Consumers with disabilities from State/Federal Vocational Rehabilitation programs were surveyed to determine the consumers'profile, apparel acquisition practices including preferred shopping site, knowledge of distributors of apparel for consumers with a disability and perceived economic risk, and the frequency and causes of apparel shopping barriers for consumers with functional limitations. Independent apparel selection decisions were made by most of the 625 respondents who rarely had someone shop for them. They purchased apparel more frequently at department, discount, and mass merchandise stores located preferably in shopping malls. While most of the respondents were unaware of retailers of functional apparel, they were willing to spend more for such apparel. Women had more difficulty than men with architectural barriers. Major obstacles were fitting rooms, space between aisles, restrooms, steps, traffic routes through stores, curbs, and merchandise location.

An international education opportunity has been created for design students at West Virginia University. This experience is unique because it takes an interdisciplinary approach to design that exposes students to the idea of a larger design methodology common to design professions. Students take core courses with students from a variety of design fields, including interior design, fashion design, fashion merchandising, landscape architecture, art, and graphic design. Through this interaction, students gain an understanding of the interrelationships among design fields, learn to appreciate new perspectives, and begin to appreciate the place of their field as part of the design community as a whole. JADE 26.3 (2007) Abstract

An experimental lesson plan on sewing machine tension was developed and administered to groups of blind (N= 12) and sighted (N= 30) students in an attempt to teach this concept more effectively. Tactile/verbal aids were used in the experimental lesson to increase the potential for student comprehension. Student performances on three component tasks were assessed using a five‐point difficulty rating scale (0 =“unable to do”, to 5 =“could readily accomplish”) to compare the experimental lesson with a traditional lesson on sewing machine tension. It was hypothesized that for blind and sighted groups of students there would be no significant differences in mean rating scores for identifying bal anced, loose, and tight tension between the groups which received the experi mental tension lesson and the groups which received the traditional tension lesson. Higher mean ratings were achieved for the experimental lesson when compared to the traditional lesson for both blind and sighted groups of students. Mean ratings increased significantly for blind students following experimental instruction when compared to traditional instruction. Sighted students did not perform significantly better when experimental instruction was compared to tra ditional instruction. However, they achieved the highest mean ratings when the complete tactile/verbal lesson was presented. The experimental lesson produced better results for both groups of students even though more time was involved.

No abstract

The basic principles of the flat-pattern method are the foundation of producing effective apparel designs. Principles of Flat-Pattern Design, 4th Edition, maintains its simple and straightforward presentation of flat-patternmaking principles which is proven to be less intimidating for beginning students. Numbered and fully illustrated steps guide students through a logical series of pattern manipulation procedures, each beginning with a flat sketch of the design to be developed and ending with a representation of the completed pattern. A significant expansion of the introductory chapters in this 4th Edition aligns the patternmaking process with current industry practices, including technological advancements, design analysis, and production basics such as grading, marker making, and specifications.