3. Circular Open Source Fashion¶

Circular Open Source Fashion¶

_{Judy Martin, Dear Earth, 2018}

Research & Ideation¶

Have you ever tried to cut out a hundred or more squares of the exact same size from a big piece of fabric for a quilt project? It’s one of those tasks that I can never get right. Somehow on around my 20th square the sizes start to mismatch each other. When this happens, your whole quilt pattern starts to go off. I’m not a master quilter and I don’t have that many years of experience with the sewing machine. I do have years of fascination with quilts and patchwork though. I especially love looking at patterns that come together so minimalistically, in just a few simple shapes, but are intricate and as a whole, tell a story.

During the introduction of this week's topic all I could think about was how using a laser cutter can help overcome the challenge of cutting up 100 pieces in the exact same size. In the meantime, there was a possibility of not using a sewing machine altogether, to create something that is either a wearable, or used around the house, and maybe even just a wall hanging.

When I think of simple shapes and the stories that these shapes can tell, I start thinking of the work of Malevich. It may be an obvious thought. Everyone knows the “Black Square” or of the “Suprematist Composition: White on White” hanging so proudly in MoMA.


_{Kazimir Malevich, Black Square, 1915}	_{Kazimir Malevich, Supermatist Composition White on White, 1878-1935}	_{Kazimir Malevich, Black Cross, 1915-1924}

As Malevich himself describes, when you strip away all objective forms "the supremacy of pure feeling" and spirituality is left with the use of simple geometric shapes. In his concept of Supermatism, this was his goal. By stripping away all recognizable, all references to reality, Malevich tried to access a deeper, more spiritual reality.


_{Kazimir Malevich, Supermatist Composition}	_{Kazimir Malevich, Airplane Flying, 1915}

Traditional quilts, too, use simple forms and are often stripped away from depictions of actual landscapes or people. Yet over the years, these simple geometric shapes have somehow not only pierced through our perceptions but have developed into symbols that reflect our realities. In the essay “In the Shadow of the Quilt” Marybet Stalp describes how “Quilts exemplify positive images of comfort, evidence of friendship, love, admiration, gratitude, history, and family. Quilts, however, also posit evidence of negative symbolism encompassing inequality, hurt feelings, deep emotional and physical scarring, loss, death, and revenge. Additionally, quilts provide their makers creative opportunities to express multiple levels of emotions and communicate sometimes contradictory feelings within the same quilt.” So how can a few simple geometric shapes, put together, tell such layered stories?

_{Rita Mae Pettway, Blocks, 2020}

Sara Buscaglia from Farm and Folk uses traditional quilt techniques to tell her stories. While she may take inspiration in the shapes she uses from historic quilts, she often tells stories through her use of color. For example, her Tumbleweed quilt in her words "was inspired by the bleak colors of the high desert in wintertime—the colors of sagebrush and the winter trees and sky, the tumbleweeds that blow across the road on my drive home from trips to town".

I specifically also chose Second Glean as part of my inspiration, beacause she uses scraps of fabrics leftover from all the quilts she has made before. And I love this idea- zero waste!


_{Sara Buscaglia, Second Glean}	_{Sara Buscaglia, Tumbleweed}

In thinking of these simple forms and this week's assignment, I wanted to create something out of simple shapes. And since I have many big and small pieces of fabrics dyed previously but either left unused or used partly, I would like to repurpose them for this project. One of the pieces of fabrics that I am excited to try is a piece of linen I have dyed in indigo, then dipped in melted beeswax.

References and Inspiration¶

Bolor Amgalan’s 2015 Metamorphosis


_{Bolor Amgalan, Metabolism, Look 6, 2015}	_{Bolor Amgalan, Metabolism, Look 1, 2015}

It reminded me of the quilts that inspire me so much, the use of simple shapes to create such striking garments! The shades of blue also remind me of indigo dye, a color very close to my heart and practice.

Matija Cop


_{Matija Cop, Object 12-1, 2012}	_{Matija Cop, Object 12-1, 2012}

Matija Cop takes it to a different level. His pieces look like they are from beyond the future. Yet, again he has returned not only to simple shapes, and achieved such great depths, but also his choice of color is interesting. Subtle, quiet yet screaming all at the same time.

Yuima Nakazato


_{Yuima Nakazato, Look 5, 2017}	_{Yuima Nakazato, Look 11, 2017}

I came across Yuima's work in my research and I love the idea that he shares his pdf files on his website along with the representation of his work, so that anyone can make them. Not a single thread or needle was used to create this collection.

Kenji Abe


_{Kenji Abe, CY-BO}	_{Kenji Abe, CY-BO}

And probably most importantly I found so much inspiration in Kenji Abe's work. I was planning on using my waxed cloth for this week's assignment and waxed cloths make great food packages. I bake sourdough bread and I find that wrapping it in a waxed cloth is the best way to keep it fresh. Yet, the loafs I make are all of different sizes and this would be the best way to tackle the issue of packaging size.. modules!

Tools¶

- Adobe Illustrator

Process and Workflow¶

I started with cutting up simple shapes. First male, then female, then male and female. I loved getting into this process by simple tools - paper and scissors. This meant that I could test if the interlocking was problematic or not. Once I had a few different shapes cut out, I could then sit back and play around with them.

_{Making modules with papers and scissors, photo by Svetlana Khachatryan}

The next morning I was able to use Illustrator to make the 2D designs of my modules and nest them together to minimize waste as much as possible. Then I used the laser to produce the perfectly cut modules! I was getting a taste of what it means to not cut it by hand. I had initially made four patterns, but decided to use only three. All three patterns interlock with each other. Pattern 3, interlocks on it's own as well. Patterns 1 and 2, one being male and one female, also work together alone, without pattern 3. This gives me a lot of freedom to create different sizes of packaging.

