How Fashion

Designers Use Math

by John C. Bertoletti
Math Curriculum Consultant: Rhea A. Stewart, M.A.,
Specialist in Mathematics, Science,
and Technology Education
Math in the Real World: How Fashion Designers Use Math
Copyright 2010 by Infobase Publishing
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Bertoletti, John C.
How fashion designers use math / by John C. Bertoletti; math curriculum consultant,
Rhea A. Stewart.
p. cm. (Math in the real world)
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-60413-606-7 (hard cover)
ISBN 978-1-4381-2954-9 (e-book)
1. Fashion designMathematicsJuvenile literature. 2. MathematicsJuvenile literature. I. Title.
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Table of Contents
They Make It, You Wear It ...................................... 4
Coming Up with Ideas ............................................. 6
Sketching the Ideas ................................................. 8
Symmetry, Congruence, and Beauty ................... 10
Choosing the Fabric .............................................. 12
Making the Prototype ........................................... 14
Measure, Measure, Measure ................................. 16
Making It Perfect with Fractions .......................... 18
The Fashion Show ................................................. 20
Food and Drinks for the Show ............................. 22
Making the Clothes ............................................... 24
The All-Important Tailors ..................................... 26
If You Want to Be a Fashion Designer .................. 28
Answer Key ........................................................... 29
Glossary ................................................................. 30
To Learn More ....................................................... 31
Index ...................................................................... 32
Answers and helpful hints for the You Do the Math
activities are in the Answer Key.
Words that are dened in the Glossary are
in bold type the rst time they appear in the text.
D
o you like colorful shirts? In-
teresting shoes? If so, you can
thank fashion designers. Fashion
designers are the people who design
and create clothes. They decide how
new styles of clothes will
look.
Fashion designers cre-
ate many kinds of clothing.
They design pants, shirts,
and dresses. They design
hats and scarves. They
even design purses. Most of
the clothes they design are
sold in stores.
Sewing and Selling
Fashion designers use a lot
of math. They use addition
and subtraction to nd out
if they will make a prot on
the clothes they make. The
prot on a piece of cloth-
ing is the amount of money
earned from selling it less all the
costs of making it. For example,
lets say a designer makes a dress.
She buys the fabric for $50.00.
They Make
It, You
Wear It
4
A shopper decides if she
likes the look of a dress that
a fashion designer created.
The zipper costs her $5.00. She buys the
thread for $3.00. She pays someone who
works for her $30.00 to sew the dress. The
designer uses addition to nd out how much
it cost her to make the dress:
$50.00 + $5.00 + $3.00 + 30.00 = $88.00
The dress cost the designer $88.00 to
make. Now suppose she sells the dress for
$120.00. She uses subtraction to calculate
her prot. She subtracts her costs from the
amount she received:
$120.00 $88.00 = $32.00
So, the designer made a prot of $32.00
on the dress.
5
Will He Make Money?
A fashion designer makes a mans suit. The table below shows the
costs of the materials the designer used to make the suit. The design-
er also paid someone who works for him $40.00 to sew the suit. The
designer sells the suit for $260.00. Did the designer make a prot by
selling the suit at that price?
You Do the Math
Item Cost
Fabric $128.00
Buttons $16.00
Zipper $6.00
Silk lining $40.00
Thread $8.00
Materials for a Mans Suit
T
o make new clothing, fashion
designers must rst decide how
the clothes will look. Most design-
ers want their designs to look good
to people. That way, people will buy
their clothes.
Some designers use their creativ-
ity to make their clothes look dif-
ferent from other
clothes that are
being sold. For
example, a designer
may create a new
type of jeans. The
jeans are bright yel-
low. They are not
dark blue like many
jeans. Now the de-
signer has created
something different.
Shoppers who are looking for some-
thing different might like the yellow
jeans better than blue ones.
Other designers want to make
their clothing look similar to styles
that are already popular. They think
that is the best way to make sure
people will buy their clothes. They
Coming Up
with Ideas
6
A designer may try to
create new styles that look
very different from other
clothing being sold.
try to gure out what trends are popular
each season.
