Textiles Core Competency Self-Assessment

My Artifact:

This is a midi evening dress I made including a zipper and bow.

Explanation:

While creating this project, I used the core competency “critical/reflective thinking.” This is because I had to use problem solving strategies. I knew that the pattern I bought wasn’t going to fit me how I wanted. Because of this, I thought that it would be a good idea to sew in a bow. Wanting it to appear professional, I made sure to sew it into the side seams of the dress. After doing so, the dress fit me perfectly and turned out how I hoped it would. The only thing I would improve on for next time is the bottom hem. I think I could have made it less bulky, which would result in it weighing the dress down less. Otherwise I am extremely happy with the finished product and think it is something I would wear.

Textiles Core Competency Self-Assessment

Thinking: Critical/Reflective Thinking

My Artifact: Three Tiered Cotton Skirt

While completing this project I used the core competency Thinking, specifically critical/reflective thinking. When creating my pattern on my fabric, I realized that I didn’t have enough material to properly follow the YouTube pattern I was using. To fix this, I used problem solving strategies by making the longest tier a few inches shorter. This only affected the amount of ruffle/gathering created. Because I worked on this project independently, the only feedback I received was to use a different thread. My previous thread was over 50 years old, meaning it wasn’t strong enough, would break when you pulled at it, and wasn’t staying threaded in my machine. Instead, I used the school’s thread After finding the YouTube video that I used for this piece, I watched it over a few times and looked at the description to see what supplies would be needed. As I got my materials from the fabric store, I made sure to double check with the workers that I was grabbing the correct fabric. The only aspect I would improve on for next time would be to distribute my gathering more evenly. I think what would help would be to divide the basting stitch into quadrants, so that there isn’t as much fabric to work with.

Art Studio Core Competency Reflection

Creative Thinking Skills

My Artifact: These are the two sgraffito mugs I created in my Ceramics class.

I demonstrated my creative thinking skills by developing ideas. It took me quite a bit of time and planning to come up with the designs I wanted to use. I researched and sought out inspiration for winter-themed mugs by looking around my environment and seeing what felt like Christmas to me. Once I had concise concrete ideas, I then went through the process of illustrating those objectives onto a planning sheet. Eventually I had a solid and flexible plan to then begin to sgraffito it onto the clay.

Core Competency Self-Assessment

Critical and Reflective Thinking

A dichotomous key with the buttons on it.
A dichotomous key with a legend for five buttons.

I can analyze evidence to make judgments.

While participating in this activity, I had to carefully and closely observe each and every button. Once I made a judgment, and came to a conclusion on them, I constructed a scientific tool used to determine organisms; a dichotomous key. I gained quick decision making skills, as well as had to use creativity to come up with differing names, which still described the physical characteristics of the buttons. If I did this activity again, I would make each main section extra clear, and come up with more distinct names.