Nora M. MacDonald

African American Women's Satisfaction with the Design and Marketing of Ready-to-Wear Clothing

The African American market has increased in terms of percentage of the United States population and income, with purchasing power estimated at more than

Teaching Sewing Machine Tension Concepts to Blind and Sighted Students

800 billion. This pilot study assessed older African American womens perception of how well their clothing needs were being met using focus group discussion methodology. The primary objective was to determine African American womens satisfaction with marketing clothing, clothing fit, cultural dress, and accessories. The dress-body clothing purchase decision-making factors model was used as the theoretical framework. Thirty-two African American women from the Charleston, West Virginia, area participated in the study. Results indicated dissatisfaction with the portrayal of African American females in targeted advertisements and the fit of clothing. Suggestions are provided to overcome these reservations.

Apparel Acquisition for Consumers with Disabilities: Purchasing Practices and Barriers to Shopping

An experimental lesson plan on sewing machine tension was developed and administered to groups of blind (N= 12) and sighted (N= 30) students in an attempt to teach this concept more effectively. Tactile/verbal aids were used in the experimental lesson to increase the potential for student comprehension. Student performances on three component tasks were assessed using a five-point difficulty rating scale (0 =“unable to do”, to 5 =“could readily accomplish”) to compare the experimental lesson with a traditional lesson on sewing machine tension. It was hypothesized that for blind and sighted groups of students there would be no significant differences in mean rating scores for identifying bal anced, loose, and tight tension between the groups which received the experi mental tension lesson and the groups which received the traditional tension lesson. Higher mean ratings were achieved for the experimental lesson when compared to the traditional lesson for both blind and sighted groups of students. Mean ratings increased significantly for blind students following experimental instruction when compared to traditional instruction. Sighted students did not perform significantly better when experimental instruction was compared to tra ditional instruction. However, they achieved the highest mean ratings when the complete tactile/verbal lesson was presented. The experimental lesson produced better results for both groups of students even though more time was involved.