Patterns Are Popular
A designer sees that womens shirts made
from fabrics with patterns on them are popu-
lar this season. A pattern can be a repeating
set of objects. The designer has looked at
many shirts in magazines and on TV shows.
She has seen patterns on many of them. She
decides to design her new shirts using fabric
with patterns, too.
7
You Do the Math
Complete the Pattern
The designer decides that one of her new shirts will have a pattern on
the front that has rows of stars. She makes a series of ve drawings to
create her pattern. The fth one will have the complete pattern that
will be on the shirt. Look at the rst four drawings shown here. Can
you make the fth drawing to show the nished pattern for the shirt?
Shirt with a Star Pattern
?
M
any times, when a designer gets
an idea for a piece of clothing,
he makes a sketch to show what he
thinks his new creation should look
like. A sketch is a simple drawing.
Often, it is not very detailed. The
sketch shows the basic idea of how
something should look.
A sketch can be drawn by hand.
It can also be made on a computer.
When designers sketch their
clothing ideas, they often use
geometry. They draw basic shapes.
They draw different kinds of
lines. They draw angles.
Clothing and Geometry
Sketches may use circles or tri-
angles. Some may use rectangles.
For example, a designer may
sketch a boys jacket. He may
use two rectangles to stand in for
the sleeves and one for the main
body of the jacket. There may be
a hood shaped like a triangle. The
designer can also use geometry in
the design of the jacket. Maybe it will
have square pockets on the front.
Sketching
the Ideas
8
Many designers use computers
to sketch their ideas for new
clothing styles.
Designers also use an-
gles. Suppose a designer
creates a shirt. The shirt
has a Vshaped collar. The
designer must decide how
large an angle to use for
the collar opening. A small
angle will make the collar opening narrower. A
30-degree (30

) angle, for example, will make

a narrow collar opening. A larger angle will
make the collar opening wider. If the designer
uses a 90

angle, the collar opening will be

three times as wide as with a 30

angle.
Designers use lines when they sketch.
Lets say a designer is sketching a mans suit.
The designer wants stripes on the suit. So
he draws parallel lines. Parallel lines do not
intersect, or cross, each other and are always
the same distance apart. If the designer wants
a checkerboard pattern on the suit, he draws
perpendicular lines. Perpendicular lines
intersect each other to form 90

angles.
A 90

angle is also called a right angle.

9
You Do the Math
Design Your Own!
Design a piece of clothing using basic shapes. First, cut out paper circles,
squares, and other shapes. Then, use the shapes you cut out to make
your clothing design.
Shirt Collar Angles
30
o
90
o
A designer sketch-
ing a shirt must
decide what size
angle to use for the
collar opening.
10
L
ook at the sketch on this page
for a womans shirt. The front
of the shirt has buttons going down
the middle. On the left side of the
buttons, there is a half-circle. You
see the same half-circle on the right
side of the buttons, except that it has
been ipped over. The circle
shape on the shirt has line
symmetry. That means that
one-half of the shape is the
mirror image of the other half.
Fashion designers often
create clothes that have line
symmetry. Thats because
many people think that clothes
with line symmetry look good.
Many designers give dresses line
symmetry. Suppose you drew a line
down the center of a dress with
line symmetry. The left side of the
dress would look like the right side
of the dress ipped over.
Using Congruent Shapes
Designers also use congruent gures
in some of their designs. Congruent
gures have the exact same shape
Symmetry,
Congruence,
and Beauty
Shirt with Line Symmetry
11
and size. A circle and a
square are not congruent.
They do not have the same
shape. A large square and a
small square are not congru-
ent. They do not have the
same size. If two gures are
congruent, when you place
one over the other, the rst one
exactly covers the second.
Congruent gures can make clothing interest-
ing. Look at the skirt shown above. It has small
triangles on it. The designer made sure that
all the triangles have the same size and shape.
That makes the skirt pleasing to the eye.
You Do the Math
Line Symmetry
Look at the two triangles A and B. Which one of them has line symmetry,
and which one does not?
Skirt with Congruent Triangles
A
B
A
fashion designer has her idea
for a design. She has made her
sketch. Now, she must choose her
fabricthe cloth from which the
clothing will be made.