Illustrator¶

A simple guide of how I created the modules in illustrator.

Step One

Measure the bed of your Laser Cutter - the one I used had a bed of 580mm x 400mm

When opening a New File in Illustrator use the size of the bed as the size of your artboard if you will be cutting using the whole bed. If you have a specific size of material that you will be using to laser cut, then make your artboard in that size. I had a big piece of fabric and I was able to use the whole bed.

Once your artboard is open, add rulers to help navigate Command+R. The paper cutout of the modules was in front of me and I could use the measurments to repeat in 2D using illustrator.

Select Line Segment

Make a horizontal line that is 50mm (this is the longest line I was going to work with for this module). You can always adjust the measurment of the line from the panel on the right. Make sure your angle is 0.

Step Two

The line above it is 42mm. You can copy paste the line you have alreay drawn (Command+C) and paste (Command+V). Align it on top of your initial 50mm horizontal line and change the length (W) to 42mm.

The distance between them should be 10mm. I find that the easiest way to do this is by making another stroke between them, with a height of 10mm, and aligning it with each other. Not to get mixed up in the lines you can make the stroke that indicated the distance into a dashed line.

Step Three

Once you have your two main lines aligned with a distance of 10mm, pull out the ruler from the left (just point your mouse arrow click and drag). If you double click on the ruler a panel will show. Select Transform → Rotate → 45º

You can now drag and drop the ruler at the edge of your 42mm line and add another stroke by selecting the line segment.

You can now copy (Command+C) and paste (Command+V) the line at an angle. Double click on the line, select Transform → Rotate → 90º and place it at the other end of your 42mm horizontal line.

Step Four

Since we don't want the laser to cut the long 50mm horizontal line all the way through, we need to make the end meet the vertical 45º lines. Select the 50mm horizontal line, take the right edge and drag to meet and align with the bottom of the 45º vertical line.

You can now copy and past this line and align it with the vertical line on the right. Now you have made the ears that will lock in the modules! You can delete the dashed line and the ruler at this point.

Step Five

Select all your 5 lines that are connected to each other, double click, select Join. After joining them together you can select, copy and paste, rotate at 90º and align on the left of your already half created shape. You need to repeat this process two more times to apply the same shape on each side. Once done, select all and join again.

The final module should look like this ↓

You can now group them together Command+G and nest your module on your artboard!

_{Pattern One}

_{Pattern Two}

_{Pattern Three}


_{Pattern three, interlocking with itself}	_{Pattern three from the backside}	_{Pattern one and two interlocking with each other}

_{Photos by Svetlana Khachatryan}

_{Laser settings for paper}

_{Speed - 230}
_{Min Power - 14}
_{Max Power - 15}

As my paper cutouts interlocked successfully and I was happy with the results, I started to test it on some swatches of fabric. I initially had decided to test on some cotton fabric that I had brought with me and also had a piece of linen that had a coat of beeswax on it.

_{Pattern one on cotton dyed with indigo + pomegranate skins, photo by Svetlana Khachatryan}

_{Laser settings for cotton}

_{Speed - 150}
_{Min Power - 20}
_{Max Power - 30}

Since I had a small amount of the linen coated with beeswax, I decided to cut both patterns two and three, to understand how the interlocking works on this material.

_{Laser settings for linen with beeswax coat, photo by Svetlana Khachatryan}

_{Speed - 150}
_{Min Power - 25}
_{Max Power - 30}

This experiment proved to be successful too! I loved how the waxed linen interlocked and how the material bent and felt stronger. However, laser cutting waxed fabric did produce a bit more smoke than I would have wanted. It wasn't anything major, but it felt right to cut up all the pieces and only afterwards treat them with wax. This way I would also get the edges of the fabric nicely closed with the coat of wax and have less of a chance of the fibers shedding in time.

I went back to illustrator and nested the patterns according to the size of the fabric I chose to laser cut, taking in consideration the maximum size that I could fit on the board in the laser cutter. I really liked pattern three alone, it reminded me of a quilt and I liked how folding the edges created square holes. I used two pieces of cotton for my final laser cut. I cut out all three patterns with cotton dyed with indigo and pomegranate skins, and I also used a logwood+ pomegranate skin dyed cotton for pattern three alone.

_{Laser cutting modules one and three, photo by Svetlana Khachatryan}

Once I had all the pieces cut out, I was able to coat them with beeswax! I loved how the color changed after coating it with beeswax.

Final Product¶

After applying a coat of beeswax (by dipping each module in melted beeswax then ironing it with a thick cotton canvas under and above it to soak in all the extra beeswax), I was ready to assemble it. I also baked a loaf of bread to have a real go at packaging it. I initially used all three modules that I had laser cut for my assembly process. In the end, at each side there were two pieces that met each other and couldn't interock. If I want to use all three, I realised, I need to cut at least three of the female square modules (module two) with a male part on one of the sides. Not a difficult task I suppose and easy to correct.

_{Modules one,two & three, photo by Svetlana Khachatryan}

I decided to undo it all and assemble it again using only modules one and two.

_{Modules one & two, photo by Svetlana Khachatryan}

_{Modules one & two from the back, photo by Svetlana Khachatryan}

Using only modules one and two worked beautifully! I was able to make it into many different sizes of packaging, with fully closing it from all sides.

For my second assembly I decided to use my modules that are both male and female. Here are the results, which I am very happy with. You can use as many modules as you need to create the size of packaging you want. In the images below, I have used 56 modules in total.

_{Module three, photo by Svetlana Khachatryan}

Files:

Module 1

Module 2

Module 3