About
Fashion is more than the latest trend or hottest craze. Since 1968, Cañada College’s Fashion Design and Merchandising Program has been a leader in Bay Area Fashion education. The Fashion Department works to create confident and skilled graduates. Our alumnus leave ready to excel in a variety of fashion industry jobs.
At a Glance Meet the Faculty Our Location Contact Us
Our Program at a Glance
- 4 Certificates and Degrees
- Completion in two years
- Day, evening, and weekend classes
- $46.00 per unit for California Community Colleges
- Scholarship and financial aid opportunities
- Recommended Sequence of Classes
Lab Hours Calendar
Please check this calendar for the most up to date opening times and hours.
If the lab is unexpectedly closed the calendar will reflect this. Please check before you come in.
Meet the Faculty
In addition to teaching, many of our instructors are in the industry working as milliners, store owners, published authors, theater costumers, professional illustrators, and more. This enables our faculty to incorporate real-world issues into the curriculum.
Ronda Chaney
Coordinator of the Fashion Department
Instructor
MS, San Francisco State University
BS, University of Missouri
Ronda has been a professor of Fashion at Cañada College for many years and has been the coordinator of the program since 1991. Her enthusiasm for fashion has inspired many students to uniquely express their own creativity. She is co-author of the book, Make It Your Own and has written for various other publications, including Sewing Update, Serger Update, Sew News, F.I.T. Review, and Singer Sewing Books. She has appeared on the nationally syndicated television program, America Sews. Ronda is known throughout the United States as an inspiring lecturer and has presented at many national conferences for professional organizations.
Courses Taught: Clothing Construction, Flat Pattern, Advanced Flat Pattern, Tailoring, Advanced Tailoring, Designer Techniques
Judith Jackson
Judith began teaching at Cañada College in 1997, with more than 20 years of teaching experience. Her graduate research in Clothing and Textiles at San Francisco State was on the development of nineteenth-century women’s dress. When not teaching, Judith has worked professionally as a freelance theatre costumer and designer. She has worked with bay area companies such as the San Francisco Ballet, Oakland Ballet, Beach Blanket Babylon, and Lamplighter’s Music Theatre.
Courses Taught: Pattern Design for Historic Costume, Introduction to Theater Costuming, , Draping, Pattern Grading, Computerized Pattern Design, History of Fashion, Apparel Analysis, Custom Dress Form, Costuming for Theatrical Production
Kathleen McCarney
Kathleen has been teaching at Cañada since 1997. She comes to the Fashion Department after teaching 15 years in California’s community college system and 12 years in the state college system. Kathleen also works as a freelance fashion illustrator, creating cover designs for independently produced commercial sewing patterns. She has created work for Clothing Designs by La Fred, SF Designs, Sew-Pro Workshop, and Patterns for Every Body. Her work also appears in the Davis Publication text, Careers in Art.
Courses Taught: Fashion Illustration, Advanced Fashion Illustration, Textiles, Principles of Design, and Portfolio Development
Holly Matsuo
Instructor
MA, West Virginia University
BA, UCLA
Holly Matsuo has worked as an Assistant in the Fashion Department at Canada College since 2016. After six years of assisting in Beginning Clothing Construction, she will now become the instructor for this course. Holly’s career started in elementary education where she taught second grade, third grade, and reading in the Palo Alto Unified School District. She has taken many of the construction classes in the department and loves to teach others to sew. She makes nearly all her own clothes.
Courses Taught: Beginning Clothing Construction
Lynda Maynard
Instructor
BS, San Jose State University
Lynda has enjoyed a 35 year career that highlights a wide array of experiences in textiles and clothing. During the past 12 years she has taught in several community colleges and bay area fabric stores. She has owned Lynda Maynard Designs for more than 20 years and works with private clients to develop custom couture garments and home furnishings. Her past experience includes producing and hosting a local cable television program, Passion for Fashion. She has authored two books: Demistifying Fitand The Dressmaker’s Handbook of Couture Sewing Techniques.
Courses Taught: French Pattern Drafting, Pants Drafting, Trouser Construction, Copying Ready To Wear, Lingerie, Bustier
Edith Schneider
Instructor
Edith Schneider began teaching at Cañada in 2010. She has run her own business “blue lemon :: art to wear” since 2001. She designs, fabricates and sells fashions and jewelry through wholesale and retail. Her experience gives her great insight that she enjoys sharing with her classes. Edith wants to open her students’ eyes to see those connections, to learn from them and make smart decisions at work, no matter if they are employed at a major apparel company or run their own small business.
Classes Taught: Fashion Merchandising, Visual Merchandising and Display
Kathleen Lorist
Instructor
BA, California State University; Chico, CA
Kathleen began teaching Beginning Clothing Construction at Cañada in 2017. She started as an Assistant in the Cañada College Fashion Department in 2008. Prior to working at Cañada, she was the Owner and President of Menlo Park Hardware for 25 years. Kathleen has extensive education in fit and construction, including being a Palmer/Pletsch Certified Sewing Instructor. She has over 40 years of experience in sewing and garment construction.
Classes Taught: Beginning Clothing Construction, Serging
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