There are different kinds of mate-
rials that can be used to make fabric.
For example, fabric can be made
from cotton, silk, or wool. Fabric
made from each material will have
its own look and feel. The designer
must choose which one to use. The
designer also chooses what color
the fabric will be and whether it will
have a pattern. Many designers use
fabrics that have
a type of pattern
called a tessellation.
Tessellations are
fun to look at. They
make clothes look
interesting.
Tessellations
A tessellation is a
pattern made from
gures that are all
congruent. The
Choosing
the Fabric
12
Slide Tessellation
gures in a tessella-
tion repeat. All of the
gures t together
like a puzzle. There
are no gaps between
the gures. The
gures do not over-
lap. Many mosaics
are examples of
tessellations because they are made up of
tiles that are all the same size and all the
same shape.
There are different ways to make a tessel-
lation. One way is called a slide. Study the
tessellation on page 12. It is made from one
gure that has four sides. Each gure in the
farthest left row has been slid down and to
the right. It is always the same four-sided
gure that repeats. It appears many times,
and there are no gaps between the gures.
Designers also use ips to make tessella-
tions. In these patterns, the gure is ipped
over again and again. The picture above is
an example of a ip tessellation.
13
You Do the Math
Make Your Own Tessellation
Now you try it. Cut out a set of congruent triangles from construction
paper or use triangle blocks to make your own tessellation.
Flip Tessellation
Y
ou know that designers think
of an idea, make a sketch, and
choose their fabric. Next, they make
a prototype.
A prototype is a sample of a de-
sign. It looks like the sketch, but
it is made of fabric. This helps the
designer see what the piece of cloth-
ing might really look like when it is
completed. The designer may use
the prototype to work on his design
some more.
By the Yard
Designers use math to make proto-
types. The rst thing they do is to
determine how
much fabric
theyll need to
buy. Fabric is
often sold by the
yard. This means
that, often, you
must buy a piece
of fabric that is
some whole num-
ber of yards long.
If you buy 1 yard
Making the
Prototype
14
A fashion designer
works on a prototype
of a dress design.
15
You Do the Math
How Much Should She Buy?
A designer is making a prototype of a wedding gown. She estimates
she will need 80 square feet of fabric. Remember that 1 yard of fabric
has 12 square feet. How many yards of fabric should she buy to be sure
she has enough?
of fabric, for example, you are buying a piece
that is 1 yard long. Since there are 3 feet in 1
yard, you can also say that 1 yard of fabric is
3 feet long.
Most pieces of fabric are 4 feet wide. So
a piece of fabric 3 feet (1 yard) long has 12
square feet of fabric in it. You can gure this
out by multiplying the length by the width,
to nd a square measurement, like this:
3 feet x 4 feet = 12 square feet
Suppose a designer is making a prototype
of a coat. He estimates that hell need about
30 square feet of fabric in order to make the
prototype. How many yards of fabric should
he buy?
The designer knows that 1 yard of fabric
has 12 square feet. Two yards will have 24
square feet. That will not be enough. Three
yards will have 36 square feet (12 + 12 + 12 =
36, or 12 x 3 = 36). So the designer buys
3 yards. He will have 6 square feet left over.
A
designer is ready to make her
prototype. So she takes out her
measuring tape. A measuring tape is
used to measure length. It is a type of
ruler. Most rulers are stiff, but a mea-
suring tape is exible. It can be useful
for measuring things that are not at.
Designers measure a lot. They mea-
sure fabric. They
measure people. In
fact, of all the math
skills that designers
use, they probably
use measurement
the most.
How They Measure
Suppose a designer
is making a proto-
type of a skirt.
The skirt will be 33
inches long from
Measure,
Measure,
Measure
16
This woman is using a
measuring tape to measure
the collar on a shirt.
top to bottom. The designer decides she needs
a piece of fabric 36 inches long. This gives her
1 extra inch of fabric to make the hem at the
bottom and 2 extra inches to make the waist-
band. The waistband is a piece of fabric that
goes around the waist.
