3D printing is expected to revolutionize the world of manufacturing as soon as it becomes more accessible and affordable. Practically everyone will be able to design and produce their own sculptural and practical household objects. Theoretically, 3D printers would also enable us to create spare parts for and repair broken items, freeing us from dependence on overseas factories where employee and environmental protections efforts may be lacking. Just imagine if we could apply this technology to textiles and effortlessly produce our own clothing, too.

Revolutionizing Fashion with Digital Knitting

Meet the Kniterate, a digital knitting machine that brings fashion fabrication into your home. Built like a compact version of an industrial knitting machine, the Kniterate lets you design and “print” your own garments. Make a scarf, sweater, beanie, tie, or dress, either as one-off designs or in larger quantities. You can then choose to keep your creations or to sell them for extra cash!

Knitwear is easily customizable and, since it’s knitted exactly to shape, produces less waste than other kinds of garments. The usual downside, however, is that it requires a lot of skill and expensive equipment to produce. Most industrial knitting machines cost upwards of $50,000 and require extensive training to operate, but the Kniterate is designed to be accessible to everyone. The machine is computer-controlled and can automatically transfer stitches, cast on and off, shape, and knit cables.

How the Kniterate Works

The Kniterate is pre-programmed with a library of templates and comes equipped with up to six feeders, each of which supplies the device with a different color or material per the requirements of each design. If you even have a picture of a garment you’d like to recreate, you can simply upload into the system. The Kniterate’s ability to access an online database is probably one of its most convenient features and can save you the headaches of having to count stitches and estimate clothing sizes and proportions.

Anyone who has ever hand-knitted anything more complex than scarves or socks will attest to the amount of math involved in this process. The Kniterate makes things as easy as inputting measurements and selecting one of several available stitch patterns. Online, you’ll also be able to write text, change fonts, free-draw with a pen tool in various thicknesses and colors, and share your designs with other users. Once you’ve inputted your completed design, the Kniterate springs into action. It can complete a beanie in just under an hour or a sweater in as little as five.

Now on Kickstarter

The Kniterate’s discounted Kickstarter price of $4,799—and the eventual retail price of $7,499—might seem steep but is still significantly cheaper than the average industrial knitting machine. Plus, it’s important to consider the Kniterate’s role as a piece of technology that is certain to change the entire textile industry in the near future. The company’s Kickstarter campaign has already surpassed its initial $100,000 goal by upwards of half a million dollars. All “Early Bird” packages are now sold out, so consider buying one before the price goes up any further!

If you could get your hands on an automated knitting machine, what pieces and patterns would you create?

The post 3D Printing Takes On Fashion with This Amazing Digital Knitting Machine first appeared on Dornob.

Everyone should know how to sew a button onto a shirt – that’s just a basic life skill. But losing a shirt button tends to happen at the least convenient time, and you may not always have a sewing kit with you. Designers Yeon Hee Jung and Kyung Soo Kim created a simple, thread-free solution.

The Clip Button, as you may gather from the name, simply clips onto the shirt where the missing button should be. It provides an instant fix so you don’t want to wait until you get home before fixing that embarrassing gape in your shirt front.

To keep the temporary button handy (because no one needs one more thing to keep track of) it would attached to the care tag of the shirt. This slip-on fastener would clearly be a temporary fix, but it would be beyond helpful to those of us who can never remember to carry around a sewing kit or extra buttons.

The post Extra Shirt Button Clips on For Thread-Free Quick Fix first appeared on Dornob.

Through many generations, grandma’s sewing box has held a kind of magical appeal for kids all over the world. This project from Kiki van Eijk takes that sewing box magic and amplifies it, turning it into something that is truly larger than life.

Despite its huge size, this cabinet opens easily with a simple pull on one side. The function is distinctly reminiscent of the classic multi-level sewing box design, right down to the sturdy legs on the bottom of the main volume.

The Dutch designer spent four years perfecting this massive cabinet, getting it to function in exactly the right way. She was sure that she did not want the cabinet to require more than one person to open – that, according to Kiki, would not mesh with the idea of the project.

The project was taken from design to finished product by a carpenter in Arnhem. It is made of solid elm and features beautiful brass knobs. Its slightly whimsical nature is balanced by its decidedly elegant silhouette and impressively smooth functionality.

“A cabinet made of elms wood. This cabinet is inspired by the mechanism of a wooden sewing box. It evokes the cheerful feeling of needlework, yet it has a very technical mechanism inside. The beauty of both the movement of the sewing box and the idea of textile craftwork is reflected in the handcrafted brass elements and wooden construction.”

“Kiki grew up in Tegelen, a small city in the Netherlands. She spent her youth immersed in nature, daydreaming and drawing. She is now one of the most accomplished names of Dutch design. She studied at the Design Academy of Eindhoven where she met her future partner, Joost van Bleiswijk. Inspired by a childlike sense of wonder and the smallest details of the everyday, Kiki’s world is whimsical and colorful, lyrical and personal, yet refined by a rigorous attention and skillful craftsmanship.  Since establishing her studio in 2000, following her graduation Cum Laude from the Design Academy Eindhoven, van Eijk has produced a unique body of work that spans from furniture design to textiles to experimental art installations and works on paper.”

The post Sewing Box Cabinet Offers Traditional Style at Macro Scale first appeared on Dornob.

The post Old Clothes, New Threads: Color-Matching Sewing Machine first appeared on Dornob.