Learning challenge accepted – or not?
Designing T-shirts or demanding personalized garments
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7577/formakademisk.5726Keywords:
Clothing design, design education, circumstance-based designAbstract
Our research asks how to inspire students (regardless of their gender, clothing habits or skills) to design demanding personalized garments. The studied garment design and sewing course, situated at a teacher education department in a Finnish university, included the objectives of learning to design demanding garments and learning the basics of teaching garment design. The analysis of the versatile qualitative data revealed that many students held a narrow view of garment design and clothing. We discuss possibilities related to circumstance-based design, which appreciates clothing as situated within physical, psychological, social, cultural, political and virtual environments. Could this provide a balance between student motivation and creative and technical challenges?
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Copyright (c) 2025 Tellervo Härkki, Johanna Oksanen, Ana Nuutinen, Karoliina Laxtström, Anu Kylmänen, Marja-Leena Rönkkö
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