The designer places the end of her tape
measure at the edge of her fabric. She runs
the tape down the fabric. Then she nds the
number 36 on the tape. She draws a line on the
fabric at 36 inches. This marks where the fab-
ric will be cut.
Designers also measure people. Suppose a
designer is making a long-sleeved shirt for a
man. She needs to know how long the sleeves
should be. So she holds the end of the measur-
ing tape on the top of the mans shoulder. She
runs the tape down his arm. Then she stops at
his wrist. She reads the number on the tape. It
is 22. The mans arm, from shoulder to wrist, is
22 inches long. So the sleeve must be 22 inches
long, too.
17
You Do the Math
Measuring Fabric
A designer is making a prototype of a skirt that will be 42 inches long.
She decides that she needs 3 inches extra for the waistband and 2 inches
extra for the hem. How long should the piece of fabric be that she cuts
for her skirt?
Making It
Perfect with
Fractions
18
W
hen you see a beautiful dress
or a cool shirt, do you think
of fractions? Probably not. But frac-
tions and clothing go hand in hand.
Fashion designers use fractions when
they make clothes.
Designers often have to add or
subtract fractions. Sometimes a proto-
type looks too long after it is made.
So the designer must cut off some
fabric. How much fabric? It depends
on the measurement. Measurements
often include fractions. For example,
a prototype of a skirt may be 31
inches long. The designer decides
it will look better if it is 29 inches
long. To take away the right amount
of fabric, designers must know how
to subtract fractions.
A designer measures
the length of a skirt.
1
3
2
3
That Collar Is Too Wide!
Suppose a fashion designer
makes a prototype of a
shirt. The shirts collar will
have a thin strip of fabric
added around the edge for
decoration. After making the
collar, the designer sees that
the strip looks too wide.
He must cut off some fab-
ric from the strip. But how
much? The designer can
subtract fractions to nd
out. He looks at his sketch
and sees that the strip
should be inches wide.
He measures the strip. It is inches wide.
So the designer must subtract fractions:

=

Now he knows he must cut off inches
of fabric, which is equal to inch.
19
You Do the Math
Fixing the Cuffs
A designer makes a pair of pants. There is a cuff at the bottom of each
pant leg. Each cuff is inches wide. After looking at the prototype, the
designer decides he wants the cuffs to be inches wide. How much
fabric must he remove from the cuffs?
A designer changes
the length of the
sleeves on a coat to
get it just right.
3
8
7
8
7
8
3
8
4
8
4
8
7
8
5
8
1
2
T
he prototypes are completed.
They look terric. Now its time
for the fashion show! Maybe you
have seen parts of a fashion
show on television. At these
shows, models walk down a
runway. A runway is a long,
narrow platform that ex-
tends out into the audience.
The models wear new cloth-
ing designs. The people in
the audience sit in chairs
and watch. They look at the
interesting new clothes.
Fashion designers have
shows to display their new
designs. People who own
clothing stores often go to
the shows. They decide
which of the designs to buy.
They will sell clothing made
according to these designs
in their stores.
Runway Math
Planning fashion shows
requires math skills. Sometimes a
fashion show can be only a certain
The Fashion
Show
20
A model shows a new dress
design as she walks down the
runway.
number of hours or minutes long.
Designers must determine how
many of their designs they can
display at the show in that time.
Sometimes designers know they
want to display a certain number of
designs. How long should the show
be to allow all the designs to be
seen? Designers can use division or
multiplication to gure out things
like these.
Suppose a fashion show will be
30 minutes long. Each model will
walk on the runway for 2 minutes.
She will walk to the front of the runway, stop
so that people can look closely at what she is
wearing, and walk back again. Then, another
model will come out. How many designs can the
designer show in 30 minutes? To nd out, he
divides:
30 minutes
2 minutes per design
He knows he can show 15 designs.
21
You Do the Math
The Show Must Go OnBut For How Long?
A fashion designer is having a show. She will show 18 different designs.
She wants each model to be on the runway for 3 minutes. How long will
the fashion show last?
This model
shows a new
design for a
mans jacket.
= 15 designs
F
ashion designers sometimes pro-
vide refreshments at their fashion
shows. They use their math skills to
make sure that they purchase the
right amounts.
