Stress Management

One of the real shockers for me in starting my own company was the level of stress it created. The minute I got the financing all organized, bank account open and the money deposited, my stress levels went through the roof. It took me several weeks to get the stress under control, to a level I can manage. I really did not expect this to happen - before getting the company going, I was simply excited about the whole thing.

It is true that, since about last September, I have a dual workload. My responsibilities at the university haven't slackened - if anything, they have picked up speed in several areas, and, at the same time, I have to keep a company on track, designs rolling forward from the worktable into production, setting up the production and the marketing and... the list goes on. Just to get a sense of my own time management, I've started to keep track of the hours I spend on each task. I have found that my week at the university is roughly 40 hours - certainly a drop from where it has been in the past, but still above the legal commitment to 35 hours a week. I'm also spending 30 to 35 hours a week on the company business, and that is since I hired an assistant and started delegating a number of tasks! My relaxation hours, which I've also been keeping track of, seem to be around 15 hours a week - not many, all things considered. I don't include sleep in my relaxation time, or eating, just doing things to distract myself or calm myself or, indeed, relax.

I'm not sure how long I can keep this level of time commitment up - I expect that after a year or so it will start to wear mighty thin! For relaxation, a friend gave me some tips that have been useful, and I try to get out and walk a bit more than I used to, and to see friends and/or cultural events, but I must say that most evenings I'd sooner crash than go out.

I've got to do something more active to manage the stress, but I still haven't figured out what is right for me. Exercise, yes, almost certainly, but under what circumstances still remains to be seen. I also realized that I have to engage in some sewing projects that are not within the purview of the company, as I find sewing to be particularly relaxing - it's one of the reasons I got into it in the first place!

The moment of commitment

One of the most intense sensations when designing and sewing, I find in my own practice, is the moment when I must commit to cutting the fabric following the finalization of the pattern. When you are working from a pattern someone else has prepared, you also get this in a milder form - have you selected the right size and traced out all the lines correctly? But when you've worked for days coming up with a pattern that you think serves and must commit to turning the pattern into a garment, this moment is particularly intense. It is true that you can make a muslin shell rather than use the good fabric, but even for that, you are committing to several hours work that may be less than adequate if you need to rethink the design at that point. As long as you are working on paper, you are not "committed" to the design, but after switching to laying out, cutting and sewing, mistakes become more serious and what you do has direct consequences.

It is both a terrifying and an exhilerating experience, even for the most modest garment. I'm sure if you did this professionally, you would learn to manage this moment more routinely, but I'm not sure even then that the intensity of the moment of commitment will every quite disappear!

The Mathematics of Sewing!

I have been thinking about the mathematics of sewing for some time. It seems to me that one could develop a really interesting little memoir on the subject. Here's a mini table of contents for such a text :

1. Introduction
   
2. Metric spaces - from 1D to 2D
   
3. Metric spaces - from 2D to 3D
   
4. Fabric, manifolds and topology
   
5. Tilings and prints
   
6. Draping, gravity and constrained dynamic systems
   
7. Conclusion
   

I'm sure I haven't exhausted the possible topics, either. Here's a few notes about each of these topics.

Metric spaces - from 1D to 2D : The practice of drafting a sloper or block (or pattern) is one familiar to engineers and users of Computer-Aided Design (CAD) software - it consists of using interconnected lines of pre-determined length to lay out a set of two-dimensional shapes. In addition, the process of weaving threads to form two-dimensional sheets is another example of extruding one dimensional objects (threads under simplification) to form two dimension objects (sheets). The process of manipulating patterns (or fabric, for that matter) by cutting and then reattaching cut pieces at different locations exploits particular sets of the metric properties of 2D spaces. The relationship between the metric and its properties on the one hand, and the manipulation of sewing patterns on the other, could be rendered explicit.

Metric spaces - from 2D to 3D : The process of stitching fabric together in complex ways to form 3D objects constitutes a second class of transformations that could be explored.

Fabric, manifolds and topology : During the process of taking pieces of fabric that have been cut and sewing them to form 3D objects, topological properties of the sheets are also exploited. Indeed, whether sheets, tubes (thread) or 3D objects (garments), we are dealing with entities that are mathematically described as 'manifolds'. The topology of the objects concerned affects the fabrication process - for example, turning a jacket inside out is a manifestation of certain topoological properties of the garment.

Tilings and Prints : The procedure by which one generates a print pattern through repetitions of a motif is a form of tiling, for which there is a very interesting mathematics derived of both very old and very new ideas. Hence exploring tilings presents an interesting area of study, inlcuding repetitive tilings but also non repetitive tilings such as Penrose tilings.

Draping, gravity and constrained dynamic systems : Once garments are design, printed and constructed, they are worn. How they are worn depends upon the behavior of dynamic systems under gravity, especially in the presence of particular classes of constraints (e.g. adjacency or connectivity constraints).

A full exposition of these different aspects would make fascinating reading!

