They say "To a guy with a hammer, everything looks like a nail." Well ever since I bought this bad-ass, cast-iron, fully refurbished 1953-model Singer 15-91 sewing machine on eBay, I've been looking for things to repair by sewing. So first up, I'm gonna show you how to reupholster a stool. As usual I'll include my screw-ups in hopes you can avoid them. And even if you don't have a stool to re-upholster, hopefully the methodology of this post will teach you a little about taking things apart and fixing them.

A little background on the sewing machine: I came across an engineer who restores and sells these in his spare time (more on him in a future entry). The one I bought from him was a little cheaper than usual--$200 price range--because although it is mechanically perfect, the condition of the machine's cast-iron body makes it look like it actually fought in World War II.

So here's the stool in question. I bought six of these on Craigslist for ten bucks each; they were originally $40 at Bed Bath & Beyond.

As you can see, the corner seam of the vinyl is ripped and the foam is poking its way out. I don't know anything about how stools are built, but it hardly looks like rocket science, so I'll figure this out as I go along. Please join me on my magical journey of self-discovery.

As you mark up your new 2011 calendar with conferences and events to attend next year, consider significant 25% savings when registering for Economist Conferences' The Big Rethink taking place March 3rd. Use discount code "CORE77" to take advantage of the The Big Savings.

March 3rd, 2011 Economist Conferences The Big Rethink: Competing on Ideas The Big Rethink, taking place on March 3rd 2011, will focus on the various ways that businesses are generating new ideas to gain competitive advantage. We will explore the drivers of fresh thinking, from imaginative leadership to global trends like changing consumer behaviour, and consider how these can be used in your own organisations. This year's featured speakers include Rory Sutherland, Zein Abdalla of Pepsico Europe, Jeff Weedman of Procter and Gamble, Cory Doctorow and more.

With categories like Design Junkie, Green Geek, and DIY'er, there's something for every eco-conscious friend on your list in Treehugger's 2010 holiday gift guide. Low-Impact Luxury for High-Impact Giving is the theme dictating entries that made it into their collection of over 100 items which range in thoughtfulness from items that are completely recyclable or made from recycled materials, to immaterial charitable gifts that help shape future behaviors.

Check it out.

Deadline is over and the entries are in! The 5 most popular cardboard creations as rated by YOU will each win a $100 Hand-Eye Gift Certificate. Voting ends at high noon tomorrow (EST) — take a look and rate your favorites!

View entries

We recently caught up with Scott Summit, the industrial designer behind San-Francisco-based Bespoke Innovations, at AU 2010, where he was one of the keynote speakers. Bespoke Innovations has a clear mission: Apply good industrial design and rapid prototyping techniques to make kick-ass prosthetics. They don't do off-the-shelf parts--they interview amputees, find out what makes them tick, and design some seriously cool custom limbs based on their interests and tastes.

Some amputees like Mid-Century Modern. Some like motorcycles. Some like leather or tattoos. Summit seems like the first industrial designer to realize that with today's manufacturing technologies, there's no reason an amputee should have to wear a cold and impersonal prosthetic designed by some engineer who's ordering parts out of a catalog and has never been to design school.

With about a million diabetic amputees in the U.S. alone, Summit and Bespoke have a huge market to address. And as they serve them, they're raising some very good issues about the product space that mass production should, and should not, occupy in the future. The production world is changing, and as you'll see in the interview below, Summit isn't just riding the wave--he's helping to create it.

Can a keychain/key receive any more love from the Internet? When it's something so deceptively simple as 2010's much loved Keybrid, the answer is no, it cannot. Keybrid is here and belongs in your pocket. Buy a two pack for you and that special someone who remains on your shopping list.

Check out more great gift ideas in Core77's Ultimate Holiday Gift Guide 2010.

In this cool "Autodesk - Sketch Your Way to Success" video, we get a closer look at Spencer Nugent and John Muhlenkamp. You'll probably recognize their names--in addition to running their own design firm, Sacramento-based Studio T-Minus, they're the duo behind idsketching.com and sketch-a-day.com.

James Victore's new monograph is so slick that a stranger on the subway asked us what we were reading because he "needed a new book." The design strikes such a careful balance between craft and irreverence that has the same appeal as the cool kid in school that never followed the rules but still graduated on time.

The matte black pages provide a striking contrast to a typically bound book, even when closed, and the cover painting sandwiches those uncommon pages between a carefully defaced oil painting festooned with Victore's trademark hand illustrations (scrawled painted words and a Van Dyke goatee) combined with a stark typeface arrangement. The cover itself actually forms a fold-out of the painting that can serve as a poster, Victore's stock and trade. From the cover on in, the monograph is just as boisterous and freewheeling an exploration of the bounds of graphic design as James Victore's career has been.

The shipping window is closing for X-mas and yes, we have one last shameless plug to make, albeit this is more public service announcement than promo: You should buy this book: The Pocket Ref! As useful as a smart phone when faced with a question of standardized sizes, formulas or material properties and a whole lot sturdier! Check the image below for an idea of the range of its contents. 768 pages. Super special because it bears our Core77 Store brand: Hand-Eye Supply! OK, that is it, have a great and festive holiday season!

