MAKE fashion Show

April 2, 2016

tickets….MAKE fashion tickets

On Friday after months of planning, sewing, coding, laser cutting and figuring out how it all fits together, The robots are fun team -Ashley (12), Kendra(11) and Lauren(11) are excited to be part of the MAKE fashion show at Telus Spark in Calgary this Saturday!

Our Projects

We each made our own projects that combined sewing and tech. We soldered lights, programmed sensors and laser cut fabric to add lights that interact with how we move. It all started with our designs.

We learned about fashion design and watched documentaries about designers such as Alexander McQueen and Isaac Mizrahi to get some inspiration and learn what challenges they faced when designing their ideas.

From Design to an Actual Dress

It turns out drawing the design is the easy part. Choosing the right fabric and finding the right components can be tricky. Ashley even made her own beads that look like mini tornadoes for her Tin Man from OZ inspired dress. All of us changed fabric types to what we could work with and what would show of the lights the best. Kendra also changed her dog on her dress from one that looked like her dog to a poodle to make it more like a modern version of a poodle skirt.

The Dresses

Ashley – A Wizard of Oz Dress inspired by the Tin Man

The Tin Man dress is fairly similar to my original idea. I did change the fabric from a light taffeta to a heavy rusty metal coloured fabric, but it still has a lot of sheen that shows off the blue LEDs that are hand stitched into the dress and some of them can be controlled with an iPhone. I also hand stitched a blue light cord to the hem of my dress that was inspired by the path the Tin Man took with Dorothy ( that is why all the lights are blue). The best part was a later addition of a laser cut heart for the Tin Man. I really liked learning how the laser cutter worked and I think I will incorporate it into a lot of my future projects.

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Kendra – A Tech Poodle Skirt

Kendra designed a dress that was inspired by her most favorite thing – her dog. While I was making my dress I realized it really resembled a poodle skirt, so I changed the dog to a poodle. I added the lights to make it a really fun updated version of a poodle skirt. I really like the added light because they make it really fun to wear.

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Lauren – Nautilus (Ammonite) Dress

I wanted to make a dress that resembled a deep sea creature. I had trouble finding the right shade of LEDs so I made little camouflage hats for them so you can’t see them until the sensors are triggered and the beaded shells light up. There is also a light cord that looks like an electroluminescent creature swimming through the ocean as you are walking. I really enjoyed making laser cut nautilus shells in the fabric for my dress. The laser cutter also sealed the fabric so that the shapes didn’t unravel and I really think it adds a lot to my design. The nautilus shell shapes on the skirt turn on and off with each step I take. I wanted to make a dress that behaved like a deep sea creature and I really like the final dress I made. I incorporated 2 trinkets and back-up ultrasonic sensors for a car. The best part that I didn’t plan on at all was matching laser cut nautilus shell earrings! Thanks ArcheLoft. I couldn’t think of a better accessory to finish of my dress.

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What We are Excited to See at MAKE FASHION 2016

Last year we were really inspired to see the dresses at Make Fashion, but this year the designers have really stepped up their creations and have everything from mind controlled designs that interact with each other to really delicately connected LEDs that look like lace. The whole robotsrfun team really had fun getting to talk to the models and design teams last year and listen to how they were able to design the really awesome designs we saw in the show! Can’t wait to see you at MAKE Fashion 2016!!!

MAKE fashion tickets

Trickiest part of designing our projects was figuring out where the batteries go. Best part of making our MAKE fashion projects…..drum roll please….LASER CUTTING!

Here is a video of the heart for the Tin Man dress and the Nautilus shell earings – laser cutting at ARCHEloft Makerspace is awesome!

Thank you very very much to everyone at MAKE fashion and ARCHEloft who are always there to help and inspire us – especially Shannon and Maria! Thanks