Knit Bombing
Big picture
Knits are flexible structures that will easily conform to the shape of irregular objects – like the human body.
What’s the goal?
Young designers will understand that materials have different structures and that knit structure provides flexibility to allow easy body movement in garments. That is why knits are so comfortable to wear!
Grouping
Young designers work in pairs, larger teams, or all in one group.
Let’s get started!
In this activity, we’re going to learn how knits can conform to almost any shape!
VOCABULARY
Knit: Knit fabrics are created by using a single, continuous yarn to make a series of interlaced loops. The yarn, in the looped structure, can move and slide, which gives knits their characteristic stretchable quality.
Knit Bombing: A form of street art that employs colorful displays of knitted fabrics rather than paint or chalk.
Procedure
- Have young designers select one piece of knit fabric the same size as the woven fabric.
- Have them wrap their ball with the woven fabric. Pull all the edges of the fabric together and twist a rubber band tightly around them. Pull the fabric tight.
- Encourage them to take pictures if they have cell phones; then repeat with the knit fabric.
ASK: Which fabric fits more smoothly?
ANSWER: Show the PowerPoint to see why.
- Have young designers select one or more pieces of knit fabric and several pipe cleaners.
- Send them to a designated area (outdoors is good) and find an object they would like to decorate (Trees, bike racks, railings, etc.).
For some inspiration, a quick google image search of ‘knit bombing images’ will do the trick! Also try these other search terms: Yarn Bombing, yarn storming, guerrilla knitting, urban knitting, or kniffiti.
- Have them wrap a knit around the object and pull it as tightly as possible. Then, secure it in place with pipe cleaners. This is more effective if the young designers use several pieces of knit and join them to “bomb” an entire object! Suggest that they think about how the various colors will work together.
- Take pictures of the knit bombing and share with our community on our website!
Wrap it Up
- Discuss what they observe happening to the knit structure as the fabric is fitted to the objects. Do some knits stretch in more directions than others?
- Ask if they think if this “bombing” would work with woven fabrics. Why or why not?
Example of knit bombing. Image courtesy of: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yarn_bombing
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