Design
Here's my final hoodie design:
The main features are:
A pencil pocket on the left sleeve
A Mines themed embroidered design on the front
A hood (may or may not be drawstring, we'll see)
A special pattern around the hem that doubles as a measuring tape (it sounds weird, but it'll be cool, trust me!)
Since the purpose of this project was to design a garment based on values within the Mines community, you'd probably like to know a little bit more about each design feature and where it came from. I won't lie, sewing almost never stresses me out, but at this point in my project, I was starting to get anxious. Not only was the most stressful part of the semester rapidly approaching, but I was starting to question if my end goal was really possible. After a little bit more worrying than I'd like to admit, I decided to revisit some of my London memories for some inspiration.
Fashion Enter LTD, the design and manufacturing company my group visited, takes inspiration from what is currently popular in the world of fashion and then changes it a little bit to make it their own. Ian Scott Kettle frequently looks into the past for inspiration and then relies on his own unique abilities to create one of a kind pieces. Both of these processes are different, but I think the main takeaway is that both designers do what works for them. This trip was eye-opening for a number of reasons, but I really appreciated seeing that even though fashion takes on different forms in different places, the roots of the design process are pretty much always the same. Basically, you collect some inspiration, put your own touches on your piece, and then create it in a way that highlights your skills and abilities.
I also want to mention my visit to the Victoria and Albert Museum again. While there, my group also got to take a mini tour of the museum's permanent fashion collection. Something that really stuck out to me as we worked through fashion in different times and places is how in the moment fashion can be. Take a second and try to picture a woman's dress or skirt from the 1940s (seriously, close your eyes and do it, or search on the internet if you aren't sure). Unless you have no idea what 1940s fashion looks like, you probably pictured a simple A-line skirt that most likely stops just below the knee with no ruffles or pleats or decorations on it. During the 1940s, especially in Europe, there were restrictions on how much fabric a garment could use. As such, skirts, dresses, and shirts were made using as little fabric as necessary. These restrictions were very in the moment, but they wound up shaping an entire decade of fashion, so much so that almost anybody can identify a 1940s silhouette today.
My point with that little exercise is to show how clothing is highly representative of the moment it's in. As such, it's important to me that my garment is reflective of my time at Mines. I don't need someone to look at my garment and immediately think "Oh! That was clearly created sometime between 2019-2022!" but I do want it to be specific enough to get people thinking about it.
Finally, I think the best thing I learned from my London trip is also probably the thing that makes this project the hardest: there really isn't a right or wrong way to do something in the world of fashion. Sure, there are trends and styles that are preferred over others, but at the end of the day, people are going to wear what makes them happy, no matter what's currently popular. As such, it's up to me to decide what's right and what isn't for my project. While this idea is liberating, it's also a bit daunting. I originally put a lot of pressure on myself to really try and make something that fully encompasses the Mines community. My trip to London taught me that even the most well thought out design on the planet won't please everyone. At the end of the day though, this is my design I'm creating to fit me. Once I reassured myself of this, I had a lot more fun with my project.
Circling back to my design, the choice of creating a hoodie was initially based purely on what I saw around campus when I was scouting for ideas. However, let's pause for a second to think about why hoodies are so popular. The obvious answer to me is that hoodies are comfy. People wear hoodies to feel warm and comfortable and in my eyes both of these ideas translate directly into feeling at home. Me from four years ago could not believe that me today is about to type this, but Mines really does feel like home now. I'm hoping to show off this sense of comfort and security within my final piece.
I feel like something everybody values about Mines is the sense of community our campus has. It's easy to feel lost when you're at college for the first time, but Mines does an extraordinary job of doing its best to make everyone feel included. Our community is pretty unique and I love how it has the ability to bring all kinds of people together. I figured this idea was best recognized through some sort of design on the front of my hoodie. If you're really into cartography, or you've done the M Climb, you probably recognized my embroidery design right away. It's intended to be a stylized topographic map of Golden, complete with the M perched up on Mount Zion. I think it's safe to say that every student and faculty member at Mines values our campus, both physically and mentally, and I hope my design at least gets people thinking about Mines.
Next up, Mines students are always ready for the next big challenge. Whether it's an upcoming test, climbing a fourteener, or scouting for jobs, Mines students are pretty much always ready to go. Since it is my own personal belief that no garment is complete without a pocket, I figured that this value is best represented with a pocket for holding anything needed for the next big challenge. I had to eliminate the traditional hoodie pocket from my design because of the embroidery on the front, but I still wanted to find a way to fit a pocket somewhere. I took a leaf out of Ian Scott Kettle's book and opted to take an unconventional approach by placing a pocket on the left sleeve. Is this a little odd for a hoodie, sure, but is it also kind of cool and useful in practice? Absolutely!
Mines students are definitely some of the most resourceful people I know. Most of us aren't afraid to ask for help, talk to others, or seek the answers for ourselves. We're really good at taking a problem and coming up with a comprehensive solution. I wanted to try and incorporate this idea somehow, and after some head scratching, I came up with a pretty clever way. What better way to show resourcefulness than with a thrifted material? I really wanted to use something from London in my project, if possible, as a reflection of my trip. During my visit, I picked up two table cloths from a charity shop with the intention of using them for something else, but incorporating them into my Mines design was just too good an opportunity to pass up! This may seem like an odd choice but I've used tablecloths in sewing projects before and these two have a loose weave that actually makes them pretty comfortable and soft. Plus, the fact that I unintentionally came back from my trip with fabric in the perfect shade of Mines blue was just begging to be written about.
Another part of this project involves me learning a new sewing technique. I could have learned lot's of different techniques during this project, but I ultimately chose to focus on making professional quality seams. More on that in a bit.