Twitter World

I've just ventured into the world of Twitter, finally, after having heard about it for many months (my handle is "gedwoods" if you're interested). Any new environment always takes time and energy to learn, and Twitter is no exception. However, having been through several such learning cycles on Web2.0 (or is it 3.0 now?) - mySpace, Facebook, Second Life, flickr, BurdaStyle, etc., this one was not as difficult as I expected. I do find both a charm to Twitter, and a certain level of utility. Following some individuals as they recount their experiences over a day has a certain level of fascination, as does sharing some of my own. In addition, I can keep better track of fashion trends, technology trends, and certain socio-economic trends that interest me than I can via other means - who has time to read through more than a few blogs at any one time? Somehow, Twitter seems to offer a way of accessing and filtering the blogosphere... in a contextually interesting way.

I'm now thinking through next steps for my sewing projects. I have to organize a photo shoot for my tango clothes. I've some projects to finish, but also several new ones I'd like to start (sigh). I need to balance old and new, otherwise I get stuck and lose interest. Finding the right balance is not particularly easy!

Christmas come and gone...

Well, Christmas has come and gone. It was an eventful time this year. I ended up in Vancouver and Victoria with my brothers and their families. Although I took no sewing supplies with me, I hadn't quite finished the black shirt for my youngest brother. I ended up not doing an e-shirt for him - I wasn't happy enough with the results of the e-vest effort to feel comfortable giving one away, and already, making a custom fit shirt was a great present. However, in order to finish the shirt, I needed a sewing machine and my sister-in-law had an old one in the bottom of her closet, so we turfed it out and I got it working. It needed a new set of needles, but worked pretty well as is.

Anyway, once I had a working machine and had finished the shirt, I ended up going to the local fabric store, buying some remnant silk, and made a woman's slip - my first venture into lingerie and underwear. The result was superb and SO satisfying to make! I am hooked on making lingerie now. I'm investigating the possibility of making more, with a focus on bra-and-pantie combos to begin with.

However, following the Christmas break, I realized I have a number of projects on the go I need to finish up before opening up too many new ones - two shirts for myself to finish, the e-vest to finalize, a pair of pants for myself, and a dress for a young friend.

On the e-vest, I just need to integrate an on-off switch - I had to order more of these from Aniomagic before I could finish it up. I'll publish images of the results as soon as I get it finalized. What I find irritating about the final product is that, although it looks fabulous, there is a fair amount of bulk on the back panel that I'd like to reduce. Also, the fibre optic tubes need to be sealed away beneath something - they are a bit fragile just laying on the surface of the vest panel. I'm not sure what the answer to this is yet. So I need to construct a version two before I can be happy with the result.

Still, I'm feeling so much more confident with my sewing, now, and designing is also going strong. I've learned to use Photoshop to help with the designs, but until there is a fabric, the design cannot be completed. I'm still looking for good ways of visualizing the results, as my sketching ability is not very good.

Design Notes : Using Smart Textiles

I have been looking into the current situation for smart textiles, in relation to some upcoming projects with regard to my work as a research scientist and artist. There is an absolutely fascinating blog site I've added to my list on this blog, called talk2myshirt.com - as of today, I count 56 pages of information about different initiatives in smart textiles!

I used this blog to identify several companies that provide an entry point into smart textiles at modest prices. Hence, for example, Aniomagic provides kits such as the one shown at right that include textile switches, batteries, small LED lights and conductive thread that can be sewn into garments and used to control either lights or other devices. I ordered some of their products to try them out, and will report back on these efforts somewhat later on. I also looked up fiber optics companies with sideglow cables and ordered some of this to experiment with their inclusion into garments.

There are roughly four categories of smart textiles under development today :

1) Controllers for accessory devices and fashion elements : There are lots of actual products (i.e. garments) now available on the market that control devices such as iPods, and some garments with lighting patterns built into them. There are also a few kits for developing one's own garments, such as the Aniomagic one shown above, but these are not very robust yet, they are really meant for home projects rather than professional use;



Numetrex Garments

2) Sensors for body states : A growing number of companies are marketing garments with these capabilities. One of the most impressive I have seen are the Numetrex heartrate sensing shirts (sports bra for women, cardio shirt for men, child's shirt soon to be marketed). These are elegant sportswear garments that also monitor pulse (they are compatible with the Polar watch devices), but they are also inexpensive - the sports bra sells for about 50$ ;

3) Shape changing textiles (also called artificial muscles) : For the most part, these textiles are still in development and not available commercially, although this will likely change over the next couple of years. Like conducting thread and textile switches, however, sample kits are available for modest costs, albeit somewhat more expensive than the former and requiring a bit more expertise. The most widely available commercial product, shown in the figure to the left, is Nitinol, available in cylindrical wire, tubes, ribbons or as sheets. These are Nickel-Titanium wires and sheets that may stretch up to twenty times their length in their "superelastic" state, but also may change shape when heated or an electrical current is applied in their "shape memory state". Nitinol is used widely in medical applications (for example, for lining blood vessels), because the alloy is also anti-corrosive and does not interact with blood. Nitinol is named after the American Naval laboratory that originally developed and tested these allows.

