Current Illinois State Students
Professional Practice / Internships
Listed below are some facilities available to students in the Apparel, Merchandising and Design sequence.
Interior design and apparel design students and faculty have access to the Department of Industrial Technology’s primary computer drafting laboratory. Interior design and apparel design students have access to the computer lab in Turner 202 during open lab times to utilize AutoCAD where necessary.
A variety of apparel construction, production, design and merchandising courses are taught in this laboratory. The laboratory houses a variety of production and design equipment. Equipment includes Bernina sewing machines, Singer lockstich industrial machines, Singer 5-thread home sergers, an industrial buttonholer, a blindhemmer, power shears, and industrial irons with stands. The following computer systems are also used in this laboratory: Microdynamics Pattern Grading System, Grading and Marking System, a digitizer and plotter, Microdesign and ApparelCAD. A storeroom off of the laboratory provides space for mannequins and other display items used in visual merchandising.
Introductory and advanced textile courses for apparel merchandising and design and interior design students are taught in this newly renovated laboratory. Equipment available for research and instruction includes a spectrophotometer, crease recovery tester, snag tester, Instron materials strength tester, abrasion resistance tester, laboratory wringer, solar UV simulator, yarn twist tester, wrinkle tester, Pantone Textile Color selector, crockmeter, drying oven and tearing tester.
This storage laboratory houses the department’s historic costume collection, which is used for teaching apparel design, construction and history courses. Textile courses also rely on pieces of the costume collection for demonstration purposes, as do our general education courses (FCS 112 American Family and FCS 222 Cultural Diversity in Dress). There is a networked computer in this work area used by faculty and student workers to maintain the costume collection database.
Apparel merchandising and design students take courses from several departments in the College of Business.
"Preserving the Past, Educating the Future"
Mission
Stimulate interest and further study in all aspects of costume history.
History
The Lois Jett Historic Costume Collection began in 1962. It was started by Lois Jett, an Apparel Merchandising and Design faculty member within the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences. Today, this teaching collection houses approximately 2000 artifacts of historic clothing and accessories. The garments date from c1870-2000, and were worn by men, women, and children - predominantly in the Midwest.
Purpose and Use
The Lois Jett Historic Costume Collection enhances teaching students about historic costume. This hands-on experience allows students to learn how and why clothing changed over time, as well as how to properly care for historic garments. Students learn how to plan and execute educational exhibits that would be of interest to the public. The Lois Jett Historic Costume Collection also offers research opportunities for independent student and faculty scholarship.
Preservation
All artifacts donated to the Lois Jett Historic Costume Collection are only used for educational and research purposes. In order to best preserve the garments for future generations, the Collection uses museum standards for proper handling of the items. All artifacts are cataloged on a computer database.
For more information or to become a Friend of the Collection, contact:
Tricia Widner Johnson, Ph.D.
309-438-2680
~ or ~
Jennifer Banning, Ph.D.
309-438-5960
