Fashion, Textiles & Interiors

This highly informative program presents professionals in various segments of the exciting and fast-paced fashion industry discussing their roles at design, production, wholesale, and retail levels. Viewers see how merchandise is presented to wholesale buyers in New York showrooms and learn how resident buying offices assist store buyers in deciding what merchandise best suits their clientele. Interviews with wholesale and retail professionals in all areas of production and sales reveal the challenges and drawbacks of careers in fashion merchandising. A Cambridge Educational Production.One 45-minute video & student manual.

Demonstrates basic hand stitches, back stitch, basting, chain, blind stitch, etc. and the appropriate use for each. Needle types and thread considerations for different purposes are explained as well as the proper threading of a needle. (15 min.) A Meridian Production.

This video can be used for step-by-step sewing, beginning with a trip to a fabric store where the viewer will learn to select a pattern, appropriate fabric, and notions required to make a basic skirt and blouse. This includes taking one's measurements to determine pattern size, making minor pattern adjustments for fit, and selecting essential sewing equipment. Construction techniques demonstrated for a skirt include darts, tucks, and gathers; side pockets; seams and seam finishes; centered zipper application; waistband and closures; and hemming by hand. Techniques demonstrated for a blouse include darts and tucks; stay-stitching; neck and front facings, interfacing, grading seams, and understitching; seams and seam finishes; set-in sleeves; top stitching; buttonholes and buttons; and hemming. Emphasis is on construction techniques that are basic to sewing a variety of easy-to-make garments. A Cambridge Educational Production. One 60-minute video and manual.

(9 min.) A Meridian Production.

This series covers all the basics of sewing machines, clothing construction, and essential fibers. From start to finish, now you can provide clear instruction for your students to lay out and alter patterns, create clothes, and fit and construct hems, seams, zippers, or pockets to complete any new outfit. The timeless titles of this video series offer a comprehensive reference for any sewing, costuming, or family-oriented classroom. A Meridian Production.

The Andersons purchase a home and feel overwhelmed about decorating the empty house. The previous owner had decorated the home beautifully and had strategically hidden flaws in the walls and floors with their furnishings.


(15 min.) A Meridian Production.

In the fast-paced world of fashion merchandising, every season brings with it a demand for something new and different. In this program, a designer who owns her own boutique, students developing apparel as a class project, and professors from Iowa State University's highly respected fashion department talk about where they get their fashion ideas and describe how clothing makes its way from the drawing board to the marketplace. A Meridian Production. (17 minutes)

How do designers keep dreaming up fashions to catch the consumer's eye? And how do marketers keep finding ways to make these products stand out in the crowded clothing marketplace? Relying on insider input from industry professionals, academics, and students, this illuminating two-part series answers these and other questions. A Meridian Production. 2-part series, 17 minutes each.

Somewhere along the line clothing met fashion, and neither has been the same since. In this program, historian Valerie Steele, of the Fashion Institute of Technology, and other experts interpret the history of humankind-from the ancients to the moderns-through the intriguing context of costume. Topics include the origins of clothing; symbolism associated with clothing, such as gender and status; sexist aspects of fashion, from corsets to miniskirts; the impact of wartime rationing on clothing styles; icons of haute couture, including Coco Chanel; and even body piercing and tattoos as a form of contemporary personal expression. (53 minutes)

The exciting world of fashion merchandising is outlined in this basic video to give young adults considering fashion merchandising as a career a good overview of the field. Basic information about the principles of fashion, the important role the consumer plays, and careers are all covered. Also includes information about how fashion merchandising is changing through catalog sales and electronic retailing. (20 min.) A Meridian Production.

You're moving away from home and into your very own apartment. It needs to reflect you and your taste-so where do you begin? This video covers the basics of furnishing and decorating on a limited budget. Viewers learn about elements and principles of design as well as how personal style and accessories can affect the look. We take you to flea markets, secondhand stores, and thrift shops to find just the right piece of furniture and talk about floor and wall coverings. We also differentiate between essential furnishings and non-essential items. Furnishing a room or an apartment on a budget is certainly possible-especially if you're willing to stretch your imagination! (15 min.) A Meridian Production.

The finishing touch on any home is its interior design. Depending on resources, most homeowners either hire a decorator or make their own personal choices regarding the lighting, carpeting, wall coverings, and window treatments in their house. The first video in this specially-priced series offers detailed tips and suggestions from professional decorators. After the paint has dried and the curtains are hung, the next step is for homeowners to choose furniture based on their preference, lifestyle, cost, utilization of space, and traffic patterns. Consumers might also require the assistance of a professional decorator when choosing household furnishings. The final video overviews how we can care for furniture and fabrics to prolong their life and beauty, including information on special treatments for wood, glass, metals, or plastics. A Meridian Production.

Purchasing bargain furniture now may not be such a bargain in the long run. Knowing what to look for in well-made furniture, regardless of your budget, will help you get the most for your money. Furniture makers and furniture retailers share their expertise. We visit a furniture factory and see all types of furniture-wooden, upholstered, chrome, steel, wicker; compare styles and construction; and figure out what fits our lifestyle choices. (13 min.) A Meridian Production.

This program describes what to look for to discriminate between well-made and poorly made clothing, and is an effective way to encourage wise shopping decisions. Areas covered include seams, finishing, buttons, zippers, hems, and other things that leave tell-tale signs of poor construction and quality. Viewers will be able to avoid problems that come from purchasing inferior clothing. (10 min.) A Meridian Production.

Layout, Cutting, and Marking is a thirteen-minute video which is part of the series, Clothing Construction.This series covers all the basics of sewing machines, clothing construction, and essential fibers. From start to finish, now you can provide clear instruction for your students to lay out and alter patterns, create clothes, and fit and construct hems, seams, zippers, or pockets to complete any new outfit. The timeless titles of this video pak offer a comprehensive reference for any sewing, costuming, or family-oriented classroom. (13 min.) A Meridian Production.