Sewing and Engineering

mill29ca
Oct 29, 2021
1 min read

Happy Halloween! Although I dressed up as a child, my costumes were pretty routine and normal (my most unique costume request was an "apple tree" and my mom delivered). When I had my kids though, Pinterest was taking off and I got so inspired. It was the first opportunity to create my own patterns which involved a lot of trigonometry (circle skirts anyone?) and other math to match pieces and seam allowances. A few years ago, I was inspired to bring sewing to the engineering department at JMU, especially as a way to solidify math education in a tangible way. I worked with Dr. Heather Kirkvold to "shop" for the machines and supplies we'd need to get started and she has transformed the initial idea into a fully functional textile maker lab (my NSF grant hit so my attention was drawn to the image analysis and computational biology modeling work). Regardless, Dr. Kirkvold and I have become strong advocates for the use of sewing as a form of making in engineering that is essential.

In honor of sewing and its connections to engineering, enjoy some of the costumes I've created through the years, including this year's big reveal!

2013, A League of Their Own