This class session marked our final week in the Fab Lab. Previously, my group had worked with arduinos and laser cutters. Coming back to the Fab Lab was a breath of fresh air for me. It was a chance to get away from dull theory work in my other classes and a chance for me to work with my hands. This week the focus was on digital embroidery. Again, it was great to see how simple it was to get a working design from scratch to a real product on fabric. I started with a personally designed logo and quickly worked it through the SewArt software. After processing the stitches and removing excess colors, I brought it over to the embroidery station and set about stitching a patch together. After a short wait, I had a real embroidered patch, ready to be adhered any blank I had lying around, be it a hat or t-shirt or coach jacket.

Altogether the process was so simple I did a second patch and started a third. In experimenting with different textures and thread colors, I quickly realized the potential for the designs my partner and I in our brand were coming up with. It would be so easy to put a couple down as mockups to see how our lines would hold up in an embroidery process. Of course, with more professional manufacturing and printing, we could do much more, but the fact that I could do a mockup for less than 5 dollars and maybe 30-45 minutes was still amazing.

While this technology in itself may not have huge implications for the future or my final project, it’s true that the idea of transferring a design from the virtual realm into a real object is highly appealing to those who’d like to personalize their belongings or create other personalized mock ups to guard their IP. Such a technology can greatly benefit anyone with similar intentions, or creatives who would like to start their own brand.