Suppose a designer is having a
show, and 200 people will attend. He
will serve bottled water and apples.
Then he asks himself, How much
should I buy? He can use multiplica-
tion and division to nd out.
Buying the Right Amounts
First, the designer thinks about the
bottled water. He wants to have
enough so that each of his 200 guests
can have 2 bottles:
200 x 2 = 400
Food and
Drinks for
the Show
22
People attending a fashion
show look carefully at the
new designs and often
make notes about which
styles they like best.
So he needs 400 bottles of water. He goes to
the store. He sees that a case of water has 20
bottles. How many cases should he buy? He di-
vides to nd out:
400 20 = 20
He buys 20 cases of water.
The designer wants to have enough apples so
that each guest can have 1 apple. So he needs 200
apples. The store sells bags of apples. There are
10 apples in each bag. He uses division to decide
how many bags to buy:
200 10 = 20
So he buys 20 bags.
Now the designer is ready. Hes sure that his
guests will like the water and apples. And he
hopes that theyll love his designs!
23
You Do the Math
Which Case of Juice Should She Buy?
A designer is having a fashion show. She will serve the guests small
glasses of juice. Each glass will have 4 ounces of juice. She wants to have
a total of 80 glasses. How many ounces of juice does the designer need?
Now, look at the table below. Which case of juice should she buy in order
to have enough?
Type of Juice Bottles in a Case Ounces in a Bottle
Bens Juice 8 32
Tasty Time 6 48
Sweetest 5 64
Amounts of Juice in a Case
A
designer created a jacket. It was
modeled at a fashion show. A
store owner loved the look of the
jacket and ordered 100 jackets for
her store. Now the designer
must get the jackets made.
Her math skills will help her
do this.
First, the designer must
purchase the materials
she needs. She must buy
denim fabric for the
outside of the jacket.
She needs nylon fab-
ric for the jackets
lining. She needs
buttons, and she
needs thread.
Materials and
Multiplication
But how much of
each kind of fabric
should she buy?
How much thread?
How many buttons? The designer
uses multiplication to nd out.
Heres how she does it.
Making the
Clothes
24
Designers use math to know
just how much fabric and
thread to buy to make the
clothing they have designed.
She knows that she needs 4 yards of denim
for each jacket, and she knows that she needs
to make 100 jackets:
4 x 100 = 400
So the designer needs 400 yards of denim.
She needs 3 yard of nylon for the lining of each jacket:
3 x 100 = 300
So the designer needs 300 yards of nylon.
She needs 1 spool of thread to sew each jacket:
1 x 100 = 100
So the designer needs 100 spools of thread.
Each jacket has 9 buttons:
9 x 100 = 900
So the designer needs 900 buttons.
Now the designer can purchase all of the materials.
25
You Do the Math
How Much Do I Buy?
A store owner ordered 500 pairs of jeans. The table below shows how
much of each item the designer must purchase to make 1 pair of jeans.
How much of each item has to be purchased to make 500 pairs?
Item Amount Needed
Fabric 3 yards
Buttons 4
Zipper 1
Thread 2 spools
Materials Needed for 1 Pair of Jeans
R
emember the designer who must
make 100 jackets? Well, her ma-
terials have arrived. Now the jackets
can be sewn. Most designers dont
do this work themselves. They hire
tailors to help them. A tailor is a per-
son who makes or repairs clothing.
How much will it cost
to hire tailors? The
designer uses math to
nd out.
Jackets by the Hour
The store owner
wants all 100 jackets
to be completed in
one week. How many
people must the de-
signer hire to make
them? The designer knows it takes
4 hours to sew one jacket. A regular
workday is 8 hours long. So one per-
son can sew 2 jackets per day. There
are 5 days in the workweek. So she
multiplies the number of days by the
number of jackets a person can make
in one day:
5 x 2 = 10
The All-
Important
Tailors
26
Designers often hire
many people to make
their clothing.
One person can sew 10 jackets per week. But the
designer needs to get 100 jackets made. She divides
the total number of jackets she needs by the number
of jackets each tailor can make. That tells her how
many tailors she will need:
100 10 = 10
She must hire 10 tailors to make the jackets.
