Courtesy of Jason Martineau
CHAPTER 3
3D Embellished T-Shirt
USE 3D PRINTING ON FABRIC TO MAKE UNIQUE CLOTHING AND COSPLAY ACCESSORIES.
What You Will Learn
In this chapter, you will learn how to
Create a 3D design for printing on fabric
3D print on fabric
Files You Will Need
Small adult unisex T-shirt pattern: pattern_small.pdf
Medium adult unisex T-shirt pattern: pattern_medium.pdf
Large adult unisex T-shirt pattern: pattern_large.pdf
Tools You Will Need
Tinkercad or other 3D modeling tool
Cura or other 3D slicing software
3D printer
Sewing machine and sewing supplies
Materials You Will Need
One yard of stretch knit fabric for T-shirt body (jersey, interlock knit, or similar)
One yard of net, lace, or any fabric with small regular holes for T-shirt sleeves, two-way stretch recommended
Small plastic clips to attach fabric to the 3D printer build platform (Wonder Clips or similar work well [www.clover-usa.com/en/sewing-and-quilting/105-wonder-clips-50-pieces.xhtml]).
Polylactic acid (PLA) filament is recommended; nylon, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), or other filament may be used.
All-purpose polyester thread
Ballpoint or stretch sewing machine needle
No-sew option: Purchased T-shirt or other clothing to apply 3D-printed decoration
This raglan sleeve T-shirt has 3D-printed decorative elements printed directly on the fabric. You can 3D print directly onto fabric with your home 3D printer using standard PLA, ABS, or other regular filament. 3D printing on fabric retains the flexible properties of the fabric, does not require exotic filament, and permanently incorporates the 3D elements into the garment. The sleeves are made from a material with many small holes, so select net, lace, or any similar material. A two-way stretch fabric, meaning it stretches left-right but not up-down, is recommended for the sleeves, but non-stretch fabrics can be used as well. The fabric is sandwiched between printed layers of the design. The holes in the fabric allow the layers on top of the fabric to bond with the layer beneath it. Thick fabrics or anything with a large surface decoration are not recommended because these will interfere with the extruder (Figure 3.1).
Figure 3.1 Fabrics to use with 3D printing include net, tulle, lace, or other similar fabric with holes.
To make this shirt you can download the pattern from the book web page, or for additional sizes and variety, you can use a similar T-shirt pattern purchased from a store or an online retailer. The raglan T-shirt pattern pdf with the book materials comes in adult unisex sizes small, medium, and large. Use the size of a well-fitting T-shirt to decide which pattern size to use for this project. Be sure to print out the included pattern at 100 percent size. Use a ruler to measure the 1-inch box on the printout to ensure the pattern is printing at 100 percent scale. If you are printing your pattern on standard copier paper, tape the 8½ × 11 inch sheets of paper together before cutting out the pieces of the shirt. Commercial raglan T-shirt patterns are available at fabric stores, craft stores, and on the Internet. Simplicity Patterns (www.simplicity.com) makes several easy to sew versions including Burda Style pattern number B9346 Child’s Raglan Tops, Simplicity Child and Adult unisex pattern number 8223, Simplicity Men’s Knit Top pattern number 8613, and Simplicity Misses’ Knit Top pattern number 8423. Kwik Sew pattern number K4146 (https://kwiksew.mccall.com/k4146) is a raglan shirt pattern in women’s sizes 1X to 4X. Women’s raglan sleeve shirt patterns up to plus size 3XL can be purchased from online retailers. Melly Sews Rivage Raglan (mellysews.com) and the Greenstyle Creations Centerfield Raglan (greenstylecreations.com) are both available in women’s plus sizes.
Step 1: Cut Out the Shirt Pieces
1. Use the raglan shirt PDF pattern from the book website or any raglan sleeve shirt pattern. The PDF pattern comes in unisex small, medium, and large sizes with T-shirt-length sleeves. Cut the front, back, and neck pattern pieces from stretch knit fabric. Jersey or interlock knits are typical T-shirt fabrics and are good choices for this project. The front and back pieces are each cut on the fabric fold so that they unfold to form the full fabric piece with no front or back seam.
2. Cut the left and right sleeves from net, tulle, lace, or other such fabric. You will 3D print decorative elements on the sleeve piece before assembling the shirt.
Step 2: Create Your 3D Design
When designing for 3D printing on fabric, keep individual shapes to no larger than 4 inches square. You can print names or words with spaces between the letters. Arrays of geometric shapes are good choices. Large designs with no spaces between the elements will not be flexible and should not be used as designs for this project. Once you are familiar with the basics of 3D printing on fabric and assembling the T-shirt, more complex designs can be found online or modeled in CAD programs. The dragon scales example pictured at the start of this chapter was designed by David Shorey, and is available on Thingiverse (www.thingiverse.com/thing:2755451).
1. Set the work plane in Tinkercad to the size of your printer bed.
2. Use Tinkercad’s basic shape generator to lay out shapes of various sizes and heights. Larger, taller, and a greater number of shapes in your design will take longer to print. A design of between three and ten basic shapes that are approximately 0.5 to 1.5 inches each in length, width, and height is a good size to use (Figure 3.2). You can also search Thingiverse for designs and import those into Tinkercad as a base for your design.
Figure 3.2 Stars created using Tinkercad’s basic star shape generator.
3. To be sure that your design fits on the sleeve pattern, export the design as a SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) file, and then print it on regular home paper printer. Lay the paper printout under or over the pattern piece to get an idea of how your design will look.
Step 3: Export and Slice the Model
1. Export your design from Tinkercad as an STL file.
2. Import the downloaded model into Cura or other slicing software. Use the standard settings, and set infill to between 15 and 30 percent. Your design should not need supports, so be sure that this function is disabled. Your design also should not need the Cura setting for build plate adhesion (Figure 3.3).
