PatchUp: Interactive Patchwork Design for Scrap Fabric Upcycling

Abstract

Garment making, quilting, and other textile making often involve cutting shapes from fabric sheets, resulting in leftover fabric pieces of various sizes and colors. Typically, fabric scraps are reused for both cost and environmental reasons: downcycled into filler materials or recycled fibers, or upcycled into new creations by crafters and artists. However, optimizing reuse and imagining new possibilities for these varied scraps can be difficult due to the large space of possible layouts and uses. We present an interactive design tool, PatchUp, which helps users create patchwork designs while considering available fabric scraps and reuse efficiency. Rather than solely maximizing reuse through automated packing, which can lead to visually incoherent designs, we introduce novel heuristics inspired by traditional quilt blocks. Our user study shows PatchUp effectively helps users maximize scrap usage while saving them significant manual effort, empowering them to explore new ways to repurpose their scraps and create visually pleasing designs.

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