Soft Fabrication Spring 2024

Course Dates: Saturdays, 10:30am-3:20 pm on January 20, January 27, February 3
Location: Studio A, Hunt Library (the large room on the first floor with the windows overlooking Frew Street)
Final Project due:  February 19th, noon
Ideate Gallery Link (examples of students’ final projects from previous semesters)
Soft Technologies Facilities Rules (A4, A31)
Syllabus

Instructor: Natalya Pinchuk, npinchuk@andrew.cmu.edu
TA:  Beatriz Pimenta Medas, bpimenta@andrew.cmu.edu
Natalya’s Office Hours:
Monday and Wednesday, 1-2pm; Wednesdays 4-6pm (studio A, sewing lab or dye lab)
Bea’s Office Hours: TBD
Sewing Lab (A4) Assistant Hours: TBD (in Sewing Lab, A4)

Sewing Machine Manuals
Janome HD-3000 Manual
Janome Mod-19 Manual
Singer 44S Manual

Videos for Week 1
01 Hand Sewing Powerpoint
02 Cutting Fabric
03 Hand Sewing Stitches, Natalya’s video (basting stitch, tiny running stitch,
backstitch, overcast, blanket, appliqué)
Tying a Knot 
Tying a Finishing Knot
Running Stitch
Backstitch
Overcast/Whip Stitch
Blanket Stitch
Applique with Whip Stitch
Applique with Blanket Stitch
04 Hem Stitch (slip)  
05 Hem Whip Stitch
06 Machine Sewing Powerpoint
07 Understanding Sewing Machine in A4- Singer 44S Heavy Duty Sewing Machine 
08 Sewing Machine Samples (tension setting sample, spiral, square labyrinth, letter)
09 How to Use a Seam Ripper

Extras
History of Sewing Machines
Spacesuit: Fashioning Apollo, Nicholas de Monchaux

Working With Embroidery Floss
10 Fun Embroidery Stitches
Three Historical Stitches
Basic Stitches for Historical Sewing
Invisible Stitch
List of Great Books to Get Into Sewing

Videos for Week 2
01 From 2-D to 3-D Powerpoint
02
Heart Sample, use the invisible stitch (ladder stitch) to close up the form once filled with poly fill
03 Flat Bottom Pouch
04 Dart Sample 1 & 2
05 Square Cushion

Extras
How to Drape a Basic Bodice
Creating Pattern from Muslin Drapes
Dart Manipulation by Shingo Sato
Sculptural Moulage by Shingo Sato

Olson Mask Pattern
Olson Mask Instructions

Videos for Week 3
01
Weaving, Felt, Knit, Crochet Powerpoint Part 1
       Weaving, Felt, Knit, Crochet Powerpoint Part 2
02 Felt Sphere Sample
03
Felt Sheet Sample
04
Felt Hollow Sphere Sample
05
Washing and Dyeing Felt Samples 
06
Needle Felting Sample
07 Smart Textiles Powerpoint
08 Soft Circuit Sample
one LED circuit
four LED circuit

Extras
how to make a needle felted puppet for stop motion animation
stop motion animation with felt
rug making in Iran
needle felting a teddy bear skull
needle felting a cat
Felt Makers-Terelj, Mongolia
felt slippers part 1, felt slippers part 2, felt slippers part 3
felt boots
beaver wool hat making
dry felting doll faces (good video to watch for making complex dry felt forms)
batting versus roving
The Life-Saving Weaving of Bolivia’s Indigenous Women
Lia Cook and Her Jacquard Loom
Outdoor Felting in Mongolia
Industrial Manufacturing of Felt
Cat Cave
Understanding Knit Fabrics
Learning About Fabrics 4: Knit Basics
http://fabtextiles.org/
Kobakant: How to Get What You Want
Shape Memory Alloys For Controllable Compression Textiles and Garments
Building the Future SpaceSuit
LED Matrix Shirt
Unfolding Fashion Tech, Book
Infinity Burial Suit FAQs
Lining Yao
Adafruit
Sparkfun
Make: Wearable Electronics (book)

Final Project Options (in addition to what is listed in the Syllabus)
Box Zipper Pouch (Easy-Medium Difficulty)
step-by-step video (not mine) for how to make the pouch (same steps are reviewed in this blog post)
Please be aware that if using the fleece (thicker than thin interfacing) interfacing:
1. you may want to quilt the fleece to the outside fabric, as an additional step, in order to avoid unnecessary puckering between the outer fabric and the fleece after it has been fused
2. you may use thin interfacing instead of the fleece interfacing but your pouch will look saggy and will not maintain the form on its own
3. the thickness of all layers may be difficult for your machine to handle (mainly in the ends of the zipper areas), in which case, please use the hand sewn back stitch to sew just those sections by hand
4. you may put two zipper sliders on the zipper, rather than one
5. how to put a slider on a zipper track

Animal Heads (6-8hours Undertaking)

  1. print animal head template document and cut out (templates have already been sized to 200%); tape sections that were too big to fit on one page
  2. read general instructions
  3. read individual animal head construction instructions BEFORE BEGINNING, paying particular attention to CUTTING GUIDES and KEY
  4. follow along my videos while working on animal heads (keep videos on mute because I did not edit sound)
  5. use beeswax to strengthen the thread in your tool kits; this will also prevent it from twisting
  6. interfacing, batting, water based markers, beeswax, carbon paper, foam board and any specialty tool/material necessary to complete the animal heads will need to be picked up from Natalya during her office hours 
  7. watch ladder stitch (2 min.) before begging to work on BASE

work alongside me:
bear
unicorn/horse
piggie
giraffe

everyone MUST read these general instructions
you will find construction instructions for each animal head in this folder
you will find templates for each animal head in this folder (templates have already been sized to 200%)