Figure 3.3 Star design Tinkercad model imported into Cura.
3. Because the fabric is sandwiched between a couple of layers of the print, you will need to pause the print while it is printing so you can lay the fabric on the first layers.
a. You can pause the print manually on some printers by waiting for a couple of layers to print and then pressing the Pause button; other printers might not have a Pause button, so you will need to put a Pause command in the print file.
b. Cura has a plugin to pause the print execution. Select “Modify G-Code” in the Post Processing submenu under the Extensions menu. This should bring up the Post Processing Plugin window.
c. Add the “Pause at Height” script. Change to Pause at “Layer No.” and set the layer number to 2. The printer will pause after the second layer has printed. Make sure that the “Resume Temperature” is set to the preferred printing temperature for your material (Figure 3.4).
Figure 3.4 Use Cura’s Post Processing Plugin to pause the printer after laying down a couple of layers.
4. Once you have selected your settings and added the optional Pause command, you are ready to slice. Press the Prepare button in the lower right-hand corner, and save the resulting G-code file. Transfer the G-code file to your printer according to your printer instructions using a web interface, SD card, or other method.
Step 4: 3D Print on Fabric
1. Set up your printer for your 3D model and filament type. Print two to three layers of your design. Pause the printer using the manual printer controls or the Pause Print command in the G-code (Figure 3.5).
Figure 3.5 Pause the printer after a couple of layers have printed.
Caution: The print nozzle is still extremely hot at about 180 degrees Celsius (356 degrees Fahrenheit). Do not touch it! If you are worried about touching it, wear some work gloves during this step.
2. Carefully lay one sleeve fabric piece fabric down over your 3D-printed layers. An advantage of this printing method is that you can precisely place the fabric because you know exactly where the design is printing. Smooth the fabric on the build plate, and use numerous clips to hold the fabric taut at the middle and corners. Check to be sure that your fabric won’t get caught in any of the moving parts of the printer and that the extruder head won’t hit any of the clips while it is moving around to print (Figure 3.6).
Figure 3.6 Resume printing after securing the fabric to the build platform.
3. Resume printing. Carefully watch the printer for the next couple of layers to be sure that the extruder head is not pulling the fabric too much. A couple of small wrinkles are generally not a problem, but if your fabric is too loose, the extruder may drag the prints off center. The printer is laying down minuscule amounts of filament that are often hard to see on the first layer on the fabric. When the print is finished, wait for the build plate and nozzle to cool, and carefully remove your fabric and 3D-printed design.
4. If you have a symmetrical pattern, repeat step 4 with your second sleeve piece. You can also mirror an asymmetrical pattern to print matching right and left sleeves. Cura provides several tools to adjust your model before slicing. The Mirror tool is located on the toolbar below the Rotate tool. Clicking on the Mirror tools brings up six arrowheads, two for each axis. To mirror the model, simply click on one of the arrowheads. To mirror the shapes, left to right click the red arrows (Figure 3.7).
Figure 3.7 Mirroring a model in Cura.
Step 5: Assemble the T-Shirt
The PDF raglan sleeve T-shirt pattern pieces have a ½-inch seam allowance. Use a zigzag stitch to sew all the seams to keep the stretch in your fabric. A serger can also be used to sew the shirt together. In the instructions that follow, “right side” of the shirt describes the fabric that will be facing out when the shirt is worn, and “wrong side” is the side that is toward the body when the shirt is worn.
1. Place the front side of the sleeve over the shirt front with the right sides facing together. Using a zigzag stitch, sew the front side of the sleeve to the shirt front. Repeat for the other side (Figure 3.8).
Figure 3.8 Attach the sleeve to the front piece, and sew along the seam with a zigzag stitch.
2. Place the back side of the sleeve over the shirt back with the right sides facing together. Sew the back piece to the sleeve. Repeat for the other side. You should now have both sleeves sewn to the front and back. Lay your shirt out, right side facing up.
3. Sew your neckband with the right sides together at the short ends to form a loop. Fold the neckband in half along the long edge with the wrong sides facing in and the raw edges of the fabric at the bottom. Using pins as markers, divide the neckband into four equal lengths: first, place a pin directly opposite the seam. Then align the seam and the pin, and place a pin at each of the folds.
4. Divide the neckline into quarters by aligning the front and back centers and putting a pin halfway between the two (it will be on the sleeve toward the front of the shirt). Align the seam in the neckband with the center back. Align the other three pins accordingly. Continue pinning the neckband around the neckline, stretching evenly to fit. The neckband is smaller than the collar, so it will not fit exactly (Figure 3.9).
Figure 3.9 Pin the neckband to the collar in quarters, and sew the neckband to the collar.
5. Sew the neckband to the neckline, stretching the neckband between pins. Flip the neckband up, and press the seam allowances down toward the shirt. If desired, top stitch around the neckline, catching the seam allowances underneath in the inside of the shirt.
6. Turn the shirt inside out. Line up the sleeves and side seams at the raw edges. Starting at the wrist, sew the sleeves together up to the underarm seam, and continue sewing down the side seam in one sewing line. Repeat for the other side (Figure 3.10).
Figure 3.10 Sew the side seams of the shirt from wrist to waist.
7. Turn 1 inch on the hems on the sleeves and the bottom hem to the inside, and sew with a zigzag stitch.
No-Sew and Low-Sew Options
You can use the techniques in this chapter to make a 3D-printed on fabric patch that can be glued using fabric glue or sewn onto a premade clothing item, such as a T-shirt, jacket, or hoodie (Figure 3.11).
Figure 3.11 3D-printed pink and purple shirt. (Courtesy of Jason Martineau)