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RESEARCH NEWS EDUCATION NEWS RECRUITING NEWS Textile and Apparel Management CONFERENCES |
| INSIDE TATM |
| International Programs - TATM |
| College of Textiles TOP Program |
 Mission
Statement To establish a high quality forum relevant to the needs of global industry and higher education that will provide leadership in the timely dissemination of information dealing with all aspects of textile and apparel, technology and management. |
SUMMER TEXTILES EXPLORATION PROGRAM (STEP)
APPAREL DESIGN PROJECT
Cynthia L. Istook, Ph.D.
North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC USA
Introduction
For many years now, the Textile Foundation at the College of Textiles and Student Services has supported a Summer Textile Exploration Program (STEP) to help acquaint potential students with the variety of opportunities and experiences available to them through the College of Textiles. The program has become an astounding success with more than 100 rising seniors from U.S. High Schools spending a week on campus as virtually “real” students during the summer. Students apply for the opportunity to attend the STEP program and choose an area of exploration that interests them. More students apply than are accepted to attend during the four weeks that the program is offered during the summer.
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Figure 1. Body
Scanning process. |
Students arrive on campus on Sunday afternoon and are assigned roommates for the room they will share in the dorm. They spend time getting acquainted and having fun on the first night. Monday morning they start their first round of lectures offered by different members of the faculty on a variety of subjects related to research in the College of Textiles. They meet their project directors at lunch and begin work on their specialized project area during the afternoon. During the evening hours they have the opportunity to go shopping, go to the movies, go swimming, have a picnic, under the supervision of the sponsors. This schedule continues through Thursday, with faculty lectures from 8-12am daily, and project work from 1-5pm. On Friday, students are tested over the information presented during the week and then make formal project presentations to their families and guests after lunch. Those who pass the final exam and successfully complete the program receive a certificate.
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Figure
2. Designing apparel using CAD.
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While the certificate is built up to be the high point at the end of the program, it is actually the least important element. The students benefit from the opportunity to see, feel, and experience the College of Textiles at NC State. They are able to establish a “real” image in their minds of what it would be like to attend NC State. More importantly than that, however, is the opportunity that each student has to work closely with a faculty member towards the solution of a textile related problem. These students have a unique opportunity to see and use new technologies, under the direction of faculty who are excited about those technologies. Hopefully, each student will get excited about the field and/or learn something that will help them make good school and career choices.
Project: Apparel Design
The goal for the project period was to enable each student to create and physically produce a garment that would fit their specific body and that was made from their choice of fabric/design, within limitations. Students a) were introduced to the goals of the project and the idea of mass customization; b) were 3-dimensionally body scanned using the [TC]2 Body Measurement System (BMS); c) designed and made the patterns for their desired garment; d) set up the automatic alteration process for their garment design; e) created the desired textile design, printed it on fabric, steamed the fabric, and prepared it for cutting; f) cut their customized garment marker from their fabric using an automatic sample cutter; and g) constructed and fit their final garments.
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Figure
3. Textile design.
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On the first day of each session the students were: a) introduced to the goals of the project and the idea of mass customization, b) safety trained in the apparel design lab, c) 3-dimensionally body scanned using the (TC)2 BMS system (Figure 1), and d) introduced to the apparel design and textile design decisions that would need to be made the next day. The second day of the project was spent selecting the garment design, making minor adjustments to get the look the student desired (changing necklines and lengths, adding slits and pockets, etc.), developing the size code tables based on their scanned measurements (Figure 2), and creating the desired textile design. A CAD specialist in apparel design or textile design assisted the students in each of these steps, although they were allowed and encouraged to do their own work, if they felt capable or inclined (Figure 3).
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Figure 4. Printing the Fabric |
Figure
5. Steaming the fabric to “set” the dye. |
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Figure
6. Washing out the excess pad & dye. |
Figure 7. Pressing the finished fabric |
The students spent the third day of the session printing their fabric designs (Figure 4) and steaming (Figure 5), washing (Figure 6), drying, and preparing the fabric for cutting (Figure 7). On the fourth day, each student’s customized garment marker was cut from his or her fabric, using the Gerber Cutting Edge Cutter (Figure 8). The rest of the day was spent constructing their garments and preparing a presentation to be made to the other research groups (Figure 9).
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Figure 8. Cutting
the garment patterns. |
Figure 9. Constructing
the garment. |
CONCLUSIONS
At the end of each session, every student in the apparel design project had produced a garment that fit him or her (Figure 10). Regardless of anything else, the fact that the students survived the intensive product development process, gained an understanding of new technologies, and learned some rudimentary sewing skills qualified the project as a success. Above and beyond that, however, is the fact that a significant “connection” was made with NC State University, the College of Textiles, research and teaching faculty members, graduate students in the programs, new and exciting technologies, Student Services staff members, and potential future classmates from across the U.S (Figure 11).
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Figure 11. One
happy group. |
College
of Textiles
P.O. Box 8301
Raleigh, NC 27695-8301
Telephone: (919) 515-6646
FAX: (919) 515-3733
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Last Site Revision:
November 17, 2003