A.I. And The Dreaded Y Seam
I learned today that A.I. has no clue how to sew; design, yes – sew, nope. I concluded this after visiting with a dear quilting friend. She showed me a project she was completing for her 21 year old granddaughter who had used A.I. to design a tee shirt quilt layout. The graphically appealing pattern was a nightmare to actually sew, rendering my friend irked by all the ‘set-in’ (or “Y”) seams. This sunflower quilt was also designed by AI, though nary a Y-seam to worry about. In fact, any experienced quilter will do her darnedest to avoid those dreaded set-in seams. It seems A.I. hasn’t learned that lesson.
Teresa (aka ‘The A.I. Quilter’ https://theaiquilter.com/ ) spoke at my quilt guild’s last summer, discussing A.I. and its use in quilt making. I signed for her workshop as I was intrigued, and knew virtually nothing about using A.I. The workshop required participants to complete a questionnaire which Teresa then used as a prompt for creating a unique A.I. generated quilt design for each of us. I requested a classic artwork recreated with a modern slant. The A.I. platform interpreted that to mean ‘dancing women’ images; not exactly the ‘classic art’ form I had in mind. Teresa recognized how off-base her A.I. platform went, and sent different ideas after informing A.I. to use artwork instead of dance. The resulting options by Vermeer, Van Gogh and others were more in line with my intention, and we landed on Van Gogh’s sunflowers.
The workshop did not spend a great deal of time on the means to construct the quilt, rather focused on A.I. in general and how to incorporate it as a tool in quilt making. I found this fascinating. Constructing the actual quilt pattern from the class was more a paint-by-number (with fabrics) process than actual sewing. Having used fusible fabrics for many years I forged right ahead, enjoying the relaxing process of playing with color and fabrics to build the flowers. Partway through the project, I realized the abstract flowers were actually in a vase on a table! It was not obvious from the original image, but I liked the idea of anchoring the flowers in a logical space. I finished off the quilted piece like artwork, with a beautiful green silk fabric ‘mat’, offset with a dark brown inner ‘mat’ and binding.
Unfortunately, the A.I. pattern my quilting friend was working on for her granddaughter DID require sewing. And it became very clear Artificial Intelligence does not include seamstresses working in the background. While the design is creative, incorporating all the granddaughter’s tee-shirts, an experienced quilter would look to group the sections to make all the seams straight lines. This pattern has numerous sections where the seams stop and start (look at bottom left corner where the 4x8 piece sits sideways and does not allow for a complete, straight seam in any direction as it is ‘set in’ the middle of numerous blocks.) Construction involves sewing a partial row, leaving it unfinished so the next area can be ‘set in’ next to it – thus the “Y” where you pivot to go in a different direction). Confused? Not to worry, except to say I would highly advise against relying on A.I. to create sewing patterns unless -like my good friend – you are an experienced sewer and know how to navigate the dreaded “Y” seams.
