• Instructions & Worksheet

I covered the entire hammer in tape and started cutting out pieces. I realized areas that were cylindrical were easier to measure and calculate than tracing tape. Most pieces were calculated and the only sections that were traced were at the top of the hammer

The top of the hammer and handle were machine sewn separately. They were each stuffed then hand stitched together. When this was being passed around class multiple people played with it like a real hammer so the hand stitching got a little loose in this picture.

If I had to do a project like this again I would think about it more before beginning. I spent lots of time taping areas that ended up being calculated so the tape was unnecessary in those areas. If I were to make this hammer again I would make the diameter of the upper handle bigger to reduce flopping when playing with it. Seeing other projects with more colors made me think about using more than one color of fabric in the future. Overall this project was fun and I’m proud of what I made.

After I finished the fingers, I started the palm. I drew lines on my hand that I tried to mimic with the pattern. You can see the side by side comparison.

I wasn’t able to finish in time for the critique, but as people passed it around, they said they preferred the unfinished look as they thought that it would look too much like a severed hand if it had been finished. I ultimately agreed with them and decided to leave it open.

Written Description:

Our idea is based off of the natural cycle of water through nature. The original concept was to create a piece that represents the entire cycle through each of its stages. However, in order to make our project simpler we decided to represent only the rainfall stage, while giving viewers a new perspective on this natural phenomenon that we take for granted.

In order to get this idea across we will be building an archway tunnel that starts at the door and funnels outwards into a bigger opening around the middle of the room. Viewers will first walk through the door inside a small arch that gradually gets bigger, opening them up to the rest of the room. The ceiling of the tunnel will be covered in plastic flowers all hanging down about an inch in order to give the carpet of flowers a little sway. There will also be many small blue battery powered LED lights hanging from the ceiling by about a foot or two. These will represent our raindrops and also provide ambiance lighting inside our tunnel. The 2 panels of ripstop at the bottom of the arch (that sit against the floor) will be closed using velcro, allowing access to the baffle points along the inside and also providing the possibility of adding DMX lights and sandbags to the inside. The blower will be hidden in a corner by the door.

Materials:

This arch needed more material than expected so we might have to modify the design to use less material. For now this is the list of things we need.

• 150-175 yards of white 5’ wide ripstop
•  500 grommets
•  500 ft of rope
•  around 2 DMX Lights
•  15 yards of Velcro
•  Flowers
•  100+ Hanging LED Lights

We would like a way to use less grommets and make them stronger. We inserted grommets directly into spare ripstop and they came off with little force. In our mockup the grommets put directly into the ripstop but the final inflatable needs reinforced grommets to prevent ripping.

Mock Up and Pattern:

Brainstorming Ideas:

Most of our ideas involved curves and an arch or dome in some form. To maintain the theme of cycles we also thought about using the four seasons or four elements.

Process, Discoveries, Successes, and Challenges

For this project, I worked with Joseph to cover the inflatable in tape. Due to the complexity of the object, I planned on keeping the pattern to scale. After covering the object in tape, deciding where to place the seams was a group effort and we were able to come up with a couple creative ways to keep the pieces large and have seams hidden.

We then cut the tape pattern from the blower and laid it out on paper. Thankfully, many of the pieces had nice measurements (such as 2”) which allowed me to use the clear grid ruler to redraw the patterns onto my fabric. The patterns were then cut and piecing together the object was all that was left.

I had to reference my photos of the blower many times, looking back and forth at the pattern pieces and the references to make sure the correct pieces were going together. Once or twice, I sewed incorrect sides to each other and had to seam-rip. Although I wasn’t sure how the handle was going to come together, it all worked out semi-magically!

Looking back on the doppelganger, I wish I had used a more fun fabric, instead of the beige one I chose. Another fabric that didn’t rip as easily might have also been beneficial in preventing some holes which popped up. Another challenge I ran into was stuffing the object. I found that I should have stuffed the corners with small pieces first, before filling the rest which large handfuls of stuffing.

Finally, there were many ridges which did not end up keeping its shape, which I did not consider. I learned during our critique that I could have added strips of fabric inside to keep the ridges together, like Joseph did with his blower.

This was overall a very challenging and exciting piece to build, and it is empowering to know I am now able to pattern many things I see around my house.

