"Caring is sharing" – my online workbook, by Konstanze Lehmann
Those three books were a treasure drove of inspiration for digital fabrication techniques. The following are examples from those books, that stood out to me for ways of creating new shapes, design lines, textures etc. The main fabrication technique used is laser cutting, which is the machine I’d be learning and using in week 2.
Zero waste garments make use of the whole width of the fabric in a required length. One of the oldest ones is the kimono.
In class we used an easy paper fold and cut method to create zero waste tops. Anything that was cut away needed to be added somewhere else. E.G. hole for head can become pockets, other cut aways can become gussets or embellishments.
Above is a plain version of a paper zero waste design t-shirt as per instructions from Sue. Below are my more experimental designs.
On wednesday I went to Recycle Boutique and raided the $4.50 bargain rack. I was looking for a variety of garments and fabrics to explore how they respond to the different digital fabrication methods.
Finds:
linen jacket
neopren top
PU pants
triple layer skirt: lining, skirt layer with ribbons, sheer layer with embroidery, embellishments
acetate tube skirt
polyester pants (zipper at back broken)
I also found a giant sequin on the floor in the pattern making room that was too intriguing to not pick up.
The linen jacket is very beautiful, well cut and finished and has a nice colour. My assumption for why the owner gave it away would be the maintenance issue: as much as linen is light and airy and great for summer, it also creases easily due to the glue found in the natural fibre.
The neoprene top has a weird shape, very wide shoulders and sleeves for being a small size. The dark colours and the material, which doesn’t really breathe makes this a tough garment to wear in summer, when one would actually chose to wear short sleeves.
The PU pants (PU only on the front) were faded and had lost stretch. I assume they have been worn lots. I picked them, because I thought the PU would be great for the laser cutter as it doesn’t fray.
The skirt I picked because it offered a wide variety of materials: lining, sheer fabric, ribbons, embellishments and embroidery. All of these could be used to add interesting features to other existing “boring” clothes. Due to all of these features the skirt may have been hard to look after.
The acetate tube skirt, like the linen, creases easily, but is a lot harder to iron/press. I assume another reason why it ended up at the recycle boutique was the broken elastic in the waistband. Given its straight cut, this skirt offers a good amount of fabric to work with.
The polyester pants looked hardly worn, but the zipper was ripped out of the seam, which I think may be the cause of its abandonment.
Looking at all the observations, a few tendencies become clear:
The relationship to clothes has changed, items that could be fixed are discarded instead, and clothes that require more maintenance than wash and dry are also more likely to be abandoned.
Ink stitch –> embroidery files: make design in Illustrator and save as .svg
small embroidery frame: 130×180 mm
large embroidery frame: 160×260 mm
file –> doc props –> change size
pen tool
fill & stroke
running stitch —— no fill, solid stroke, stroke style 0.01 mm
zig zag /\/\/\/\/\ no fill, solid stroke, stroke style /\/\ width
extensions –> photos –> apply & quit
shapes need to be turned into paths: PATH –> object to path
fill flat colours –> in params a change angle of lines and spacing between rows
text in illustrator save as outline
when finished, no items selected: extensions –> ink/stitch –> english –> embroider
save as DST
One way of altering textiles and garments is through embroidery. This can be done by hand or by machines. Any surface design creates a structural change. We looked at machine embroidery, free hand/motion and digital. Below are examples we were shown, digital embroidery on the left, the backside with tear away backing (middle picture) and a free hand embroidery done on the right side photograph.
We were shown how to use the free hand machine and the digital embroidery machine.
For free motion use satin stitch (or steel stitch), which is a very narrow zig zag. Use the darning foot and turn of the feed dog for free motion to embroidery or appliqué.
There are lots of different types of backings or stabilisers to be used with embroidery to avoid pulling of fabric or embroidery not staying in place. Choice depends on fabric and what the wanted outcome is. There are permanent and non-permanent ones, ones that cannot be ironed etc. The size of the backing needs to be at least the size of the embroidery.
In regards to Fashion/Textiles precedents for Digital Fabrication and Sustainable Practice we looked closer into Kate Goldsworthy and Trash to Cash from the UK. The later is a large group project in which Kate Goldsworthy is involved. Trash to Cash is still not completed, the timeline is set until 2020 to create a closed loop system to recycle materials and through chemical processes turn them into new materials, which is aimed to be endlessly repeated without loss of material quality. This relates to Goldsworthy’s own research and practice of closed loop systems for a zero waste future in Textiles and Fashion. She also collaborated on other projects creating new materials using 100% recycled polyester and laser cutting techniques in conjunction with minimal seam construction, allowing for 100% mono fibre recycling at end of life whilst being interesting and functional.
Illustrator required for Digital Fabrication
Art boards = pages
bleed: extend of picture over edge for printing purposes
colour mode: CMXK
Raster effects = 300 ppi –> some effects use bitmap –> require high resolution
window –> control –> topbar
command + 0 (zero) –> centralise artboard
black arrow (selection tool) – move, rotate, scale
white arrow (direct selection) – double click to change points, or pick more points by group selecting (box around all points)
shape tool – click once to type size
to make triangle use star or polygon shape –> points –> 3
pen tool –> close off shape or ‘esc’ to leave open, click and hold to curve
pen tool + option = > remove handle
window – swatches –> change colour on left in colour fill; in small window drag small fill box onto swatch board panel
library symbol for more colours
eye drop tool for fill colour
hold spacebar to move canvas with mouse
selection tool + option –> click on object to copy
window –> pathfinder
combine shapes –> select two shapes at the time –> pathfinder –> different ways to join two shapes
window –> layers –> arrow – see what’s in front/back, can be dragged
scale tool –> file scale strokes and effects
object –> pattern –> make –> save a copy –> done
use ‘export as’ to change saving format
The first practical exercise was taking apart a garment – I chose a polyester/elasthane dress that I had for 11 years and maybe worn twice. When I bought it I thought it was something different, turns out it was too different for me to actually wear it.
Opening the seams was challenging with the very stretchy and thin material as the seams appeared to be quite tight, so there are a few holes in the edges now. Due to rushing in the dress, there is more fabric undone. Two quite large usable fabric pieces and several smaller ones.
Components: PU under breast piece, PU straps, fabric, fusible, 2 types of elastic, 2 types of labels, yarn
K does Digital Fabrication 