Author: roselee@andrew.cmu.edu

100 Ideas for Encoded Cloth

1. World Passport (symbolic of open borders)
2. Collage of people holding hands symbolizes cooperation
3. Half bright and half gloomy jacket (hopeful vs cynical)
4. Wired weaving on cloth (high tech clothing)
5. Assortment of plants cloth for quilt
6. Spacesuit for civilians to travel to different planets
7. A suit that allows civilians to fly 
8. Smart sweaters allow people to communicate with each other in any language
9. Collage of trash to show things that are in landfill
10. Plastic bottle windchime 
11. Book of languages saying welcome
12. Mural of the evolution of recycling
13. Mural of the evolution of humans – eventually technology embedded in humans
14. Mural of the evolution of technology
15. Map with cloth made from different regions of the world. 
16. String attaching all parts of the world showing how we are all connected
17. Blanket stuffed with trash/waste
18. Mural of people being happy and tearing apart a dollar bill
19. Map of the public transportation system on land
20. Map of the public transportation system in air (planes)
21. Paths merge together leading to a heart. 
22. Stuffed plushies of plates and plant-based food
23. Stuffed plushies of spaceships and spacesuits
24. Mural of plates of food from different culture 
25. Collage of countries flags = world flag
26. Jacket of binary code
27. Jacket showing the contrast of technology, but people are still unhappy due to long work hours
28. Pillow with stuffing bursting out with plastic 
29. Collage of different types of bread around the world 
30. Tree with leaves from different countries/origins 
31. Incubation device for growing fetus so that women don’t need to give birth 
32. Backpack with everything that a person can own (each person has limited capacity for ownership of items 
33. Hands all grabbing a slice of pie (with all equal sizes)
34. Popup Book with plants 
35. Circular collage with sectors showing class distinction and direction in clothing
36. Quilt of materials from the future (clothing, vehicles, furniture, etc)
37. Story cloth of cities and wastelands
38. Bird or animal plush that’s dead with trash spilling out/as stuffing
39. Hanging mobile of different class depictions, class also separated by height
40. Miniature cloth model of advanced pods that house humans and surrounding terrain 
41. Barcodes sewn or woven on fabric that scan to research documents or schedules
42. Cloth with neon/bright lights woven in for a futuristic feel
43. Wearable fabric mask depicting effects of pollution
44. Weaving with various irregular materials to simulate landfill 
45. “Wasteland” quilt with 3D objects sticking out/sewn in to represent civilization amidst ruin
46. Collage with textiles laid inconsistently to look like buildings 
47. Mask created from plants and flowers to symbolize the past
48. Cloth with wires and metal sewn in to represent the city
49. Mural of eye with embroidered flashing binary that fades out to scenes of ruin 
50. Tapestry that, from bottom up, shows people escaping from earth to space (gradient)
51. Open browser window created with fabric and embroidery
52. Mural of clock split into different stages of Earth over time (global warming, pollution, war)
53. Collage of scraps of brands and packaging pieced together to form an image
54. Box covered in fabric and print, advertising futuristic product
55. Overcoat modified to withstand harsh weather and gas, can carry weapons
56. Gas mask with browns and greys that turns to fresh water and plants 
57. Shoe created with woven textiles and metal, with plant sprouting out to symbolize hope
58. Glove that is bright and made of sequins, feathers, lights on one side and is dark and made of leather, wool, scraps on the other side
59. Model BMO (from Adventure Time) as example of robot helper 
60. Water bottle sculpture attached to scraps of fabric and garbage 
61. Fake flowers and wires sewn together to create garment, intersection of nature and tech
62. Model of hybrid hoverboard vehicle created with wooden rods, woven materials
63. Pouch that holds daily essentials 
64. Monochromatic, minimalistic dyed and styled textiles, meant to emulate cold upper class 
65. Sculpture of two people connected to a monitor/screen by string to show communication around the world
66. Collage of different parts of world with mirror in the center so the viewer can see themselves
67. Weaving using strips of plastic bags and dark/neutral yarn to depict pollution
68. Advertisement created using cardboard backing with fabric and wire laid over, supposed to be like neon cyberpunk advertisement sign found in the city
69. Construct clothing out of thrifted clothes hinting at futures limited resources
70. Using clothings from friends to construct a nostalgic piece for 2070
71. Quilt with painted patterns of climate change
72. Quilt with painted patterns of space travel
73. Quilt with painted patterns dystopian/controlling society
74. 3d textile of future cities with embroideries
75. Felting of future devices/gadgets
76. Felting of human colonized planets/solar system
77. Felting of spaceships
78. Felting of grass growing from trash (or some other symbol of hope)
79. Using trash and making a futuristic space suit
80. Trash couture
81. A sweater with messages to the future from 2021
82. A sweater with messages back to the past from 2070
83. Flag or quilt made from doomsday literature
84. Hologram screen made from mesh/thin textiles
85. Felting of engineering DNA
86. VR headset that is connected to multiple images of the future with strings/weavings
87. Embroidery of the creation of adam painting but with robots
88. Quilt that is overstimulating depicting how it would be like around tech all the time
89. Technology that has felted plants growing all over it
90. Mutated dolls that are a consequence of pollution
91. 3D textile of a globe that is missing a lot of land because of rising ocean levels
92. Quilt with animals that will be extinct by 2070
93. Halloween costumes people would wear to be like people in 2021
94. White/grey outfit and we project images of the future over it
95. Dress made only out of fairy lights to show light pollution
96. Solar energy suits
97. Mask that people would wear and it makes them look half robot
98. Jacket made out tweets from tech/science deniers
99. Dyed pattern of grids and circuits
100. Tapestry of future waste (robots, computers, flying cars etc.)

I imagine that in 2070, the Earth will be too toxic and barren: it’s covered in waste with literal mountains of trash and the climate is to hostile for people to live on Earth. People will start deserting Earth and rely on space travel to colonize other habitable planets.

People will develop convenient for everyday wear spacesuits and live mostly in their community spaceships. Technology is a huge part of these societies, and with this technology they develop ways to adapt to extraterrestrial environments: grow and harvest crops, find water sources, build new cities etc.

With this concept I would like to make a quilt of the scene of people leaving the polluted earth in search of another habitable planet, or a scene of a spaceship community.

polluted

shapceship

spacesuit

agriculture