabric itself, I just do not like things that are not labeled truthfully.

Learning about finishes was interesting, but I thought the lab could have been more exciting. Rather than just looking at fabrics to identify the finish I would have liked to have applied a finish or two myself. Studying coloring techniques inspired me to tie-dye the shirt I made for my apparel construction class. Despite numerous warnings that I would be foolish to try it, I am sorely tempted to try combining muslin and lye to make mercerized cotton.

After learning about fibers, yarns, structures, and finishes I had to apply my knowledge to identify fabric samples and use the serviceability concepts to explain how the fabric should be used. Identifying samples was the hardest part of the class for me. I can look at a piece of fabric and tell you its fiber content, yarn type, structure, and finish, but I have a lot of trouble remembering fabric names.

The content of the class will be very useful for me, but it was the professor who made the class so much fun. My classmates at MCTC often complained about their textiles instructor, and they hated their class. I am glad I waited until I got to Stout to take the class. Textiles can be a painfully dull topic, but Dr. Rhee made it fun and exciting. I am looking forward to taking more of her classes.

Semester review, part 2: fashion industry class

Before the start of the semester I was excitedly looking forward to my fashion industry class. I know I want to become a designer, but I do not know exactly what it is I want to do as a designer. I know very little about the fashion industry, so I am not sure who I want to work for or what sort of job I want. I hoped this class would teach me what I needed to figure out what I want to do. It didn’t.

I wanted to learn about fashion companies and how the industry functions. The class was about how to run a company. I do not feel at all prepared to run a company. The class was taught by an instructor from the apparel design department, not one from the business department. I will be taking two business classes this summer and more in the coming semesters. Perhaps those classes will prepare me to run a company, but I do not want to be the boss. I just want to work for someone else, collect a regular paycheck, and be told what to do.

The apparel design department’s intro class is not required for transfer students, but I will be taking it next semester. The intro class covers a lot of the stuff I hoped to learn in the fashion industry class. Fashion industry was a required class, so I’ll just think of it as three credits closer to graduation.

Although I feel I did not benefit much from this class, I did have a lot of fun with the final project. It was a group project. We had to design a product and create a company to market it. I wanted to make national costume doll outfits to coincide with the World Cup, but the other members of my group did not like playing with dolls. One of the women in the group once saw an article about using fabric with piezoelectric nanowires to generate electricity, and she thought clothing that could be used to recharge cell phones would be a good idea. The technology does not work, but our instructor loved the idea.

For the project we needed in a binder describing our product and company, and we had to make a three minute presentation advertising the product. I was not happy about having to design a marketing scheme for a product that I know could not work, but I had a lot of fun with my sales pitch. Unfortunately the other members of the group edited out some of my best bits. I set a price for our product, then used the following explanation to justify that price:

The technology upon which this product is based does not in fact exist. Piezoelectric nanowires exist and can be used to generate electricity, but there is no known process for waterproofing the wires. Atmospheric humidity is enough to render the wires inoperable. Our project is a work of science fiction. There are no data to support our price estimates. With a great deal of fanfare, Daniel Cole pulled the numbers from his ass and declared them to be good.

I felt honesty is good, but I was overruled. My teacher did not see my price explanation. Perhaps that was best. My final grade for this class was an A.

Semester review, part 1: the other classes

The semester is finally over, and it is time for me to share with you what I learned. Two of the five classes I took this semester had nothing to do with apparel design, but were still required for my major. I will begin my review with my thoughts about those two classes.

SOC 110 – Introductory Sociology I expected this class to be inane and painfully dull. If it was not required I would not have even considered taking a social science class. My plan was to get it out of the way early so that as my apparel classes become more difficult over the upcoming semesters I will not have to spend time with other subjects. I was pleased to discover that my expectations were unfounded. The class was both interesting and fun, and the professor did a great job presenting the information to us. I always looked forward to the lectures. The class was not easy. I needed to spend a lot of time studying, and the paper and two essays I wrote took a lot of work. I am pleased to say the effort I devoted to this class paid off; I got an A.

None of the topics covered in the class related directly to apparel or fashion, but I was able to write my paper about the fashion industry. Early in the semester the professor gave me an article about fashion from a sociology journal. It was not for my paper; it was just something he thought I would find interesting. He was right. The article, “Fashion” by Georg Simmel, is about the driving forces in fashion. I agreed with what Simmel had to say, and what I found most fascinating about the article was when it was written. The language seemed a little archaic, but at first I thought that was just how sociologists wrote. I was more than two pages into the article before I realized how old it is. What Simmel wrote about fashion in 1904 is true today. Simmel suggested that the driving force in fashion is the desire of rich people to distinguish themselves from the rest of us. New fashion is expensive, so only rich people can afford it. Soon poor folk will be wearing cheap knock-offs, so the rich people need something new to wear.

Although I enjoyed this class a lot, I have no plans to take any more sociology or other social science classes. I will only take classes required for my major and minor.

PKG 100 – Packaging and Society I would not have taken this class had it not been required. Unlike sociology I expected this class would be both interesting and relevant to my major, but as was the case with sociology, my expectations were wrong. Part of marketing apparel is how it is packaged, and although this class is required for all apparel design students the packaging of apparel was never mentioned. The instructor spent the entire semester talking about how food and medicines are packaged. I got an A in the class, yet I feel I did not learn anything. Well, I did learn that the period following the fall of the Roman Empire was called the Dark Ages because the sky was dark for 800 years, but I suspect that may not be entirely accurate. The class is over, I got a good grade, and one more requirement has been taken care of, so I will not drone on about it any more