Marianne Lee Dickson

For my design, I wanted to create a wearable piece of art. In class, we had learned about hempfabrics, but had not used it for any projects. Therefore, I felt this project was a perfect opportunity to gain a better understanding of hemp. I patterned these pants on my own, using my skill set from school and practical experience. Using junk mail, I taped everything down and started patterning. With the rough idea of a pant pattern, I drew the pants and then created the patches down the leg as a tribute to my love for abstract art. I let my pencil guide me around the paper to create my pattern. Creating a muslin prototype to start off, I learned how hard this patched look was going to be. Sewing some of the tighter curves was a struggle due to the number of times the fabric caught under the needle, and I had to rip it out and redo it. The prototype pants fit, and I was confident that I had the look I desired, so I cut the final fabric. For the final design, I used a 50% hemp, 50% cotton blend fabric. I prewashed the fabric to minimize shrinkage and for better movement when sewing. From there, the process should have beensimple. I’ve made pants in the past, but due to a severe storm, I lost power. To finish the process, I had to hand crank most of the top stitching and waist band. This process taught me that clothing be more than function; it can be a fun way explore creativity.

mülch is redefining outdoor wear that prioritizes sport and competition driven activities.
Reconnecting people with nature through simple, stylish, and function-driven clothing. Nature is a captivating medium for humans due to its necessity for self-sufficiency as well as propensity to inspire confidence and joy. We hope to inspire individuals of all abilities to go out and appreciate nature as everyone should be able to. To recapture the childlike carefreeness and innocence that the outdoors elicits. Through end-use driven design principles our products connect people with nature like no other outdoor brand.

The garden acted as inspiration for our design decisions, from the fiber content to the natural dyes, to the functional details. The look features a crossover top, and skirt made
from hand dyed 55% hemp/45% cotton blend fabric. The top was dyed with marigolds and iron-shifted. The skirt was dyed with a natural logwood dye. The skirt is an adjustable, full-length skirt with a tie/flap closure at the waist and adjustable cinch-ties at the bottom that allow the wearer to customize the coverage of the hemline. We designed the look with the end-use of harvesting in mind. The wide, open sleeves of the top provide sun coverage and allow for airflow. The top features a hidden interior pocket for storage. The skirt’s large panel pockets maximize storage capacity for harvested fruits and vegetables. The adjustable full-length skirt provides protection when farmers are on their knees and can be cinched up for ease of walking.

The nature of the dyes and coloration methods of the garments used invites stains, dirt, and sun-bleaching. Our garments are meant to be imperfect and to us, wear and tear is promoted.

Design of rapid, selective, and sensitive DNA and ribonucleic acid (RNA) biosensors capable of minimizing false positives from nuclease degradation is crucial for translational research and clinical diagnostics. We present proof-of-principle studies of an innovative micro-ribonucleic acid (miRNA) reporter-probe biosensor that displaces a self-complementary reporter, while target miRNA binds to the probe. The freed reporter folds into a hairpin structure to induce a decrease in the fluorescent signal. The self-complementarity of the reporter facilitates the reduction of false positives from nuclease degradation. Nanomolar limits of detection and quantitation were capable with this proof-of-principle design. Detection of miRNA occurs within 10 min and does not require any additional hybridization, labeling, or rinsing steps. The potential for medical applications of the reporter-probe biosensor is demonstrated by selective detection of a cancer regulating microRNA, Lethal-7 (Let-7a). Mechanisms for transporting the biosensor across the cell membrane will be the focus of future work.