Category: Conceptual

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Final Project Post- Circular Pleating

Circular Pleating, Michael Sachen

  1. Exploration of new form and volume through curved (as opposed to linear) folding in garment construction

 

  1. Upload a video of your project (4 points). The video should include:
    1. The name of your project
    2. A brief description and demonstration of your project

I don’t have a “Dynamic project” PLEASE LET ME KNOW if you need a video, it doesn’t make sense to make one.

Brief Description– Approach volume and form in clothes making by “starting with a circular medium.” This changes most everything in the way we make clothes– how they are sewn, how volume is added and subtracted etc. ALL finishing on these garments was done by hand to minimize bulk and need for facings.

  1. Upload an image of your final poster as a JPG (1 point) 

  1. Describe what your project does and how it works (2 points) (Min. one Paragraph)  My garments are based on subverting the axiom within clothes making that we work in (relatively) rectangular forms. The volume “works” when we fold paper because of the interplay between bending and folding that happens simultaneously. What happens mathematically is ratio of the inter and outer radii decreases and the disk buckles to a stable position as a result. This does not happen with linear folding. An aside, is that all of smocking practices are done in linear grids, I believe this to be the most practical short term application of these principles.  There is extensive academic papers on this topic– I was concerned during final critique that instructors were unsure of viability in heavy weight materials, but there is literature on this that is linked
  2. https://erikdemaine.org/papers/CurvedCrease_Symmetry/

 

  1. Describe your overall feelings on your project. Are you pleased, disappointed, etc.? (2 points)(Min. one Paragraph) I have mixed feelings. For me this project was an experiment in delving further into the relationship between fabric, clothing and the world. Specifically thinking about contradicting what the fabric ‘wants’ to do. So the best part for me, is reinforcing and further understanding the dependance of cut to the fabric that you are working with– after this project, I think more about cutting within the constraints of the cloth and building the pieces of the garment into the fabric etc. I am obviously not happy that I ended up with a ‘skirt with holes in it’, to me there is a lot of hidden beauty, like finishing things completely flat and in circles that took much more time than traditional clothing as it has to be forced together so to say– and I think a lot of other things I learned about clothes making (try sewing a circle with a machine that sews straight lines etc.) But as it is not exactly what I set out to do I am upset, though I think I learned– What is interesting to me… the ideal scientist starts an experiment under the assumption that they are wrong, I used to believe that cutting with consideration to the human body foremost would lead to useful and new design– to me this was an experiment in not considering the fabric first (against the advice of the world’s best clothes makers) and I see that it opens up perhaps a non useful new set of design possibilities.
  1. Describe how well did your project meet your original project description and goals.  (2 points)(Min. one Paragraph) I believe my project well replicated the method I intended but not the result, the skirt pleated 100% as intended but the weight (an untested variable) was too much. That being said, while the intended goal for this class was to create the volume, it opened up new lines of thinking in fabric manipulation.
  1. Describe the largest hurdles you encountered.  How did you overcome these challenges?  (2 points)(Min. one Paragraph) It took a prohibitively long time to test my ideas– I think this is mostly due to the nature of the project. I think that I could have sacrificed quality of crafstmanship for speed, but my fear was to end up with a poorly made project. When the biggest hurdle (i.e. the skirt not taking up volume) was encountered, I started to think about the possibilites of these ideas in other applications such as fabric manipulation.

 

  1. Describe what would you do next if you had more time (2 points) (Min. one Paragraph) I think that it would be possible to create this form in fabric with more thorough materials testing. At the beginning of the semester, I was looking at non-woven silks and other non rectilinear fabrics– But the processing seemed prohibitive within the time scale– i.e. The silk needed was quite expensive and was a new type of material production that I would have to learn in itself. I think to thoroughly realize this project would involve producing the fabric which is a new set of challenges in itself

 

  1. 4 yards Worsted Wool and  3 yards Polyester Crepe
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Flow – Project Post 7

Project title: Flow

Team: Julia Kosier & Yiting Liu

Accomplishments

Julia:

