Tag: Fabric

While the daytime is warm and summery around these parts, it doesn’t stop me from catching the occasional chill at bedtime. So what better way to keep warm but with a Space Invaders quilt? Emily from Carolina Patchworks is at it again with another one of her pixel-y good video game quilts, this time with those pesky monochrome 8-bit invaders coming in for a landing. The Space Invaders throw measures in at 48 x 67 inches, making it just big enough to keep your kneecaps cozy and warm while you sit on the couch playing one of your newfangled “next-gen” video games. Each throw is custom made to order, and retails for $250.

Dunh-Dunh, Dunh-Dunh, Dun-Dun, Dun-Dun, Du-Du-Du-Du. Those pesky Space Invaders are coming to your town to help you party down. Or at least they’re ready to help you keep warm on a windy day with this spiffy Invaders-themed hoodie. These cotton knitwear zippered hoodies feature tons of little green Invaders all over the surface.

I was buzzing about over on the wonderful world of Etsy today, when I came across these absolutely awesome plush versions of popular portable electronic gadgets. French textile artist Kmila Rodz handcrafts these super special soft systems using felt, needle and thread, with a just a dash of love thrown in. From the wonderfully whimsical folding Nintendo DS Lite (complete with stuffed stylus and a game of New Super Mario Bros.

This retro arcade quilt makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. The throw features the pixel-y likenesses of Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man and all of their ghostly pals (along with some delicious 8-bit cherries). Posted by s0choice over on the Craftster forums, the handmade quilt is one of my favorites in a long time.

Remember that oh-so-fun soft and squishy NES console? The talented crafter who made that great plush Nintendo is back with more plush gadgets, each sewn with amazing detail. Textile artist Blythe Church has just revealed a sneak preview of her latest creations which she’s preparing to show at her upcoming show “The Pitch of the Stitch”. Her latest collection of handsewn electronic gear includes an AM/FM radio, complete with soft batteries, a boom box, and an old rotary phone among others. If you happen to be anywhere near Halifax, Nova Scotia (current temperature: a balmy 19° F – yow) between April 11th and 27th, you can check them out in person at Argyle Fine Art Gallery.

This cool fabric curtain may look like a tree from afar, but once you’re up close, you’ll see that it’s made of tens of thousands of tiny ASCII characters. Created by Dutch designer Nienke Sybrandy, the huge (18′ x 11′) curtain panel was digitally printed with dot matrix characters to give the impression of intricate tree branches from a distance.

Whether you didn’t score an actual Wii over the holidays, or if your real one just needs a companion, this soft Wii is a wonderful, whimsical addition to any living room. If you’re a really serious Wii fanatic, you could always keep it in your bed and snuggle with it while you snooze. Hand-sewn by crafter Kickass-Peanut (who also brought us the squishy Xbox 360), the plush Wii comes complete with a matching Wii-mote, Nunchuck and even a vertical stand.

Video games and quilting sound like they should mix about as well as oil and water, but lately, they seem more like the delicious blend of chocolate and peanut butter. First we had the Q*Bert quilt, followed by the Galaga quilt and more recently the Legend of Zelda quilt.

Soft and squishy aren’t usually words I use to describe computer hardware. However, there’s always an exception to every rule, right? This plush computer was handcrafted by artist Mandy Jouan of Sappy Moose Tree (I just like saying that).

This set of fun Pac-Man pillows features the likenesses of Inky, Blinky, Pinky and Clyde, the ghosts from the classic 1980s arcade game. But flip them over, and you’ll get some of those frantic blue ghosts on the run as if you just chomped down on a big old power pill. Handcrafted by New Hampshire fabric artist Rapunzel’s Tower (aka “Punzie”), the pillows are pieced and stitched to give them the look of individual pixels from the classic ghosts of gaming past.

On a cold winter’s day, what better way to enjoy a gaming session than from under this toasty quilt featuring the 80s arcade classic Galaga? Handcrafted by North Carolina artist CarolinaPatchworks, the quilt offers up a giant (18:1 scale) interpretation of the bitmapped icons from arguably the best top-down shooter of all time. The 60-inch square quilt can be found over on Etsy for $475.

This amazing tech demo shows off an augmented reality system which can digitally swap out textures on clothing. While it sounds pretty simple, the ability to exactly mimic the behavior and appearance of cloth is extremely difficult to pull off. Developed by computer graphics researchers Volker Scholz and Marcus Magnor, the texture replacement technology uses a complex algorithm which encodes the coordinates of textures in a sampled video sequence, then replaces them with a new texture map, complete with shadows and all the fabric folds.

Were Bioshock and Halo 3 a little too intense for your delicate sensibilities? Are games like Barbie’s Horse Adventure more your pace? Then have I got a video game console for you! An artist going by the excellent screen name Kickass-Peanut created this soft, plush Xbox 360 console, which is certain to be unable to play those evil “M”-rated games.

Tired of the old plain plastic shell on your Mac laptop? Here’s a nifty way spruce up its outsides without a lot of time or money. These adhesive-backed layers stick on to the shell of your portable computer and give it a bit more style. Available in a variety of wood veneer and textile finishes, iamhuman’s laptop covers trump cheap vinyl skins, giving the exterior of your computer some real texture and depth.

Check out these awesome soft fabric pieces of audio gear. I can’t decide if I like the Boombox or the Walkman better. I love how the artist even made a little pair of headphones and some cassettes to go with the portable tape player. All were lovingly handcrafted by Israel’s VeryNiceDolls.

Did you cut your teeth dropping every last quarter of your allowance into arcade machines back in the 80s? Here’s a little something to bring back those memories whenever parked on your couch or reclining in your La-Z-Boy.