The designer will pay each tailor $15.00 per hour.
Each one will work 40 hours. She multiplies the
hourly rate by the number of hours each will work:
$15.00 x 40 = $600.00
So she must pay each person $600.00. There are
10 tailors. Now she can gure the total amount she
will have to pay the 10 tailors:
$600.00 x 10 = $6,000.00
The designer will pay her tailors $6,000.00 to have
all 100 jackets made in one week.
27
You Do the Math
Paying for Sewing
You are a fashion designer. You paid three tailors to sew for you.
The table shows the hourly rate paid to each tailor and the number
of hours each tailor worked. Which tailor did you pay the most?
Tailor Hourly Pay Hours Worked
A $10.00 10
B $15.00 8
C $18.00 6
Hourly Pay and Hours Worked by Tailors
Answer Key:
H
ow do you become a fashion
designer? You need to have
talent. You need an education. You
must have good math skills. And
you have to work hard.
Fashion designers are artistic.
Theyre good at coming up with
ideas. And they have ideas about
what looks good. To be a designer,
youll need to develop these skills.
Study the clothes that people wear.
Learn what colors go well together.
Take art classes. Learn how to sew.
Practice sketching.
Also, learn how to measure
accurately. Know how to add and
subtract fractions and do other
kinds of math. This will help you
buy the right amounts of materials.
It will also help you keep track of
your costs.
Most designers go to college.
Some go to a two-year college, and
others go to a four-year college.
They study fashion design. They
learn how to construct clothing.
They work with fabrics. They study
fashion styles. They learn how to
use math to design clothing.
If You Want
to Be a
Fashion
Designer
28
Answer Key
29
Pages 45: They Make It, You Wear It:
Yes, the designer made a prot if he sold the suit
for $260.00. If you add up all of the costs, the total
cost comes to $238.00 (materials: $128.00 + $16.00
+ $6.00 + $40.00 + $8.00 = $198; sewing: $40.00;
$198.00 + $40.00 = $238.00). If you subtract $238.00
from $260.00, the difference is $22.00. This is the
prot the designer made.
Pages 67: Coming Up with Ideas:
Pages 89: Sketching the Ideas:
Answers will vary. The sketch should include basic
geometric shapes.
Pages 1011: Symmetry, Congruence,
and Beauty:
Triangle B has line symmetry. Triangle A does not.
Pages 1213: Choosing the Fabric:
Answers will vary. One example is:
Pages 1415: Making the Prototype:
She should buy 7 yards. She needs 80 square feet
of fabric. If she bought 6 yards, she would not have
enough, since 12 x 6 = 72 square feet. But 12 x 7 =
84 square feet, which will give her enough, with 4
square feet left over.
Pages 1617: Measure, Measure, Measure:
47 inches long (42 + 3 + 2 = 47).
Pages 1819: Making It Perfect with Fractions:
The designer must remove inches, which
is equivalent to inch, from the cuffs
( = = ).
Pages 2021: The Fashion Show:
The show will be 54 minutes long (18 x 3 = 54).
Pages 2223: Food and Drinks for the Show:
The designer needs a total of 320 ounces of juice
(80 glasses x 4 ounces per glass = 320 ounces).
So she should buy Sweetest juice, since a case has
320 ounces (5 bottles x 64 ounces per bottle = 320
ounces). The other cases will not provide enough
(Bens Juice: 8 bottles x 32 ounces per bottle =
256 ounces, which is less than 320; Tasty Time: 6
bottles x 48 ounces per bottle = 288 ounces, which
is also less than 320).
Pages 2425: Making the Clothes:
The designer must buy 1,500 yards of fabric (3 x
500 = 1,500), 2,000 buttons (4 x 500 = 2,000), 500
zippers (1 x 500 = 500), and 1,000 spools of thread
(2 x 500 = 1,000).
Pages 2627: The All-Important Tailors:
You paid Tailor B the most. Tailor B was paid
$15.00 x 8 = $120.00. Tailor A was paid $10.00 x 10
= $100.00. Tailor C was paid $18.00 x 6 = $108.00.