Sewed a stuffed plastic fork scaled 10 times its size.

Process

At first I considered how to create the curvatures of the fork, especially at the head of the fork. As I began to figure out the dimensions I offset the front and back of the fork. I also darted the tongs of the inside of the fork. From there I wanted to create context for the fork and add an interactive component for someone to play with, so I decided to make a noodle.

I had difficulty choosing the materials for the fork. I wanted to make sure that the fork was all one color and because I couldn’t find enough of a solid color (that was soft!) so that I can use the fork as a body pillow! Because of that, I decided to go with muslin because the color corresponds with the original fork. With the noodle, I tried really hard to make sure that it didn’t look like a snake, I eventually decided to choose a striped white fabric to both emphasize the curves on the noodle and because I haven’t seen a snake with small vertical stripes.

In the process of sewing I realized there was an issue with the tongs of the fork and that they didn’t stand up the way I wanted them to. I had to get inventive and not only overstuff them, but also insert wooden dowels into the form.

Overall I wish I could’ve employed the tape technique from class with a larger object, however I feel like the technique of measuring the fork in order to get the dimensions worked for me. I am more familiar with different sewing techniques and using them to get the form I intend.

Excited for a new body pillow!

In terms of the sewing, I did it by hand. I also made a little jacket for it, partially because I disliked how the seam looked when the neck and body came together, but also because it seemed like it needed a pop of color. In the future, I might make more little clothes for it (potentially a tutu), and I might try this project again but make it bigger instead of smaller.

• Where to download Max application – cycling74.com
• Where to download the dmx light control max patch zip file
• DMX Lighting control with Python

Strong Seams:

• Strong Seams Slideshow
• Strong Seams Handout

Process

Sue and I worked together to cover the fan in tape and generate the pattern. I initially thought it would be fastest to take pictures of the pattern pieces and trace them in illustrator, but I realized after starting that tracing the patterns directly onto the fabric was much faster.

I chose fabrics that had floral or other intricate patterns to contrast the very utilitarian coloring of the blower (plus I thought they looked nice together). While I was fabricating the piece, I added small strips of muslin across the many rectangular sections that stick off of the main cylinder of the blower. This was to prevent those sections from expanding and losing their shape when stuffing was added. I found that adding these ~1″ wide strips was very quick, but also very effective. The main issue I had during fabrication was sewing on the sheer fabric I chose for the intakes and output of the blower. It was difficult to handle, and the seam on one side of the blower turned out quite messy.

Reflections

Overall, this project was much more complicated than I anticipated. I thought the blower would be easy since it is made up of several basic forms. However, all of those basic forms added up to a lot of pattern pieces. I also realize that I wasted far too much time trying to make a pattern in illustrator. I vastly overestimated how long it would take to trace the patterns by hand, and so sunk a lot of time into illustrator before I tried just tracing them. Despite these difficulties, I am happy with the result. I am especially glad that I decided to go with patterned fabric for most of the piece as I feel like it makes it feel very incongruous next to the real blower.

Process and Final Thoughts

For this assignment, I knew right away that I wanted to use my Moka stovetop espresso maker. The form of the object is symmetrical, yet small details like the spout, handle, and steam vent all help to add complexity. I also really love coffee the idea of making a soft stuffed object inspired by something so hard and geometric. Since the overall form of the Moka pot is an octagon, I focused on using the tape method for one vertical ‘stripe’ of the form. I used the tape to get all the base forms, then used a caliper to get all my measurements so I could replicate the pattern inside of Rhino. I originally planned on showing the curved edges along the middle of the pot. In order to ensure I could finish the project, I removed them from my scaled up doppelganger, although due to the stuffed and rounded nature of the final object I don’t think they would have been very noticeable anyway.

Overall, I’m very pleased with the way my doppelganger turned out. Using brown fabric for the top of the pot to look like coffee was something I wasn’t sure would work or not, but in the end I think it really helps with identifying the object. As a next step, I would like to try making the lid in a different way. To due to the overstuffed nature of the main pot, the lid looks a bit small just perched on the top! If I were to remake it, I might try oversizing the lid pattern and using fusable fleece between the layers of fabric instead of stuffing it. This might help it to feel more like a thin lid.