• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • SHOP
    • Upcoming Release Gallery Photos
    • Free Classes/Workshops on Teachable
    • Special Offers on New Releases!
    • Why Jill Wolcott Knits Patterns are Expensive
  • BLOG
  • LEARNING
    • Free Classes/Workshops on Teachable
    • What Is An Action Chart?
    • Menu of Techniques
    • Techniques Library : What’s In There?
    • Abbreviations
    • Sizing Tables / Charts / Guidelines & Croquis
    • Pattern Difficulty Levels / Type of Knitting
    • Why Jill Wolcott Knits Patterns are Expensive
    • Inside a Jill Wolcott Knits Pattern
    • How-To Videos: Learn from Jill
      • Why I Love . . . Techniques
    • Jill Wolcott Knits: A Fit Background
    • 2021-2022 Workshops With Jill Wolcott Knits
    • Overview of ASOG – A System of Grading
  • ABOUT
    • Designer’s Story
    • Calendar Events Schedule
    • Inside Scoop Subscribe & Newsletter Archives
    • Fundraising Projects
    • Jill Wolcott Knits
      • Jill Wolcott curriculum vitae
    • Techniques Library : What’s In There?
    • Abbreviations
    • Errata
    • Privacy Notice for Jill Wolcott Knits
  • CONTACT
  • My Account
  • Press

Jill Wolcott Knits logo

June 19, 2015 Leave a Comment

Another Project Completed

Project Completed: Graduation 2015

June 18 Graduation marked another project completed in the ongoing project that is my teaching at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM). We work on the quarter system, so I have the equivalent of four incremental projects, which are broken into (usually) 10 weekly projects, which are my classes. So this marked the end of an academic year. Officially, I think it is 14.5 years of doing this–14 academic years, and part of one. [Getting through projects so relates to my other job–being a knitwear designer!]

Ongoing Project

The quarter system means everything goes by fairly quickly. That is both the good and the bad. The pace models nicely for the work ahead of students in the fashion industry, or wherever they end up, but it is pretty grueling for them as they are going through it. There is a lot of learning and teaching that has to go into those 10 week quarters. One of the classes I teach didn’t even exist until 2009. The other class was a two quarter class, which in 2000 was mostly a research paper. FIDM and the fashion industry have fully adopted technology since my first quarters, and the two classes I currently teach are as much visual presentation as they are research. Students create projects and portfolios using Photoshop & Illustrator. While at FIDM they learn how to research, but also how to draw technical flats, create layouts and visually communicative pages, all supported by technical design (another class). I teach them many things, but I think one of the most important is just how to get a project completed!

Project Completed: Best Cap Decoration Ever!Everyone works differently, but the end goal is the same: get those projects completed on time. I teach my classes in their last quarters (optimally the last two, but sometimes it takes longer). Students may be in their first years of college after high school, or may be returning as professional designation students if they have a degree from elsewhere. Regardless, anyone can tell you this is all hard work, requiring long hours and a quick and steep learning curve. Everyone who makes it through deserves kudos. As in real life, we don’t always soar as high as we want, but soar we do. This photo perfectly reflects the awesome imagination of this student.

Project Completed 2014/2015

An interesting thing has happened over the 14.5 years I’ve been doing this: I keep getting older, but students are relatively the same age. This means the gap between us in years has become more significant and as I thought about this I wondered if I might seem like kind of a “crazy older aunt” figure to them. This age gap has meant that I have to really stay on my game to remain relevant to them. I need to be relevant because it is incredibly important that they hear what I have to impart to them. Many of the lessons in my classes involve both course learning and life lessons. I cannot say which are more important. I teach on Wednesdays only, and I can tell you that I am almost never more exhausted than I am after a day of teaching!Project Completed. New Shoes and Another Apple

Every year I engage with students who enrich me and I love the time I spend with them. Everyone: I am proud of the work you did. Keep growing. Thanks for voting me Outstanding Faculty, and I’ll see you online. I, like most women, love shoes. Knowing I have to sit onstage, above or at eye level to graduates, I always try to wear excellent shoes (within the narrow confines of what I can wear). Perhaps this is the key to assuring that I continue to win those apples. This was the number 12 apple for me–11 for Product Development, and 1 for Fashion Design. They sit on a windowsill in my studio/office and I’ve very proud of them.

 

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: apple, classes, Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, FIDM, graduate, graduation, learning, lessons, Outstanding Faculty, portfolio, Project completed, projects, quarters, teach, teaching

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Jill’s Story

Teacher, Designer, with expertise to lead you where you want to go as a knitter/designer. Read More…

Blog Archive

Don’t Miss these Techniques!

drawing of how a button link is put together. design, writing, technique

Button Links

most of the shelves on the yarn wall

Color Play in Yarn

Photo of Jill's Rowena Iron and her Reliable Steamer Iron

Steam Block

lovely hand-wound center pull ball in Fingering 101, yarn, yarn ball, center-pull, technique

Hand Wound Center-Pull Ball

Popular in the Shop

  • Smallest Number of Stitches to Cast On A Moebius Suggested price: $3.00
  • Tulle Collar on dress form with taupe side out, a view of tope and bottom Latvian braid, and 3 vintage button links. Tulle Collar $12.00
  • Half-size dress form wearing dk version in pink and purple from Oink Pigments Clapham Trio: Junction, Road, & Common $20.00
  • ASOG 2023 Deposit-in-Full: Gou Pei Dress ASOG 2023 Registration Deposit-in-Full $100.00
  • ASOG 2023 Deposit-in-Payment: Gou Pei Dress with wings ASOG 2023 Registration Deposit-in-Payments $100.00 / 7 days

Stay Updated

Footer

About Jill

Teacher, Designer, with expertise to lead you where you want to go as a knitter/designer.

Pattern Availability

If you live outside of the US and Canada you can now purchase Jill Wolcott Knits PDF patterns directly through Payhip.

Stay Connected

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Ravelry

© 2023 Jill Wolcott Knits