Semester 2 – Week 10 Thursday

3D printing onto fabrics

I decided to use 3D printing onto fabrics around the laces to tie the overall look together. They also help give strength to the lace eyelets and the tongue, especially for my one price tongue for a sock like fit. This will help resist stretching over time too.

So using my measured pattern I pinned and printed the details onto these areas.

I made enough upper so I would still have a few test pieces. These prints are short and thin, this is because I am not so much as printing objects that will peel off easily, I am trying to print a detail layer that will still move and flex easily with the foot.

The details contained a thin 2 layer voronoi pattern that in printed on the black tongue layer of merino, this will be hidden under the laces and act as a subtle detail the user will notice as they look closer. Along with 6 eyelets for the laces, these are individual voronoi cells that piece together but have been spaced apart with some smaller details at the edge hinting to the continuose form of the voronoi pattern. I will be using black laces as it fits well with the colourway.

The fabrics are then cut and sewn to get the overall shape.

I used some test uppers looking into the seam that would be around the ankle, these looked at a thin closed seam:

Or a wider seam that could be stuffed with a soft material such as plant fiber:

Most reactions favoured the stuffed plant fiber seam, this made sewing more complicated such as fixing the join seen in the back of the heel but made for a fuller more comfortable upper.