ABSTRACT

The aim of the study was to evaluate the clothing construction techniques employed by Fashion designers in Umuahia. Two hundred fashion designers were randomly selected from Umuahia south (rural) and Umuahia north (urban) for the study. A validated interview schedule was used iii the data collection, the data collected was tabulated and simple percentages, student's 1-test and grand mean were used in analyzing the data. The results showed that the clothing construction techniques employed by the fashion designers in both the rural and urban areas were hand stitching I sewing, temporary and permanent stitches, machine stitching, free-hand cutting, use of commercial patterns (McCall's, simplicity, vogue) and drafted patterns (modeling method, knock-off design. flat pattern method) and ironing. The results equally showed that there was no significant difference in the clothing construction techniques employed by fashion designers in the rural and urban parts of Umuahia in terms of use of decorative stitches, use of machine stitching, pattern drafting method of disposing fullness and method of zipper attachment in both the urban and rural parts of Umuahia. Also, there is significant difference in the clothing construction techniques employed by fashion designers in terms of use of temporary and permanent stitches, machine seams and commercial patterns in the urban and rural parts of Umuahia As a recommendation, government should set skill acquisition centres through the help of clothing construction experts and organize fashion shows to help fashion designers improve on their skills.