StitchSwitch: Programmable Surface Deformation and Bistability in Embroidered Textiles
Abstract
Programming 3D surface deformation has been widely explored in rigid and semi-rigid materials, but achieving predictable shape change in wearable textiles remains challenging. We present StitchSwitch, a computational design and fabrication system for programming surface deformation and bistability into embroidered textiles through a continuous parametric tessellation design space. Embroidering triangle-tessellated patches onto pre-stretched elastic fabric encodes out-of-plane deformation and passive bistability directly into the textile. We characterize how patch diameter and embroidery fill percentage govern deformation, revealing varied deformation outcomes and a saturation regime where increasing density shifts deformation from vertical height to lateral distribution. We develop a reduced-space simulation model predicting this relationship in real time, integrated into a garment-scale design tool supporting live 3D preview, inverse design, and fabrication-aware export. We demonstrate StitchSwitch through two garment-integrated applications, a tactile garment interface and a deformation-based storage pocket, showing how programmable bistable deformation enables functional structures directly within textiles.
Citation
@inproceedings{li2026stitchswitch,
author = {Li, Vivian and Kodnongbua, Milin and Robertson, Heather and Luo, Yiyue and Schulz, Adriana},
title = {StitchSwitch: Programmable Surface Deformation and Bistability in Embroidered Textiles},
year = {2026},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3830398.3830499},
doi = {10.1145/3830398.3830499},
abstract = {Programming 3D surface deformation has been widely explored in rigid and semi-rigid materials, but achieving predictable shape change in wearable textiles remains challenging. We present StitchSwitch, a computational design and fabrication system for programming surface deformation and bistability into embroidered textiles through a continuous parametric tessellation design space. Embroidering triangle-tessellated patches onto pre-stretched elastic fabric encodes out-of-plane deformation and passive bistability directly into the textile. We characterize how patch diameter and embroidery fill percentage govern deformation, revealing varied deformation outcomes and a saturation regime where increasing density shifts deformation from vertical height to lateral distribution. We develop a reduced-space simulation model predicting this relationship in real time, integrated into a garment-scale design tool supporting live 3D preview, inverse design, and fabrication-aware export. We demonstrate StitchSwitch through two garment-integrated applications, a tactile garment interface and a deformation-based storage pocket, showing how programmable bistable deformation enables functional structures directly within textiles.},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 39th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology},
numpages = {8},
keywords = {shape-change, programmable textiles, machine embroidery, bistability, computational design, digital fabrication},
location = {Detroit, MI, USA},
series = {UIST '26},
}