Students use fabric softener sheets and candy wrappers to create fashionable and wearable clothes in Jane Farrell-Beck’s experimental design and presentation class.

Farrell-Beck said she started teaching the class ten years ago to make students “think beyond the obvious” and to “free them up to do different kinds of things.”

This includes making clothing out of recyclable items such as plastic, paper and cardboard.

The class was developed by Farrell-Beck to show students how they can creatively use their imaginations.

Anne Furnald, a senior in design, is making a skirt and vest out of tissue paper and a world atlas for the class.

“This class has taught me how to stretch my mind and think about different ways of doing things,” Furnald said.

Nikki Smith, a junior in design, said she took the class because she heard good things about it. She decided to make a party dress out of play money.

“It’s not real hard, but you enjoy it, so it’s fun,” Smith said.

The students have less than a month to complete each of the three projects, including making a garment out of plastic and one out of paper. Farrell-Beck said each student is expected to put in a lot of time outside of class.

“I’d say I’ve probably put in 12 to 14 hours already, and that’s probably not all it’s going to take,” Furnald said.

Mary Ellen Froning, a senior in design, said she has put in three or four hours but expects to put in many more.

Froning is making a tissue paper dress for her young daughter and will have her model it on presentation day.

“This class makes me look at paper in a different way,” Froning said.

On presentation day the students must have live models exhibit their creations, proving the outfit is wearable.

Michelle Hall, a senior in design, said the gradings in the class are based on whether or not the design can be made or if it is something that can really be used.

Hall said there is a great need for this type of hands-on class.

“There’s not a lot of actual design classes; there should be a lot more,” Hall said.

Meg Burns, a senior in design, is making a skirt out of playing cards. She said she got the idea from seeing a woman at the Academy Awards on television wear a dress made out of credit cards.

“It could be reversible,” Burns said of her design.

She doesn’t have a top for the outfit yet, but she said she might use her balloon halter top from her plastic project to finish the look.