  • Added code to integrate color sensor readings with current code
  • Debugged unstable color sensor code & rewrote sound sensor code for more visible results

Yiting:

  • Printed the 3d printing model
  • Finished sewing the sleeve and its extra part to attach the color sensor on
  • Glued the optic fibers to the skeleton of the wings
  • Worked on the stabilizing structure of the wings
  • Finished designing for the poster

 

images

 

  • material list copy your material list from last week. If you have added any new items, include them and highlight them in red. If you have removed items from last week, include them with an orange background.
Part/Material Price Quantity Link to a purchase location
1 Side Glow Fiber Optic Cable 1.5mm~8mm Optical Fiber For Lighting Decorations

[1.5mm for 15 meters]

 $15.99 w/o tax 1 https://www.ebay.com/itm/Side-Glow-Fiber-Optic-Cable-1-5mm-8mm-Optical-Fiber-For-Lighting-Decorations/253189403496?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=552285229283&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649
2 Color sensor $7.95 1 https://www.adafruit.com/product/1334
3 16 gauge floral wire $11.99 1 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00T831TFA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
4 Fabrics $3.99/yd

Including shipping total is $14.18

 2 yards https://www.fabricwholesaledirect.com/products/sheer-voile-fire-retardant-fabric?gclid=Cj0KCQiAk-7jBRD9ARIsAEy8mh7xxCRl9hFRSNDtoD39ELNlrFHEVmJTnGmABucK8v3UQuPzZhtuZJoaAgeFEALw_wcB&fbclid=IwAR34tdd2dbImfbFrF7y8HEeAAJFUZJpFmekLj1aYBwW7GRi0Cw8Gx2MD5G4
5 Cellophane $15.99 1 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GR4NCC9/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
6 Heat spray $5.77 1 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000PCWRMC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
7 Elastic $.60/foot 10 feet https://www.strapworks.com/Elastic_p/e.htm
8
9

 

  • areas of concern now you have gotten started on your project, write a paragraph to articulate the areas in which you are most concerned about for your project.  Highlight areas where you are looking from help.

Areas of concern:

  • We need better support system for the wings to make it stabilized [Maybe we could also use more elastic strap to stabilize the wings]
  • We also need to start working on the back circuit design right away
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Project Post 6 – FLOW

Project title: Flow

Team: Julia Kosier & Yiting Liu

Accomplishments

Julia:

  • Wrote code to collect sound level from Circuit Playground microphone and map the results to the brightness level of the lights

Yiting:

  • Attached the optic fiber onto the wings
  • Redesigned the 3d printing to make the optic fiber stably attached to the microcontroller

Together

  • Reached a conclusion to attach the sleeve onto the elastic strap
  • Brainstormed the sleeve design and circuit design
  • Constructed the strap

 

images

Attached the optic fiber on the wings

  • material list copy your material list from last week. If you have added any new items, include them and highlight them in red. If you have removed items from last week, include them with an orange background.
Part/Material Price Quantity Link to a purchase location
1 Side Glow Fiber Optic Cable 1.5mm~8mm Optical Fiber For Lighting Decorations

[1.5mm for 15 meters]

 $15.99 w/o tax 1 link
2 Color sensor $7.95 1 link
3 16 gauge floral wire $11.99 1 link
4 Fabrics $3.99/yd

Including shipping total is $14.18

 2 yards link
5 Cellophane $15.99 1 link
6 Heat spray $5.77 1 link
7 Elastic $.60/foot 10 feet link
8

 

  • areas of concern now you have gotten started on your project, write a paragraph to articulate the areas in which you are most concerned about for your project.  Highlight areas where you are looking from help.

Areas of concern:

  • We need sleeve design support to make sure the movement of the right arm won’t affect the circuit attached on the back with the wings.
  • We need to ensure our strap design fully supports the wings
  • We need to also work on the functionality of optic fibers on the wings
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Initial Project Pitch

Jeff Brandt

My design is for a shirt that can change colors due to an electrical stimulus. This will be accomplished by magnetized beads on the shirt that will flip their orientation and thus show only one half of the bead that is colored differently than the other half. This is trying to solve a problem for over-packers on work trips or vacations by allowing the user to pack less clothing but still be able to have a different appearance each day.

