TerrieMiller.com

When I read Neil Gershenfeld’s book FAB: The Coming Revolution on Your Desktop a couple of years ago, I was excited about the future promise of fabrication. It would be a Maker revolution, with people building amazing things in their own homes. We’d have any number of exciting gadgets and objects, each designed by us, for our personal needs and whims. If we needed something around the house, we could sit down at our computer, design it, and have it pop out of a machine. It would be a fantastic tool for creative people.

I’m much less excited by this fantasy now than I was a couple of years ago. But what’s more interesting is how personal fabrication is sneaking into our lives already. We may not have our own in-home fabber (although some do), but it’s becoming increasingly mainstream to be able to get custom objects created for very little expense.

One of my guilty pleasures is Project Runway, and occaisionally one of the challenges the contestants face is to design something for the “everyday woman”…that’s code for “women who are above a size 2, maybe way above”. I’m an everyday woman, and my fabber is the web. Instead of making gadgets, I’ve been making clothing and eyeglasses. And I don’t have to work with some brilliant snotty designer who takes pleasure in making someone like me cry to do it.

One of the early providers of custom fashion is the Timbuk2 Build-your-own bag system. It lets you choose from their spiffy colors and features to create a laptop bag or backpack all your own. I’ve happily built a number of bags here, ulitimately abandoning them because I don’t really need a new bag; it’s just fun to play with. Below, for $100 and $125:

Similarly, Converse lets you design and purchase your custom Chuck Taylors.

And NikeID is very similar.

If you’re ready to let your feminine side come out a bit, you might like Steve Madden’s Design-Your-Own.

I like to think of these as “recliners”. Invisible motorcycle. Rawr!

Finished with the fantasy, I can abandon my shopping cart and save $130 for something more pedestrian.

As you can see, a lot of this is just playing with fashion. The quality of the products is good enough, and the pricing seems fair for something so customized, if that’s important to you. But what about something really useful.

Jeans. A good pair of jeans a wonderful thing; they can last for years. But finding ones that fit well (especially for the “everyday woman”) can be a torturous project. So I was immediately interested when I read about MakeYourOwnJeans.com in Susie Bright’s column in CRAFT 05. Soon I was having serious interactions with a tape measure…

…ordering custom-made jeans online for $63 ($48 + $15 delivery from India).

I tried them on as soon as they arrived, and realized that I screwed up; I measured the length using a pair of existing jeans with a waist that fits lower than the ones I ordered, so the jeans I got were about two inches shorter than I really wanted. BUT, otherwise the fit is fantastic. They feel better than any other jeans I’ve worn. The crotch and the waistband are exactly where they’re supposed to be. I wish I’d done a better job of measuring…next time I’ll ask for help. And there will be a next time. I plan to order two pair on my next order to optimize the shipping costs.

These jeans also played to my emotions in two ways. By ordering them and noting the shipping details, I realized I was ordering for India and had some qualms. Are the workers treated fairly in this company? How about their environmental practices? I rationalized this by noting that the jeans I buy pre-made in stores come from all sorts of places with questionable practices. At least more of the money I was spending is going directly to the manufacturer, which seems like a good thing.

The surprising thing about MakeYourOwnJeans happened after I put them the first day to wear them, and noticed that something was missing. I’d never been aware of it before, but every time I put on jeans is an opportunity for the inner critic to solemnly note the size on the tag and pronounce judgment on myself. These jeans have no size tag; they have no size. They’re made for me, an everyday woman, and with them I’m not subject to the tyranny and vagaries of women’s clothing sizes. Finally, we can get clothing sized by factual information, not by the labeling of an industry with a vested interest in playing to a woman’s inner critic.

My most recent personal fabrication purchase is eyeglasses. Terribly nearsighted from childhood, I’ve always dreaded the trip to the optometrist shop. It’s clear that the markup on eyeglasses has been out of control; to be happy with your purchase, you have to buy into a fantasy that there’s an optician carefully hand-crafting your lenses and frames and carefully fitting them to your face. Well, you don’t have to pay for that a fantasy any longer (some of you may wish to purchase shoes instead).

Ordering glasses online has been around for a while, but I’d never heard of it until Matt Haughey’s 43Folders post, Adventures in $40 eyeglasses:

I used to wear the same glasses for 3-4 years between changes so I’m finding it incredibly liberating to pick from five different sets of glasses each morning. I have a couple fashionable pairs for going out, a couple understated ones for working and I can even take a chance with a wacky retro frame if I’m in the mood. All told, my glasses cost me from a low of $26 to a high of $84 per pair, mostly depending on the options I picked for lenses.

Matt points to the Glassy Eyes weblog, which has links to everything you need to know about ordering glasses online. Since I’d just gotten my eyes checked and had a prescription in had, I quickly called my ophthalmologist, got my pupil distance and asked them to spend my vision insurance allowance (thank you, O’Reilly!) on my contact lenses this year. I decided to order from Zenni Optical in nearby San Rafael.

I got the works…bendable titanium frames, highest high-index lens material, anti-reflective coating…for a total of $71. They arrived yesterday, and I’m wearing them as I write this. They’re great, and the price is a far cry from the $350 (and up) I would have paid at a local optometrist. Had I opted for a basic stainless alloy frame (or plastic) and regular lens material, my total would have been a paltry $17! That means I’ll be getting spares sometime soon. Maybe a little something in a leopard print or rhinestones. Rawr.

Got a favorite personal fabrication service? Share them in the comments!