Background
A trend forecaster predicts the colors, fabrics, textures, materials, prints, graphics, beauty/grooming, accessories, footwear, street style, and other styles that will be presented on the runway and in the stores for the upcoming seasons.

This assignment will challenge you to explore fashion merchandising and hone your business skills. Very often, fashion design courses will not show you how to start your own business or teach you very valuable business skills. 

Assignment
Your assignment is to work in a group of 2 people to create a trend forecast for the 2016-2017 fashion season. Half of the class will forecast the Fall 2017 Season and the other half will forecast the 2017 Spring Season. You will create a design board, a croquis board, 2 full outfits, and a video describing the assignment. The video above is an A+ example of this assignment. 

Specs (what needs to go in the video)

• Target demographics (ie men aged 18-34)
• Design/Inspiration Board
• Croquis Board (like your midyear)
• Color swatches 
• Video should include
• Magazine covers (digital)
• Professional photographs of your 2 outfits 
• Evidence of why you have chosen your trend

Steps

1. Spring 2017 or Fall 2017
2. Research past & upcoming trends
3. Choose your forecast
4. Research magazines and online resources
5. Choose your colors & fabrics (how will you show this on the video?)
6. Make an inspiration/design board
7. Create a croquis board
8. Complete the Trend Questionaire
9. Create your garments 
10. Create your video (this may be done throughout the entire project) 

Grading (this project will count as 2 project grades -- 1 for the video and 1 for the garments)

• Creativity
• Evidence
• Quality of garments
• Quality of video
• Collaborative & individual working habits
  
  

Resources
​FIDM Design Challenge
​A Beginner's Guide to Trend Forecasting Article 
Fashion Snoops (trend forecasting company -- paid services)

Background
Fabric draping is the process of positioning and pinning fabric on a mannequin or dress form to develop the structure of a garment. Fabric drape is defined as the way that fabric falls to the floor. Fabric bias, rigidity, stiffness, type of fabric, weight, and thickness can all be factors in determining drape. Many professional fashion designers use fabric draping to design garments (and then usually leave the dirty work to interns or other workers!).

Description
Your assignment is to create a Couture garment using drape. You may choose to do a dress, pants, blouse, skirt....essentially -- any garment. The theme of your garment is "texture in nature." Please TRY to use the fabric I have extra in the classroom. 

Steps

1. HW: Find 5 different textures in nature. Pin them on your Pinterest board.
2. Sketch out your croquis.
3. Use your sketch as a basis for the draping. You may also want to use photographs of your texture or photographs of similar garments to see how draping works.
4. PLAY with the fabric. Experiment with different positions of the fabric to understand how it will lay.
5. With masking tape, tape parts of the mannequin to define your garment and/or the body.
6. You may need to create a foundation piece to hold your textures together. Think of this as the lining. 
7. Pin the fabric to the mannequin. Here, you will want to use a fabric pencil or chalk to mark the fabric. 
8. When you are satisfied with your garment, baste the fabric together with a hand needle and begin sewing on your machine -- you may need to do this in pieces.  

Grading Criteria

• Creativity/Risk taking
• Design
• Technical Quality
• Participation

Resources
Read this article about drape factor

Background
A design challenge in fashion is when designers are faced with creating a clothing line based around a theme. 

Assignment
Your assignment is to design a clothing line based around your favorite literary novel. Choose 1 character from the novel (male or female) and design 5 outfits based for that character as if you were the fashion designer for a movie based on the book. You must also write a 1 page summary as to how these outfits represent the character. Be sure to research current design trends to keep this character relevant. I will provide you with your board. Board must include the following:

• Title (traced to perfection from a printed computer font)
• 5 croquis with garments (same croquis for each garment)
• 5 full-outfit flat garments
• Colors to block out sections of the board
• Color swatches
• Any other flair or flounces

Tips:

• Research the character: what is her/his name, her/his inspiration, style, etc?
• What colors represent the character?
• Is the character strong willed, mean-spirited, kooky? Colors, shapes, and styles should reflect that.
• Craftsmanship is very important in creating a professional design board. You must follow the craftsmanship tips below to create an amazing board.

Craftsmanship Tips

• Cut off ALL extra white on models or anything you put on the board. Use an x-acto knife if you are not a good cutter. (The white in between a model's arms should DEFINITELY be cut out)
• Outline croquis in black pen or thin black sharpie
• Leave the faces off of the models -- they distract from the overall design
• Stencil all letters. Print the font you want, cut it out and use it as a stencil. (No handwriting the title)
• No excess glue on the board -- use scrap paper
• Break down the sections into distinct areas on the board
• Trace the croquis from the croquis library but change the hair. Spend time on these - they should be perfect.
• All printouts should be matted with colored paper (1/8th inch around)
• If you have straight lines, cut straight! Use a ruler! 
• Flat garments should be symmetrical.

Background
Learning to sew is a vital skill of any fashion designer. A simple skirt will help us to understand the specifics of working with patterns and how they are used in fashion.

Vocabulary

• Godet
• Staystitching
• Seam allowance
• Grain
• Bias
• Selvage

Objectives

• Study the dress pattern and understand how to read a pattern
• Analyze sewing techniques in order to create a skirt
• How to measure the natural waist

Grading

• Craftsmanship (loose threads are cut, sewing is straight and follows seams)
• Technical Quality (skirt is slightly above the knee and waist fits correctly)
• Participation (your work ethic in class)

Steps

• Measure yourself
• Find your size on the pattern envelope (see image below)
• Trace the pattern pieces on white paper (use your size). Be sure to trace the arrows, the pattern piece number, and what the piece is called.
• Buy your cotton or cotton blend fabric (or use fabric from the class). You can see how much fabric you need based on your size. Do not buy extra fabric -- you don't need it.
• Wash and dry your fabric to pre-shrink it.
• Lay out your pattern pieces on the fabric. Pin them on. Have Mr. Mistler check it.
• Cut out your pieces and begin sewing.