I am confident in the materials selection process as well as some very basic programming.

I am less confident in the design aspects such as stitching or weaving together fabrics.

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Project Pitch – Yudong Huang

Synchronization Suit

For the final project, I would like to make a synchronization suit that could assist people with needs of learning poses and moves. In general, it provides wearers with feedback of what part of body to move and where to move. Therefore, it could be helpful especially for performers needing to synchronize their moves.

A good example of how synchronization suit could be useful is learning a dance. As a dancer, I have been leading practices and teaching a dance routine for times, and it really takes me a lot of energy and time. If we could have a wearable tech that provides everyone in a team with feedback of how to move their body in ream time, it could improve whole team’s efficiency and save a lot of time. The idea was first inspired by the yoga learning helper mentioned in class discussion.

Functions

Following are tow main function modes of the suit I could imagine so far.

Real Time Feedback – Each sync suit could be set as a teacher or a learner. When set as learner, it receives signals from a suit set as teacher, and tells the wearer whether his or her moves is synchronized with the teacher. This mode should work when there are more than one suits.

Pre-Record Moves – When working alone, the suit allows the wearer to record a sequence of moves (ex. a dance, a fitness move-pattern) which could be later used to compare with moves of another wearer (either send to another suit or give the suit to another wearer). At the end of comparing, the suit would tell a sync rate to the user as result.

Implementation

Here are some choices I would have to make or difficulties I would face with making the suit.

How to collect data of teacher’s moves? – I think sensors that could collect information of position change would be very helpful in this case. To as clear as much draw the moves of teacher’s whole body, sensors would be placed at each key joint of human body (ex. wrist, elbow, shoulder, chest, crotch, knee).

Feedback should be provided in what ways? – As the wearer could potentially teach / learn numbers of poses and moves, the way of giving feedback should be simple enough and feedback should be easy enough to get no matter in what poses. So far the idea I have come up with is that there would be lighting lines along the side of arms and legs to work as the real time feedback giver. Whether the part of body is in the correct position would be shown in binary colors (ex. green for yes and red for no), and because the lighting lines are along the side of whole body, they already cover the largest space they could cover, which might be easy enough to see.

In what ways to tell wearer the position to move? – This would probably be the hardest part of making the suit. Should the guiding be told visually, or guiding should be transmitted physically through  a light force on body? This is an important choice and should be considered and discussed further.

Other Thoughts

As colors are displayed based on whether moves are synchronized, this might be made use of in performing and creating a different visual experience.

Maybe choreographs or move patterns could be designed and edited in software and imported into the suit in the future.

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Experimental Materials Development

Michael Sachen

(1) Hypar Pleating

What would one need to accomplish this?

I have- Sewing and Pleating experience

We need- Chemistry skills, i.e. how can we isolate the active ingredient in hair perm product or similar chemicals to permanently set pleats?

What if it doesn’t work? Polyester!

(2) Experimental Dyes

(a) Metal Deposition

By making a soluble metal solution, make it possible to embed metal into fabrics… Who knows the uses?

Fabric that rusts?

Metal color dyes?

What I have- Dye knowledge

What I don’t have- Deep knowledge on metals

 

Bacteria Dye

Chromatophores, Carotenoids, and Chlorophyll Variants, and PH variation..

Work has been done in this area, but  aim to create a semi exhausted attempt to catalog the process of Bacteria dye. What variants change the color and properties of the bacterial dye

 

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Initial Project Pitch – Sungjin Park

Sungjin Park

Project Description

  • My initial project idea is to make wearable glove that measures heart rate. My primary goal is to hide wires and sensors underneath the outer thread by making double layers of wools in the back of the glove. For better movement and stable functionality, positioning Arduino would be a key concern for this project. Since this project is meant to be pragmatic, subtle design would be a crucial part when implementing wires and sensors. My target potential wearers are people with high blood pressures and athletes so they can check their heart rate at any time. The most challenging part will be a choice of material. Since my target wearers vary in activities, I have to find proper material that falls between wool and spandex for both daily use and active use purpose.

