By Sarah Stone<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Walk into the <\/span>fashion and textile design<\/span><\/a> (FTD) studios on the fourth floor of the Wilson College of Textiles, and the first thing you\u2019ll notice are the circles. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
While these circles, and the circle skirts they\u2019ll ultimately become, might initially capture your attention, they simply serve as a canvas for color and design. Faculty members say it’s crucial that students in both FD and TD master these two concepts early. That\u2019s why the two cohorts, 32 students in total, always take this course together.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen we ask a group of people what is the first thing that they notice about an apparel or home decor product, a textile product, color is usually the first thing,\u201d <\/span>Associate Professor Anne Porterfield<\/span><\/a> says. \u201cAnd so we really want them to be thinking about color from a very early point in their career.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re asking them to really step by step walk us through the process,\u201d Porterfield, who has taught this course for seven years, explains. \u201cSo the first thing that we do when we grade the project is we look at their sketchbooks so that we can see from day one: How did you make these decisions? What was it that inspired this design? How did you execute the design?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
That process starts with inspiration. Each student is tasked with creating as many surface designs as possible based on a photograph of their choosing. The designs, which must center around the interaction between colors, are then translated to a 3-D design software called Clo, which allows a student to see how draping transforms a pattern. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt’s a lot different sometimes, what you have designed versus how it looks on a skirt,\u201d TD student Shayleigh Larsen says. \u201cSometimes it’s a lot better and it creates textures, and sometimes it’s worse and it looks like a hodgepodge.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Next, critiques from classmates, Dr. Porterfield and <\/span>Assistant Professor Janie Woodbridge<\/span><\/a>, who co-teaches the course, determine which surface design a student will bring to life on their skirt. Giving and accepting that critique is a lesson in itself.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Students then develop their spatial and scaling skills to sew the skirt and transfer their design onto the garment using paint sticks.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThrough this experience, students learn to predict what you might have to test in order to be able to complete a task really efficiently,\u201d Porterfield says. \u201cSo doing the fabric testing, doing proof of concepts.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
While acknowledging all of the tangible skills and techniques they\u2019ve learned throughout this project, first year students say the most valuable part of the color project for them has been learning to design with a product and audience in mind. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis class is kind of telling me that you’re not just designing for yourself,\u201d FD student Oliver Rice says. \u201cYou’re designing for other people.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
“A lot of my images are really full of life and vibrant. A lot of them are flowers. A lot of light colors. My skirt displays spring in life.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The inspiration for my skirt is actually a jar of olives, and I chose these colors that I saw on the olive jar because they were sort of like the colors that you would see in an 1800s painting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I did this criss crossing pattern along with some orange bands. I used this picture of a sunset, and I drew motifs from the road with the gravel and the grass that’s behind side of the road, and the colors are all drawn from it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By Sarah Stone<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Walk into the <\/span>fashion and textile design<\/span><\/a> (FTD) studios on the fourth floor of the Wilson College of Textiles, and the first thing you\u2019ll notice are the circles. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
While these circles, and the circle skirts they\u2019ll ultimately become, might initially capture your attention, they simply serve as a canvas for color and design. Faculty members say it's crucial that students in both FD and TD master these two concepts early. That\u2019s why the two cohorts, 32 students in total, always take this course together.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen we ask a group of people what is the first thing that they notice about an apparel or home decor product, a textile product, color is usually the first thing,\u201d <\/span>Associate Professor Anne Porterfield<\/span><\/a> says. \u201cAnd so we really want them to be thinking about color from a very early point in their career.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re asking them to really step by step walk us through the process,\u201d Porterfield, who has taught this course for seven years, explains. \u201cSo the first thing that we do when we grade the project is we look at their sketchbooks so that we can see from day one: How did you make these decisions? What was it that inspired this design? How did you execute the design?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
That process starts with inspiration. Each student is tasked with creating as many surface designs as possible based on a photograph of their choosing. The designs, which must center around the interaction between colors, are then translated to a 3-D design software called Clo, which allows a student to see how draping transforms a pattern. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt's a lot different sometimes, what you have designed versus how it looks on a skirt,\u201d TD student Shayleigh Larsen says. \u201cSometimes it's a lot better and it creates textures, and sometimes it's worse and it looks like a hodgepodge.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Next, critiques from classmates, Dr. Porterfield and <\/span>Assistant Professor Janie Woodbridge<\/span><\/a>, who co-teaches the course, determine which surface design a student will bring to life on their skirt. Giving and accepting that critique is a lesson in itself.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Students then develop their spatial and scaling skills to sew the skirt and transfer their design onto the garment using paint sticks.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThrough this experience, students learn to predict what you might have to test in order to be able to complete a task really efficiently,\u201d Porterfield says. \u201cSo doing the fabric testing, doing proof of concepts.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
While acknowledging all of the tangible skills and techniques they\u2019ve learned throughout this project, first year students say the most valuable part of the color project for them has been learning to design with a product and audience in mind. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis class is kind of telling me that you're not just designing for yourself,\u201d FD student Oliver Rice says. \u201cYou're designing for other people.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"A lot of my images are really full of life and vibrant. A lot of them are flowers. A lot of light colors. My skirt displays spring in life.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The inspiration for my skirt is actually a jar of olives, and I chose these colors that I saw on the olive jar because they were sort of like the colors that you would see in an 1800s painting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"I did this criss crossing pattern along with some orange bands. I used this picture of a sunset, and I drew motifs from the road with the gravel and the grass that's behind side of the road, and the colors are all drawn from it.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Each year, the color project teaches the foundations of surface design to first-year fashion and textile design students at Wilson College. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":28235,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"source":"","ncst_custom_author":"","ncst_show_custom_author":false,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"ncst\/default-post-header","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"{\"showAuthor\":true,\"showDate\":true,\"showFeaturedVideo\":false,\"caption\":\"\",\"displayCategoryID\":2130}","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","ncst_content_audit_display":false,"ncst_backToTopFlag":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[742,496],"tags":[2201,1875,600,601,1382],"_ncst_magazine_issue":[],"class_list":["post-16823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newswire","category-tatm","tag-b-s-fashion-and-textile-design","tag-department-of-textile-and-apparel-technology-and-management","tag-fashion-design","tag-textile-design","tag-wilson-college-of-textiles"],"displayCategory":null,"acf":{"ncst_posts_meta_modified_date":null},"yoast_head":"