{"id":13972,"date":"2019-05-29T14:30:38","date_gmt":"2019-05-29T18:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/textiles.ncsu.edu\/news\/?p=13972"},"modified":"2022-10-03T14:31:06","modified_gmt":"2022-10-03T18:31:06","slug":"patternmaker-meet-ftd-alumna-caitlin-gabriel-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/textiles.ncsu.edu\/news\/2019\/05\/patternmaker-meet-ftd-alumna-caitlin-gabriel-17\/","title":{"rendered":"Patternmaker: Meet FTD Alumna Caitlin Gabriel \u201817"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
By Cameron Walker<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wilson College of Textiles<\/a> alumna Caitlin Gabriel \u201817 learned to sew at an early age. Her grandmother taught her to sew and follow patterns at just eight years old, and she has been designing and creating her own clothes ever since. We caught up with the Fashion and Textile Design<\/a> (FTD) graduate, who recently started working as a patternmaker at <\/span>Wrangler<\/span><\/a>, now under the umbrella of <\/span>Kontoor Brands, Inc.<\/span><\/a> She lives in Greensboro, North Carolina with her husband. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Congratulations on your new job! How did you find out about the position and what was the interview process like?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n Thank you! I\u2019ve actually been following Wrangler since we visited there on the NC State of Denim tour. My husband and I were looking to relocate away from Charlotte and I started applying to jobs literally all over the country. There was an NC State textile applicant pool that I applied to and was selected for a patternmaking position. The interview process itself did not have many steps, but the process was quite long. I had a Skype and an in-person interview, [and] about three months lapsed from the first interview until I was hired.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n What does a patternmaker do over the course of an average day? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n I am still very much in training, so my day-to-day is slightly different. Currently, we are working on cleaning up fits and in virtual fitting. This cuts down on the amount of prototypes you have to run, because you can fit the garment on an avatar and see how it will look. We work directly with a team of designers to create new styles or improve upon older styles. We use several different systems — mainly AccuMark<\/a> [pattern design software] and V-Stitcher [3D apparel design software]. We learned AccuMark while in school, but I am getting a much more in-depth teaching with my job.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n The days were long and semesters were stressful, but being a member of the Wolfpack has made me into the person I am today and for that, I am forever proud to say I am an alumna of NC State!<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n You learned to sew when you were a kid. What was that like?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n I received my first sewing machine for my 8<\/span>th<\/span> birthday. My grandmother taught me how to sew and follow a pattern. There was a lot that I taught myself through trial and error. I took a couple of apparel classes in high school as well — the first thing I made was a vest and skirt outfit. The Cheetah Girls were popular at the time, so I made a skirt that was leather with cheetah print trim, then used the trim fabric to make a matching vest. We followed a pattern and she showed me step by step how to make it. I loved that outfit and 3<\/span>rd<\/span> grade me thought I was so cool!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n What did you want to be when you were growing up?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n I wanted to be a nurse! I thought it would be awesome to wear scrubs every day; I did not take into account an aversion to blood. Needless to say, this was not the path for me!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n You recently got married — tell us a little about that.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n