A truly seamless garment#

circular fashion

I. About#

The part that excited me most about this week’s assignment was to create a seamless gament. My aunt taught me how to felt this summer. It’s a process that I believe has a lot of potential but it is also ancient. The National Museum in Copenhagen has preserved caps made of solid felt from the early Bronze Age. While I believe the ethos of Fabricademy and the need to revolutionalize the textile industry, I think it is also imporant to consider traditional methods of creating textiles as those can be more ecologically sound than our current practices.

Production files#

Fusion360 pattern#

II. Materials#

III. Process#

Here’s a video, my aunt recommended that explains the process (in Russian):

Design pattern#

I designed a pattern in Fusion360.

Notes on pattern making#

In general the pattern is roughly 2-2.5X bigger than the final product. A couple measurements to be mindful of:
- The distance from the base of the thumb to the index finger (2X on pattern) - The center point is shifted towards the thumb by one centimeter - Length of total mitten (2X) - The thumb is at a 45D angle to the base of the mitten

Laying wool out#

When laying wool out, grab the felting wool with both hand and pull with one. Every rip will have an edge that’s liner (where your fingers grasped) and a diffused side, strands of fiber. The top and bottom sides are alternated.

Hand part#

  1. Add horizontal layer at the cuff with the diffused ends pointing out (away from thumb)
  2. Proceed to create rows of Christmas tree patterns from the top
  3. When doing the first side, make sure to have strands overlapping (you’ll fold those later)
  4. Once the Christmas tree pattern is complete add a thin vertical layer on top with diffused ends pointing towards the cuff

Flip part#

  1. Spray wool fibers with water
  2. Position porous fabric on top and add soapy water, first to the contour of the pattern then to the whole thing



  3. Apply pressure
  4. Pat down with a towel
  5. The fibers should be compressed, otherwise repeat the steps starting with #2
  6. Remove porous fabric and flip the pattern, the wool should be pretty attached to the pattern
  7. Bend the overlapping threads and repeat Hand part instructions on the other side

Thumb part#

  1. Once both side are finished lay out the thumb in the same Christmas tree pattern (with a vertical later pointing in the direction of the mitten body)
  2. Flip the mitten again and do the other side of the thumb.

Felting#

I like to start with felting the wool with the pattern in place by rolling up the tube into the bubble wrap, after about 4 minutes.



The tube can be unrolled and the pattern removed (to prevent the mitten from deforming). Once the pattern is removed, the mitten can be rolled in the vertical direction, again 4 minutes each side.

IMPORTANT #1: once the pattern is removed the fibers will stick to each other when felted, make sure to separate out the inside

TROUBLE SHOOTING: holes/ unevenly distributed fibers can be mended by adding a little patch of soapy wool.

Once the mittens are a little bit smaller and the fibers had a chance to bind you can felt by munching the mittens up and releasing them. If you prefer a smooth finish also rub out the seam whether the two sides were connected. Once the mitten is small enough you can shape it to the size of your hand.

IMPORTANT #2: make sure you remember to switch hand when molding mittens, otherwise you’ll end up with two mittens for the same hand.

IV. Results#

These mittens came out a lot better than my first attempt.

V. Etcetera#

Foam bio plastic as pattern material#

I made a foam bio plastic to use as a basis for the pattern. The recipe is from the Cookbook. However the material was too fragile. Even if it was more durable, however it would not have lasted during the felting process as it’s water based.
Whisking foam



Cooling foam


Final texture and tear