By Kate Hill

Staff Writer

On Nov. 7, members of Cazenovia College’s Fashion Studies Department spent the morning at Burton Street Elementary School in Ms. Ryan’s first grade classroom.

Adjunct Professor Betty Jane (B.J.) Palmer and her flat pattern design class led the first graders in an autumn-themed, decorative craft.

Using a variety of leaf-shaped stamps and bright paint, the students created their own table runners to take home.

“I think it’s great to work with the college and to get the kids involved in some hands-on crafts,” Ryan said. “I appreciate that B.J. reached out to me to work with us.”

During their visit, the college students offered assistance and encouragement to the first graders as they decorated their runners.

“In design, you never really know what people are going to ask of you,” said Allison McGrath, a sophomore in Palmer’s class, “[You could] be making children’s clothing, so it’s good to get to know how to work with kids in order to be able to design for them.”

Palmer’s flat pattern design course is intended to provide students with an understanding of the clothing production process through the study and application of garment design, pattern drafting and basic garment construction.

Throughout the semester, the second year students learn to use flat pattern design to create “old fashioned” paper patterns.

Next year, the students will learn to design their own fabrics, patterns and garments digitally on computers.

As seniors, the fashion students will produce their own original fashion collections for their capstone projects.

Palmer began teaching at the college in 2011 after 36 years of teaching family and consumer science classes at Cazenovia High School.

The adjunct professor contacted Ryan, her grandson’s teacher, in the hope of connecting her students to the Cazenovia community.

“One of the things that the college — especially the fashion department — is trying to do is reach out to the community, to show them what we are doing, and to invite them in,” Palmer said. “ . . . I miss [doing things like this]. When I was at the high school, my child psychology classes would always come over [to Burton Street] and do projects in the different classes, so this just seemed like a fun thing to do.”

According to Palmer, the department also encourages community engagement through its “open studio” sessions, during which the public is invited into the Jephson Campus studios to observe the students at work. The studios are open to visitors on the second and fourth Saturday of the month.

In the past several years, community members have also been invited to model student-designed garments in the department’s April fashion show.

The show represents the culmination of a year of illustrating, draping, patternmaking, garment construction and show planning.

The 47th annual fashion show is scheduled for April 25, 2020 at the Landmark Theatre in Syracuse.

To learn more about Cazenovia College’s fashion department, visit cazenovia.edu/academic-programs/fashion-design.