Galaxy 3D Print Tech Fashion Collab

Art by Physicist Kitty Yeung has an amazing tech fashion brand that incorporates colorful and whimsical designs of space, fashion and floral inspiration. She also donates a percentage to non-profits for STEM and environmental protection. AmieDD has a scholarship program for girls in STEM through the National Videogame Museum.

We teamed up and had a virtual maker hangout session. Kitty told me her process for taking a clothing line to production, and the waste of fast-fashion clothing

"30% of clothing ever made are never sold; fashion industry contributes to 10% of global carbon footprint". -Kitty

Typically when I think of production, right away my engineering mind thinks of electronics, or injection molding, or machine processes, I never even considered the process of designing clothing for production. It was an eye opening hangout to hear about the process or designing clothing and patterns to prepare for production.

Starting with the Stars.

Kitty sent me one of her Starry Night Shirts and I was excited to add my own costume pieces to this shirt that she deigned(she even created the print pattern herself)!

When I see costumes that inspire me and I want to bring them to life I'm always quick to jump to my computer and start to design a model to 3D Print. Over the years I've started to look at the basic shapes and find quicker ways to print and find lightweight solutions (cosplay armor can start to get heavy if you're wearing it all day).

Starry Night shirt - by Art by Physicist Kitty Yeung

‍

**I was inspired by the undercarriage steel and rigid boning structure from women's 1880s evening dresses**. A style of underskirt with a side gore and pleated to fit over the shape of the hips. I can only imagine how heavy the steel in these designs were. They needed to have structure and support for the fabric and dresses to lay over and still maintain the shape.

Finding patterns.

Google Patent is a great way to look up historical patterns and a great reference guide when making costumes. I often would trace 2D patterns over some of the shapes and 3D Print them, laser them out of foam, or cut them out and sew them in fabric. The engineering process of some of the "fashion" women endured is impressive and terrifying.

Keep it basic.

I started by creating basic shapes in Fusion 360. A circle, triangle, square, and a diamond.

What happens when you 3D Print the same shape but with altered thicknesses?
What happens when you increase the shape size?

Experiment with different shapes, and sizes. I designed everything in Autodesk Fusion 360.

3D Printing flat shapes can be used to create lightweight 3D shapes.

I found by 3D Printing a simple flat square at.6mm thickness that is bendable and lightweight and when flexed in half it was perfect for shoulder pieces, necklace designs or even a crown.

Hmmm...could I 3D Print a flat shape thin enough that I could use it as a hair pin? (Thanks Padmé fashion from Clone Wars for that inspiration).

Attaching it all together.

I used LEGO technic pieces to attach and secure lightweight 3D Prints or foam for my costumes.

‍

You can purchase one of the Bluetooth Brooches from Kitty's shop check out her build guide here.

‍

You can purchase from Kitty's shop with a discount code of "AmieDDSTEM" and a percentage of the sales with be donated to the Dansby Scholarship Program for Girls in STEM.