Making Fashion Accessible

Welcome!

Here’s some info to get you started. You’ll find additional pertinent information within the syllabus and on the project list.

Instructor

Daniel Ryan Johnston
Email: daniel.johnton@nyu.edu 
Appointment Calendar

Open Studio Hours (Starting Jan. 30th): 

Friday’s 11am-5pm Weekly
Zoom & 316 B (Ability Project Classroom), 370 Jay  Street

Required Meetings

In order to free up time within the week, we will meet as a group throughout the semester on 3 Saturdays from 12-3:15pm.  This change from last semester is intended to meet the request from Fall participants for more group interaction.  

If there are any conflicts, I will address those on an individual basis.  Please note that attendance is 20% of your grade.  

Please add the following meeting dates and times to your calendar:  
Week 3 – Saturday, February 7th, 12-3:15pm (15 minute break included) 
Week 6 – Saturday, February 28th, 12-3:15pm (15 minute break included) 
Week 12 – Saturday, April 18th, 12-3:15pm (15 minute break included) 

Weekly Check-in Meetings:

I have open hours on Fridays from 11am-5pm where you are encouraged to stop by either via zoom or in person at 316B (370 Jay St.) to ask for support or just say hi.  

Expectations

You are required to keep a VIP notebook to be updated weekly.  These entries should – at minimum – say what you completed in the past week regarding your project and what your plans are for the following week. By the end of the semester you should have at least 13 entries in your digital notebook (Google Sites, Notion, WordPress, etc.).

Some examples of notebook entries could be:

  • Meeting notes
    • Tracking of items for which you are responsible
    • Deadlines for you, the sub-team, and/or team
  • Technical Notes
    • Designs, sketches, software code, and any other artifacts created for the VIP team (include the artifact itself, or where to find it (e.g., URL to repository)
  • Record and describe important resources (websites, books, people)
  • Your ideas, brainstorming, and general thoughts (even if not developed)

Communication

Students are expected to communicate with team members during weekly meetings and through mid-week exchanges. Students are also expected to respond to communications in an appropriate time frame and to communicate respectfully. Reach out to VIP team leadership with any issues concerning miscommunication. 

The MFA VIP team communicates via Email, MFA VIP Google Group Chat  and google chat for asynchronous communications.

Project Objectives 

The goal of this VIP is to familiarize students with the process of designing with disabled community members, finding out what is really needed then exploring ways to meet those needs. In addition to exploring accessible fashion, students investigate ways of adapting the tools of fashion design and fabrication in order to support disabled makers.

Making Fashion Accessible VIP aims to:

  • Foster community around disability and textiles
  • Develop recommendations for the creation of accessible textile labs
  • Assess accessibility – both digital and physical – of commonly available as well as open source (Do-It-Yourself) textile machines and tools in order to create solutions 

Students will have the opportunity to explore how digital fabrication techniques apply to a new generation of accessible garment construction tools such as digital embroidery machines, 3D printed knitting machines and looms, laser cutting screens to print on fabric, and hacking sewing and knitting machines with custom electronics and hardware.

Required Training(s)

New Members:

In order to have access to Ability Project Lab (316B), you will need to complete the following Tandon MakerSpace Trainings:

Returning Members:

If you have not completed the Domestic Sewing Machine training, please do so.  It is valuable for each member to have at least a basic level of sewing machine knowledge.

Additional Trainings:

Depending on your selected project, you may need to complete additional training which could include Laser Cutter, CNC, Soldering, etc.