Eulanda Sanders earns high honors at Thai Peakcock Standard

31 Aug '09

3 min read

Eulanda Sanders, associate professor in the Department of Design and Merchandising in the College of Applied Human Sciences, won second place in the international Peacock Standard Thai Silk Design Competition. The competition was co-sponsored by Thailand's Queen Sirikit Institute of Sericulture and the International Textile and Apparel Association.

The purpose of the competition was to showcase the Thai government's new "Peacock Standard" for Thai silk. The new standard was established by the Queen Sirikit and bears the Royal Peacock logo. The standard is four quality levels of which the highest is labeled as gold.

Sander's entry, a silk suit design, was entitled "Square Root." After sketching sessions and testing the physical characteristics of the fabrics by stitching, cutting and knitting, Sanders created a three piece ensemble inspired by the shape of a square. Her purpose was to create a women's ensemble that is wearable in a business setting, but also expressing the wearer's aesthetics using four complimentary Peacock Standard Thai silk fabrics.

The long vest and stovepipe pants were constructed from two jacquard weave fabrics. The patterns were created through traditional draping techniques and then further manipulated with a computer-aided pattern making software. Interlocking squares create the closure for the front of the vest and is repeated on the back. The square theme was reflected in the square princess seams, neckline and armholes of the vest. The vest was completed with 12 covered buttons and both garments were fully lined.

The sweater was created with the remaining two solid fabrics. A variegated yarn was created by cutting both fabrics into one-half-inch wide bias strips. The strips were sewn together by hand with seed and bugle beads to create 274 yards of yarn. Bell sleeves and a mock turtle neck were hand knitted with size 15 needles then attached to a fitted shell top constructed from the remaining fabric.

The first round of judging was from digital images and a written abstract describing the design process and techniques. During the second round, the top ten designs were judged in Bangkok. Carole Engel-Enright, internship coordinator in the Department of Design and Merchandising and a graduate of Colorado State University with a master's degree in design and merchandising, also submitted a design which was included in the group of top ten finalists.

All ten of the finalists' designs were presented in a runway fashion show during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Collaboration on Sericulture Research and Development Conference on August 4, in which Her Royal Highness, the Princess of Thailand and Dr. Pimpen Vejjajiva, the wife of Thailand's Prime Minister, were in attendance. Sanders was invited to Bangkok to receive a trophy and cash award presented by the Princess after the fashion show.

Sanders received her bachelor's and master's degrees in appareland merchandising from Colorado State University, and her doctorate in textiles, clothing and design from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She has had more than 49 designs accepted and exhibited in juried competitions during her career, and has been recognized with numerous awards.

In November Sanders received the ATEXINC Award for Excellence in Marketable Textile Design category for her entry in the International Textile and Apparel Association 2008 Design Competition. In June, she received third place in the Fashion Show at the Surface Design Association Off the Grid Conference for Metalling with Fibers XXXII: Desert Sunset and Metalling with Fibers XXXIII.

Colorado State University

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