A talk from the recent Electromagnetic Field event in the UK caught our eye, in which [Amy Jeskins] looked at the overlooked engineering skill of pattern cutting. She takes us through the mechanics of creating a pattern for a piece of clothing, and asks why it is not a skill taught to engineers.
She’s a specialist in theatrical costume, and the talk takes us through some examples of her work before looking at the history of tailoring and pattern making. She explores flat cutting and draping a pattern on a form before coming into the present day with CAD packages designed for clothing work. It’s the social aspect of the talk that’s perhaps the most interesting, looking at how it has become a gendered skill and thus not something considered where it should belong, as engineering. We’re reminded of one of the most important additions for a healthy hackerspace, a textile room, as we’ve seen people there bridge this divide from both directions.
If you have never made a piece of clothing then we’d suggest giving this talk a watch, and maybe taking up a sewing machine to give it a try. In the past we’ve taken you through some of the prerequisites for a textile bench. The full talk is below the break.
UNL just shut down their textile department. Looks like a lost oppurtunity.
Successfully complete an engineering degree (on it’s own, or in combination with (an)other degree(s)), then ask.
Knock it off.
Most of the tech out there exists simply because of textile production.
we need to MAXIMIZE testosterone among engineers! that is the only way American engineering will have something to jump up in the air and smash its chest into that of a testosterone-fueled robot (our only worthy chest-thumping mate!) textiles will just make their equipment shrivel up!
Not textile work, cloths making. She is talking about making cloths, textile making is making fabric.
Pattern making is an art of its own, which requires one learns about not just alterations in general, but cloths design, which is what, 4 years in technical college? Yes, mechanical engineering is part of the curricula, because you also HAVE to learn both thread making and textile making, so when designing pattern, you account for the inevitable fabric stretching/folding.
RE: “…why it is not a skill taught to engineers?” because (at least in the US, the area where I live) it pays minimum wage. Why would one want to work for minimum wage if lowly store manager makes what, two-three times more?