Local medal success in national WorldSkills fashion competition

8 June 2004

A tired but ecstatic Jacqueline Stocks from Port Macquarie returned with a bronze medal and “just the greatest experience I could ever wish for”, after three very exhausting days of competition at the National WorldSkills contest. Jacqueline, one of nearly 47,000 competitors that filled the Brisbane Convention Centre on 28-30 May to compete in 60 different categories, completed her TAFE NSW Certificate III in Fashion Design in 2002 at the Port Macquarie Campus, and qualified for the national competition when she won the regional competition last year.

Now working at Curtain Connections for “the best boss ever”, Jacqueline left on a coach full of other North Coast Institute students and regional WorldSkills winners at 2 am the day before the competition, and went through a gruelling schedule of a welcome mayoral cocktail party and dinner with other North Coast Institute students before “falling into bed….unlike some other competitors.”

She was up at 6 am the next day, ready for breakfast and the day’s briefing before competition started at 8 am.
Day One was the team event in which Jacqueline said “Everyone got together, collaborated on a design for a women’s-wear line, then made the patterns, cut it all out and sewed until 6 o’clock that evening.” According to Jacqueline, one of the most challenging aspects of the competition was learning how to quickly get on with a brand new team and achieving a collective effort.

The second and third days involved an individual test, in which competitors were provided with a finished picture of a garment, and pieces of the garment with key pieces missing. “Like we were given a skirt, with no facing, or a top with no sleeves,” said Jacqueline. They then had to work out the missing pieces, make a pattern, cut the new pieces out and make the whole garment.

For Jacqueline, not only was the competition about honing existing skills and gaining new skills, it was also about the excitement of the event and seeing a great variety of skills on show. “I was able to see people working on cars, building houses, manicuring nails, performing great haircuts…everything!” Jacqueline said.

The countdown has started for the 38th international WorldSkills competition, which will be held in Helsinki, Finland in 2005. Students from the North Coast Institute are regular competitors in the WorldSkills competitions at a regional, national and international level. The Institute offers a range of certificate and diploma courses in the areas of Clothing Production, Costume, Fashion Design and Industry Practices and Textiles Clothing and Footwear.

Jacqueline Stocks in action at the National Worldskills competition Brisbane 2004

Contact:
Neil Brown, Manager Media and Public Relations
North Coast Institute of TAFE NSW
6586 2224 0438 624 804