New Textiles 2010

http://newtextiles.media.mit.edu/2010/uploads/Main/Embroidery_Nadia.png

http://newtextiles.media.mit.edu/2010/uploads/Main/Embroidery_process_Nadia.png

http://newtextiles.media.mit.edu/2010/uploads/Main/Embroidery_machine_Nadia.png

http://newtextiles.media.mit.edu/uploads/Main/Embroidery_Nadia.png

http://newtextiles.media.mit.edu/uploads/Main/Embroidery_machine_Nadia.png I wish that I used a solid color for the fabric, but that's a minor detail.

http://newtextiles.media.mit.edu/uploads/Main/Embroidery_Nadia.png

http://newtextiles.media.mit.edu/uploads/Main/Embroidery_Nadia.png

I used two sheets of the stiffening fabric behind the fabric to be embroidered on. It took about 21 minutes to embroider the drawing of the house. I had so much fun watching it happen!

Clearly, I had to draw some parts from memory! Once the vector drawing was complete, I saved it as a .pdf file, opened the pdf in CorelDraw, and saved it as an .ai file. To prepare a file appropriate for the embroidery machine, I opened the .ai file in the DRAWings software, in whichI spent some time customizing the stitching patterns/styles. For example, I specified a "serial" stitch instead of the default "running" stitch for the columns in front of the house. I also experimented with different stitch patterns in the software to make the bushes look as bush-like as possible!

Clearly, I had to draw some parts from memory! Once the vector drawing was complete, I saved it as a .pdf file, opened the pdf in CorelDraw, and saved it as an .ai file. To prepare a file appropriate for the embroidery machine, I opened the .ai file in the DRAWings software. I spent some time customizing the stitching patterns/styles in DRAWings. For example, I specified a "serial" stitch instead of the default "running" stitch for the columns in front of the house. I also experimented with different stitch patterns in the software to make the bushes look as bush-like as possible!

Clearly, I had to draw some draw some parts from memory! Once the vector drawing was complete, I saved it as a .pdf file, opened the pdf in CorelDraw, and saved it as an .ai file.

Nadia's embroidery project

!!Nadia's embroidery project

There were two sheets of the stiffening fabric behind the fabric to be embroidered on. It took about 21 minutes to embroider the drawing of the house. I had so much fun watching it happen!

It took about 21 minutes to embroider the drawing of the house. There were two sheets of the stiffening fabric behind the fabric to be embroidered on.

Clearly, I had to draw some draw some parts from memory!

Images from embroidery process & results

In order to produce a relatively accurate drawing of my house, I copied the Google street view image of my house and "traced" it in vector format using the free SVG graphics editing software Inkscape.

In order to produce a relatively accurate drawing of my house, I copied the Google street view image of my house and "traced" it in vector format using the free SVG graphics editing software Inkscape.

I was fascinated with the embroidery machine when I saw it in action; not only was I mesmerized by the speed of the needle moving through and across the fabric, but I was also amazed by the resolution of the images it could create. With my dad's birthday and Mother's Day around the corner, I decided to embroider the image of our home in California and to make a small pillow out of it. (I considered knitting the design, but I knew that I wouldn't be able to get the same image resolution at the scale I wanted with knitting as I would with embroidery.)

Process for drawing the design

In order to produce a relatively accurate drawing of my house, I copied the' Google street view' image of my house and "traced" it in vector format using the free SVG graphics editing software 'Inkscape'.

http://newtextiles.media.mit.edu/uploads/Main/Embroidery_process_Nadia.png

http://newtextiles.media.mit.edu/uploads/Main/Embroidery_machine_Nadia.png

Nadia's embroidery project

http://newtextiles.media.mit.edu/uploads/Main/Embroidery_process_Nadia.png

Nadia's embroidery project