15. Wildcard Week “Digital Embroidery”¶
Weekly Digest (Thu. May 9 to Wed. May 15)¶
| Date | Time | Place | Activities |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thu. May 9 | 14:00-18:00 | Office (NID) | Desk Survey on Buzzer Circuit |
| Fri. May 10 | 14:00-18:00 19:00-23:00 |
Office (NID) Home |
Desk Survey on Buzzer Circuit & BLE Power Consumption Documentation on Final Project |
| Sat. May 11 | 7:30-9:30 | Cafe (Yokohama) | Documentation on Final Project |
| 10:00-17:00 | FabLab Kannai | Local Session on Week15 | |
| Sun. May 12 | 8:00-12:00 | Home (Tokyo) | Documentation on Individual Assignment for Week15 |
| Mon. May 13 | 13:00-17:30 | Office (NID) | Buzzer Circuit text & Documentation on Individual Assignment for Week15 |
| Tue. May 14 | 13:00-17:00 | Office (NID) | Buzzer Circuit text & Documentation on Final Project |
Individual Assignments Overview¶
Here is the list of individual assignments given by the instructors. As for the Group Assignment, please see the Group Assignment page on the FabLab Kannai website:
- Design and produce something with a digital process (incorporating computer-aided design
and manufacturing) not covered in another assignment, documenting the requirements
that your assignment meets, and including everything necessary to reproduce it.
Most of the digital processes featured in the last global session were not available in our lab, except the digital sewing and embroidery machine. Also, our instructors have hosted/participated in a hands-on workshop on Scratch embroidery at the FAB23 conference last summar in Bhutan.
1. Machine: Janome HyperCraft 900¶
This is the machine equipped with at FabLab Kannai: Janome HyperCraft 900. Although it is an embroidery machine, it could also be used as a regular lockstitch sewing machine. The retail price of the machine is around JPY300,000 (USD2,000).
One of the most fainful actions required while operating the sewing machine is threading. Since I was suffering from cataract and waiting for the eye surgery in a few months time, everytime I used sewing machines, I had to spend extra time threading a needle. If the embroidery machine has multiple needles, my pain could be multiplied accordingly.
However, HyperCraft 900 model only had one head and its automatic threading feature was really useful installing a color thread into the needle hole. Single head means that if we want to embroider with multi-color threads, we have to load different color threads one after another. The automatic threading function really helps us to minimize the workload in this process.
Mode change from regular lockstitch to embroidery could be done with the embroidery attachment on the back side of the machine. We could attach it by sliding it from the lefthand side.
If you turn the guard rail by 90 degrees, you could attach the embroidery frame to the rail. The frame is essential to hold the cloth strethed out so that we could put the needle through in the places we want.
2. Design with Scratch Coding¶
Scratch has extention of pen-plotting. We could import pen-plotting blocks and write code blocks to have our sprite draw lines.
Embroidery is another extention developed by Sugiura Lab. Instead of pen-plotting, we could import embroidery blocks so that our sprite could draw paths for stitching. Embroidery extention may not always be available in the regular Scratch page. If this is the case, you could jump to Sugiura Lab’s Scratch page.
Here are some examples of my design. The design data files (SB3) are also ready for downloading.
3. Scratch Design for Embroidery¶
3-1. Scratch Coding¶
For embroidery, I decided to go for a very simple design. The above designs seemed to have the stitching path pass the center too many times and I was afraid of having difficulty in the needle stitching through.
3-2. File Export¶
Once I finalized my design, then I added the “export as Tajima/DST file” block to the programming block and ran it once again. Then the DST file is automatically created in the download folder. (We don’t have to be worried about “Tajima/DST” at this point of time. We could convert the DST file to the file format applicable to Janome HyperCraft later. If you are a Tajima user, you can just proceed to embroidery with the DST file.)
In case of the Janome embroidery machine, we must convert the DST file to JEF file. For this file conversion, we used a software Brother Embroidery PRO NEXT.
I imported the DST file to the workplane. Once I clicked the app logo icon on the top left corner of the window, the pulldown menu of the app will appear. Then I clicked the “File Expoert” button on the bottom of the menu. We have to make sure that the JEF file is created in the USB memory.
3-3. Machine Setup¶
- Thread Installation: First, I chose the thread I wanted to use for embroidery. If you want multicolor, you have to switch the thread one after another. As described above, threading is automatic and you will not face any difficulty in putting the thread through the needle hole. We should also make sure that we would have sufficient bobbin thread under the machine table.
- Frame and Stabilization Sheet: Next, I place the target area of the cloth right in the middle of the frame, which would be attached to the sewing machine. Depending on the size of the embroidery, there are different sizes of embroidery frames. You must choose the right one and set the cloth tight with sufficient tension on the cloth. During the local session, Mr. Ito, another Fab Academy student, tried to put embroidery on a thin synthetic fiber cloth. Therefore, he put the first test embroidery on a white sample cloth and after the test he pasted the stabilizer sheet to ensure the embroidery could be placed right in the target place. But in my case, I tried to put one on the organic cotton tote bag. Cotton cloth isn’t stretched or shrinked so easily. Therefore, I installed the target cloth in the frame and proceeded to embroidery without any stabilizer.
3-4. Operation¶
Once I inserted the USB momory to the slot, the sewing machine automatically read it and I could import the JEF file to the control panel. Once the cloth was set on the table, the only thing I did is press the green button to start the operation.
Here is my hero photo of the week.
4. Remarks¶
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Scratch Embroidery could help the kids to learn both Scratch coding and digital embroidery. It’s fun to see how their design would be stitched. No wonder this hands-on workshop attracted a lot of participants during the FAB23 conference in Bhutan. Our instructors are planning to organize the similar hands-on session in the FAB24 conference in Mexico this summer. If you are planning to attend your graduation ceremony in Maxico and if you are interested in the Scratch Embroidery, please take part in the workshop.
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But it could also add to the line-up of the STEAM education delivery of the FabLab. It has a great potential to pull the kids out of the coding exerecises in the PC. It could be a good media to bring the learners out to the application in the real world.
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However, we must note that we could not fill the closed areas with different colors in Scratch Embroidery. But this doesn’t mean that the machine itself has such limitation.