Algorithmic Textiles Design: Sewing Project

In this project, you will algorithmically create and fabricate a flat-sewn design. You may use either our large CNC quilting machine or one of our small embroidery machines.

At your option, you may instead choose to reverse-engineer and interface with a different embroidery or sewing machine (e.g., which you have happened to purchase from criagslist or build from scratch). Make sure to arrange this in advance with the instructor.

The Engineering Part

Write code to create a sewing pattern.

For our large quilting machine, you will need to generate a .pat file; the pat-tools repository can help with that.

For our small embroidery machines, you will need to write a series of needle-down positions in a somewhat quirky integer-position-list format; the singer-quantum-futura-ce-200 repository contains details.

The Artful Part

Consider what concept or idea you wish to convey with your generated sewing pattern or the entire fabrication interaction.

What To Turn In

• Before Class: photograph your sewn artifact; write a paragraph about what you set out to do with the artifact and where you think you succeeded or failed; make a copy of the pattern you ran on the embroidery or quilting machine; and make a copy of the source code for your artifact-generating program. Upload all of these things to a sub-folder named with your andrewid of this google drive folder. NOTE: use your @andrew account to access. NOTE2: make a sub-folder, don't upload a zip file.
• During Class: Bring your artifact. Present and discuss it with your classmates during our critique.