Sewing nicer clothes with algorithms

Clothes often have patterns that don’t transition nicely at the seams. Katja Wolff, a PhD student at the Interactive Geometry Lab of ETH Zurich, has developed an algorithm that automatically aligns textile prints along seams.
“The clothing industry has a lot of potential to automate and improve certain processes”, says Katja Wolff. (Image: ETH Zurich)

Stripes, dots and waves – these are just some of the many patterns our clothes can have. When clothes are being created, it usually takes tedious manual work to avoid pattern breaks at the seams. “The clothing industry has a lot of potential to automate and improve certain processes.”, says Katja Wolff. She has developed an algorithm that automatically calculates how sewing patterns need to be positioned on a fabric, so the textile prints transition symmetrically at the seams.

Katja Wolff uses algorithms to sew clothes (Video: ETH Zurich)