4) Power generating textiles : Specially designing textiles are being created that convert human movement into electrical power. Eventually, these smart textiles will generate the power necessary to operate the other smart textiles, that today require separate battery packs.

Using smart textiles

As indicated earlier, there are a variety of kits available for some of these products that can be used to experiment with the incorporation of these technologies into clothes, and a growing number of companies and designers that are including their use within commercially available products. As part of my ongoing interest in clothes for people with disability, I will be working with rehabilitation engineers to develop "smart clothes" for different challenges in relation to disability. But there are also significant opportunities to develop interesting, useful and fashionable clothes for everyday use by all. I shall report back on my own efforts in this regard.

Learning Strategy

I approach the problem of learning to design fashions and make clothes the way I usually tackle new areas.

First of all, even though I'm a teacher at least some of the time, I don't particularly care for courses. I prefer to learn on my own, doing my own research and learning from my own mistakes.

Secondly, I follow a learning strategy that I have learned over the years is unusual. Most advice on learning will tell you to learn "in small chunks", to "reinforce what you learn" by repeating steps, and to tackle problems that are not too challenging so you don't get disheartened when you make slow progress". I have always been interested in "learning to my maximum potential", however, and I realized as a young man that the best way to maximize my learning potential was to aim well beyond what I think are my limits. If I aim for 400% of my perception of my limits, and only achieve 30% of what I've aimed, I will still be learning at a rate 30% above what I thought was my maximum reach. Years ago, I made the mistake of assuming that other people like to learn this way and taught using this model. I quickly discovered that most people find this strategy to be too stressful - they want a steady stream of reassurance that they are doing "OK". That's what the grading system is all about, in fact. You have to be highly motivated and self-disciplined to follow this other route.



Third, I learn in "grasshopper" fashion. I jump from one topic to another, from one orbit to another, rarely following a set or ordered system. I am a chaotic learner, and I've learned to trust my intuitions about what I need to learn next.

My understanding of the "learning landscape" regarding fashion design and fabrication is that one is presented with a suite of possible paths to follow :


The main route followed is to go to fashion design school. I notice that lots of people interested in fashion do this, but then drift into other activities after finishing. So design school is not only for those who choose this as a career, but also for "interested others", although it represents a significant investment of time, money and energy. The other main route followed by many people is to learn to sew and make clothes from patterns (the yellow road in my diagram). Learning to sew may be achieved by following classes or by independent study and practice.

Another possible learning path is to study how to drape and make clothes from draping. This is covered within fashion design schools. I have not found many sources of information about this approach outside of the formal context of such schools.

Finally, the green road in the diagram is the one I have chosen to follow - learn to manipulate basic pattern slopers, and to develop garments from these. It is an intermediate path between the "sewing from patterns" route and the "design school" route.

My basic idea is to use pattern manipulation (and possible draping, if I ever master it) to develop a technical understanding of clothing fabrication, and to then combine this technical understanding with a design-oriented approach to develop garments that interest me.

I decided to begin this as a summer 2008 project, hence starting in June 2008. Over the course of the summer, I set out to design and make one garment of each basic type (blouse, skirt, dress, men's shirt, pants). Since I knew nothing about garments and clothes, I entered into an intensive learning period. I bought and studied fashion magazines, surfed the web for blog sites and "how to's" on sewing and design, investigated software for design and pattern construction, bought books, bought a sewing machine (and later a serger), taught myself to sew, bought fabric, made a dress form and then bought a commercial one, and became active within the internet sewing community. It is now late summer, and I am moving into the next phase of my learning - a kind of "knowledge consolidation" period and some risk-taking into new, more ambitious projects. More later.

Chameleon Gods - beginnings

Strange name for a blog about fashion and clothes design? Chameleon for changeable, transformation, adaptability, color, innovation, uniqueness. Gods because I am interested in foundations and fundamentals, sources, roots and inspiration.

The Chameleon Gods blog is about my journey, in learning, creativity and movement, in the world of clothes and fashion. I will try to spell out the roots of my own inspiration, and share the challenges faced so that others may benefit from my efforts.

My journey is an ambitious, perhaps over-ambitious, effort to develop fashion designs for particular areas of interest. These areas include dancing, disability, sculpture, ecologies, and identity exploration, at the moment, but the categories will shift and change over time. My journey begins with an extensive background in design from both a scientific and an artistic perspective, but no experience in clothes, fashion, sewing, etc. So everything is to be learned. I started my project three months ago, so I will be spending a certain amount of time "catching up" with where I am, and then, later, reporting on progress, as well as on odds and ends that relate to fashion, identity, sewing, ... and life :)