Creative Design: Professional

Modular Knitting

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Abstract

This creative scholarship investigates how a single, carefully developed digital knit file can generate multiple garment configurations through a modular design approach. Digital knit programming requires translating graphic motifs into stitch-based “pixels,” iterative sampling, and precise edits, particularly when incorporating 3D shaping through goring which constrains surface design placement. Such labor-intensive processes are often used to produce only one garment. This project addresses that inefficiency by exploring how one knit file can be adapted to create multiple garments for a capsule, mix-and-match wardrobe. Grounded in modular fashion theory and a knowledge-through-practice methodology, the study develops a repeatable graphic design integrated with both gored and straight knit sections. By manipulating the number of gored repeats and the width of rectangular sections, multiple garments were produced from the same file without disrupting the graphic structure. The resulting garments demonstrates how uniting surface design, knit structure, and programming expertise can expand creative potential.

Keywords: Digital Knitting, Modular Design, Surface Design

How to Cite:

Ohrn-McDaniel, L. & Riewe Stevenson, K., (2025) “Modular Knitting”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 82(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/itaa.21973