Confident skill set

  • Programming

Weak skill set

  • Designing, stitching, and manipulating hardware

Function

  • It will transmit wearers’ heart rate to their phone consistently and measure hourly peak and low point recorded just like built-in pedometer in iphone.

Concept art

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Project Pitch – Junda Chen

Musical Jacket

Summary

Musical Jacket that allows musician to freely play and record music is an attractive idea for me. For now I envision a realistic implementation that support the record, play and output of the music by MIDI keyboard-like structure attached on the front of the jacket.

I am open to idea that related to other idea under category “aesthetic, conceptual, data driven/AI, musical”. I think the musical jacket, though not a brand new idea, is quite useful and straight forward to implement (at least as it seems to be right now). I would therefore love to connect to other ideas that could make the jacket more pragmatic and aesthetic.

Slides for introduction

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Project Pitch – Julia Kosier

I would like to create a chameleon-inspired shirt; the wearer will touch objects to change the shirt’s color to that of the object. This would be done utilizing a color sensor and a series of LEDs.

To minimize the look of distinct LEDs and make the color look as smooth as possible, the shirt would have two layers; a base layer, which has the electrical components (sensor, microcontroller, and LEDs), and a top layer made of a light diffusing fabric that would hopefully help to even out the light and make it look more like the shirt is one continuous color.

Rather than attempting to solve a problem, this project is meant to be an interesting aesthetic display. The potential consumer is someone who wants a unique statement piece for their wardrobe.

I’m confident I have the skills for any programming required. I’m less confident about the electronics, the sewing, and, as is probably apparent from my sketches, the design/aesthetics of the garment.

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My idea for a wearable tech project is a mobile game with a wearable component and plushies. The intent of this project is to create a game with wearable tech with dirt-cheap wearable tech components that can be given away practically for free.

The main summary of the game is that users find and collect animals in their game by going to locations with the plushies and scanning their pendants against the plushie’s body to unlock that animal in their game.

This idea can be broken down into 3 components, each of which is considered a milestone:

  1. The Mobile App
    1. The game itself will be free-to-download and will not require any wearable tech (although, most of the fun comes in owning the subsequent wearable tech products). The game features the user having a collection of pets which they send on missions throughout the day. Each mission lasts a few hours, the player receives updates on what their pet is doing (“playing in a puddle, swinging across a rickity bridge, etc.), and once the pet completes their mission they earn some experience points and some small in-game reward (an apple, a trinket, etc.).
  2. The Animal Pendants
    1. Animal Pendants are wearable components of the game. Each pendant holds within it an RFID/NFC tag which contains a unique scannable number associated with its owner. The pendant is used to collect more animals. Because the hardware within the pendant is cheap ($1-2), small (around 1cm), and flexible, pendants can resemble anything ranging from necklaces to earrings to clip-on gadgets. Animal pendants are mainly stylized based on the animal designs and symbols created for the game.
  3. The Animal Plushies
    1. The animal plushies are stuffed animals that resemble animals that can be found in the game. Each of these animals has a RaspberryPI 0 W, an RFID/NFC reader/writer, and a battery within it. When a player scans their pendant against a plushie, they receive that animal in their game and can use that animal for adventuring in the gameplay. Each animal plushie costs around $15 in hardware (excluding cost of fabric/stuffing), and the intent is to market these towards small businesses, museums, libraries and other areas to draw in crowds.

Below are some mockups for the game’s UI and some ideas for the plushie designs. The two plushie ideas that people seemed to really like were a Sheep and an Otter, although close runner-ups were a Corgi and “A Loaf Of Cat”

I feel fairly confident in building the mobile app, and feel as though the hardware components will be rather easy to setup once I have one working model.

I feel like I could use some improvement in setting up the networking aspect of this, as well as the plushie designs.