7
8
5
8
2
8
Shirt with a Star Pattern
?
1
4
1
4
2
8
30
congruent guresFigures that
have the exact same shape and size.
fabricThe cloth from which
clothes are made.
fashion designersPeople who
design and create clothing.
fashion showA show where new
clothing designs are displayed.
hemThe bottom of a skirt, dress,
pair of pants, or other clothing item.
The hem is usually given a smooth
nish by folding under the edge of
the fabric and sewing it down.
line symmetryWhat a gure has
if its two halves are mirror images of
each other, so that when it is folded
in half, the two sides match exactly.
measuring tapeA exible ruler
that allows people to measure things
that are not at.
modelsThe men and women who
walk down a runway wearing new
fashion designs to show them to
customers.
parallel linesLines that never
cross. They are always the same dis-
tance apart.
patternA repeating set of objects
or numbers.
perpendicular linesLines that
cross each other to form 90 angles.
protThe amount of money a
business has left over after it pays all
of its expenses.
prototypeA sample or a model of
something, such as a clothing design
that is made of fabric.
right angleAn angle equal to 90.
sketchA simple drawing.
tailorA person who makes or
repairs clothing.
tessellationA repeating pattern
made from congruent gures.
There are no gaps between the
gures, and the gures do not
overlap one another.
waistbandA piece of fabric on an
article of clothing that goes around
the waist.
Glossary
Read these books:
Hantman, Clea. I Wanna Make My Own Clothes. New York: Aladdin, 2006.
Kelley, K. C. A Day with a Fashion Designer. Mankato, Minn.: Childs World,
2008.
Maze, Stephanie. I Want to Be a Fashion Designer. New York: Harcourt
Paperbacks, 2000.
Muehlenhardt, Amy Bailey. Drawing and Learning about Fashion. Mankato,
Minn.: Picture Window Books, 2005.
Stalder, Erika, and Ariel Kreitzman. Fashion 101: A Crash Course in Clothing.
San Francisco: Orange Avenue Publishing, 2008.
Look up these Web sites:
Fashion Era.com (download fashion sketching tools)
http://www.fashion-era.com/fashion_tutorials.htm
Fashion Game.com (fashion games you can play online)
http://www.fashion-game.com
U.S. Department of Labor (information on fashion design careers)
http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos291.htm
Key Internet search terms:
fashion, fashion design, sewing
To Learn More
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32
Index
About the Author
John C. Bertoletti is a writer and educator. Though he has a
solid understanding of how fashion designers use math, he
has no fashion sense himself. In fact, when he goes out, his
fashionable wife, Maria, has to assist him in picking his clothes.
Buttons 24, 25
Buying of fabric 1415, 24, 25
Coats 15, 19
Collars 9, 16, 19
Colors 4, 6, 12, 28
Computers 8
Congruent gures 1011, 1213
Cost of clothing 4, 5, 27
Creativity 6, 28
Cuffs 19
Displaying designs 21
Drawings 7, 89
Dresses 4, 5, 10, 20
Education of designers 28
Fabric 4, 1213, 14
Fashion shows 2023
Flip (pattern) 13
Food and drinks 2223
Fractions 1819, 28
Hem 17
Jackets 24
Jeans 6, 25
Length calculations 15, 17, 18
Line symmetry 10, 11
Making clothes 4, 5, 2425, 2627
Measurements 1617, 18
Measuring tape 16, 17
Models 20, 21
Patterns 7, 1213
Popularity of clothes 6, 7
Prot calculation 4, 5
Prototype making 1415, 18, 19
Qualities of designers 6, 28
Role of designers 4
Runway (fashion show) 20, 21
Selling of clothing 45, 20
Sewing of clothing 5, 27
Shapes, use of 89, 10, 11
Shirts 7, 9, 10, 16, 17
Shoppers 4, 6
Sketches and sketching 89, 12
Skills of designers 28
Skirts 11, 16, 18
Slide (pattern) 13
Store owners 24, 26
Tailors 2627
Tessellations 1213
Thread 5, 24, 25
Types of fabric 12, 24, 25
Waistband 17