All About FDES 200 – Textiles

By Andrea Behrenshausen

Stevenson University offers tons of great classes for the Fashion Merchandising and Design students. These classes help students understand all aspects of the fashion industry, from the start of making a design, to getting the finished product into the stores. One of my favorite classes here so far was FDES 200, the Textiles class!

I am a Fashion Merchandising major, so I am not as experienced in making clothes and am more knowledgeable in the business of fashion. This class expanded my knowledge of how designers pick and choose their fabrics, yarns, and threads. Professor Simpson makes sure that you understand the differences between them all, and what the uses are for each of them.

In this class, you get to make your own textile kit that you get to keep as a reference for when you get a job out of college. You get samples to put in the kit that you can touch and feel. We also look at the different terms that are used to describe each textile. One of the projects in the class is making a presentation board describing a textile or apparel term and gathering pictures and fabric swatches for display. Another project that we did was weaving our own fabric. We got to try out different techniques and see how different weavings made different fabrics.

Overall, I highly suggest this class to anyone who can take it, even people who aren’t in the fashion major. It makes you understand why different clothing items are made with various fabrics and trims. Textiles is a class that you will use every day throughout your life.