Experiments and Project Planning (week 26)

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 Team Robot members with their Toiles 2018


What is the experience of project planning like in preparation for the initial live-pitch?

In order to give the best presentation possible we wanted to dive headfirst into the research...

We decided it was vital that all the team had experienced the physicality of draping with actual fabrics to fully appreciate the technical issues and quantity of waste produced through this way of patterning, (as well as an appreciation of the skill levels required!) to this end M and I held a mini workshop for R and B so they could try out their first toile creation.

We cut 1m lengths of calico and demonstrated different techniques of pleating, darts etc before letting the other two loose with the pins!

I videoed the process with an eye to B creating a short R&D series of videos on the final website

It was agreed that it was actually harder than it looks, and also that the physical act of touching and handling cloth is an essential part of the experience, this produced discussion of Haptics and touch sensitive gloves.

The advantage of Fabric and Pins is in it's simplicity - anyone can have a go, there is no interface barrier of software program to learn or expensive equipment to purchase (barring a mannequin) re-creating this "Just get Stuck in" approach will be important....

Everyone was appalled by the amount of calico discarded when creating just a simple bodice... R immediately and quite naturally developed a zero waste approach, folding and tucking fabric rather than cutting it. He also enquired about the numbers of men who choose pattern creation as a career... certainly in the western world it is primarily a female dominated industry with relatively low wage and prestige... it might be that the use of a technological interface would improve the prestige of the work and interest a wider group of practitioners.

Initially I would imagine a VR approach to fabric draping could be viewed as a bit of a novelty and available as a free for all app perhaps? But serious fashion designers, 3D modellers for games and factories would hopefully see the benefit too if it impacted favourably on their toile costs and disposal.

Exporting a draped toile to a flat pattern seamlessly would need to be integrated into the software too...

Customisable VR mannequins would make pattern re-creation quick and simple too... a simple re-grade could be immediately reviewed to see its fit on a different shape.

Next we visited the VR in Bradford as a group to investigate Tilt Brush...

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