In this episode, we’re talking to Andrea Mayr-Stalder about TurtleStitch. TurtleStitch allows kids to visually code a stitching path, export it and then have a real embroidery machine produce it!
Andrea Mayr-Stalder is an artist, educator and the project lead for TurtleStitch and is from Vienna, Austria. Turtlestitch is based on Snap!, a browser-based educational programming language, and is used to generate patterns for embroidery machines.
Images: Copyright Andrea Mayr-Stalder – used with permission.
We have interviewed Jens Moenig, the lead developer of Snap! last year, so you might want to check out that episode.
As Turtlestitch is based on Snap!, also Turtlestitch is easy to use and requires no prior knowledge in programming. Using code, you can create stunning patterns for embroidery. It is not just a great way to get kids – both boys and girls – interested in coding, it’s also a useful tool for designers to experiment with generative aesthetics and precision embroidery.
The key concept that Turtlestitch uses is the drawn line, where the line is being recorded as a running stitch and transformed into a widely-used embroidery file format.
To get started with Turtlestitch, you just have to visit turtlestitch.org and open their web-based editor!
Shownotes
- Andrea Mayr-Stalder on Twitter
- TurtleStitch Website
- TurtleStitch Manual Cards
- Snap! – Visual Coding
- Turtlestitch Cards by Warwick Manufacturing Group / Prof. Margret Low
- Video showing Turtlestitch in Action at Eleanor Roosevelt High School with Susan Ettenheim
- Turtlestitch at a schoon in Austria – Highschool (Gymnasium Wien 4, Waltergasse) with Michael Rundel
- Fablab Boston – South End Technology Center with Dr. Susan Klimczak, Michael King
- Simon Mong using Turtlestitch in China at Suzhou Modi Ed Tec
- Digifab Japan