Today's the day to visit the Core77 Designer Super Store:

Peace out!

Interactive Designer
Crane & Co., Inc.
New York, NY

Crane & Co., Inc., a premier manufacturer of fine stationery and currency papers, is currently seeking an Interactive Designer for its digital business in NYC. The incumbent will manage and create all interactive and graphic art for its online business and digital services.

Reporting to the Director of Crane Digital, the Interactive Designer will be responsible for designing and creating email campaigns, online banner campaigns and the eCommerce site. The incumbent must possess solid typography, graphic and interaction design skills. Expertise with PhotoShop, Illustrator, HTML and CSS required. Flash, including ActionScript, is necessary. Understanding of HTML and CSS, as well as standards of web and email marketing is important.

The Interactive Designer will be expected to show initiative and have the ability to work effectively both independently and collaboratively in a team. He/she must be an exceptionally gifted online graphic designer who thrives in a fast-paced retail environment and keeps current with design as it relates to a variety of evolving digital platforms.

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So there's some sort of techno-creative collective called BeyondTheTech, the exact disposition of which isn't quite clear, but they've got a website with random projects on it. It's apparently run by a guy named Raphael Salgado, and like the photographer Joey Celis, he was one of two people to get a bunch of blog love for doing a Leica iPhone skin earlier this year.

In any case, BTT's got one of the best MacBook Air skins we've seen to date, modeled after the classic composition notebook. Yes, the red line on the lined page is on the "wrong" side, but it does provide a neat visual boundary delineating the clickable area of the trackpad, and the throwback style will resonate with many a Gen-X'er (remember them?). How long until we see a Trapper Keeper skin?

The Times has got an awesome slideshow up featuring a collection of spacesuits, presented in both photographed and X-rayed form. Some were actually used on missions, others never left the planet, some look hi-tech, others look like you shouldn't wear them in a rainstorm. They're all part of the Smithsonian's collection, and they're reportedly planning a traveling exhibition for Spring 2011, though no information yet exists on their website.

In the meantime, check out the images and related article, the latter of which features a cool blown-up shot with call-outs.

On its own merits this book deserves the attention of any student of drawing, but it is more than just an inspirational collection of drawings; it is also a memorial to a dear member of the Art Center design community. The drawings are those of Norman j. Schureman, a beloved and talented faculty member at the acclaimed school. Norman tragically died earlier this year and this book aims to preserve his legacy while raising some money for his family.

You can see more of its contents and order it here.

So bad that it is good: a pair of shakers in the shape of the Photoshop application icon. Easily enhance taste contrast! Add noise (Monochromatic) to your steak!

Found at Coroflot

International design studio and staunch ambassadors of minimalism Antrepo have been getting creative in the name of their design principles.

The firm have shone the torch of minimalism on a whole host of household brands, from Nutella to Nesquik, to illustrate the impact of the understated—in the way that many a designerly mind has dreamed about for decades. By visualising not one, but two stages of simplification, the guys at Antrepo illustrate just how much unnecessary visual bumpf we as consumers are subjected to.

Check out the Antrepo blog for more package purification.

I want to be able to make a leather sofa, and a messenger bag, and an iPad case. Stuff made with fabric. So a few months ago I decided to learn to sew, because although all of those items exist in the marketplace, the available designs don't appeal to me. In the true ID spirit, I figure I should learn what I need to learn in order to make these things myself.

Three ways I can think of to learn something new are go to school for it, get an apprenticeship or learn it from a book. Sure there are Instructables and YouTube videos, but in the absence of curation you can spend a lot of time wading through junk. I found a couple online tutorials on how to build a sofa, and they were the ugliest goddamn things I'd ever seen--I wouldn't buy 'em for ten dollars if they came with a twenty stuffed between the cushions.

I looked into a local upholstery class, but the fabrics they work with are light, frilly things. I want to sew heavy-duty stuff like leather and vinyl, not gauzy stuff that comes in flower prints. And I couldn't find any books on how to make a sofa, but I came across a book on automotive upholstery on Amazon and ordered it, figuring if you could make leather car seats and benches you could probably adapt that knowledge to couches.

The photos inside the book are almost worthless--tiny, grainy black-and-whites where you can't make out crucial details--but the information inside seemed good.

Now it was time to find a machine....

Aside from a few power tools, I don't own anything with moving parts that's more than five years old. Stuff breaks and becomes obsolete. So the thought of buying a sturdy machine that was built sixty years ago and will easily serve me through the next twenty, is cheaper than a brand-new machine that does the same thing, and requires virtually no maintenance, has a powerful allure. Which is why I bought an old Singer sewing machine from Collin Antos.

Antos, a 31-year-old engineer, uses the Singer 15-91 model in his spare time to make everything from curtains to carry-on luggage to messenger bags. He is an unabashed Singer 15-91 geek and lovingly restores them in his spare time.

Core77 recently interviewed Antos on what makes these machines special and different in a crowded marketplace, why they have survived obsolescence and may even be superior to modern machines, what you can make with them, and how he fixes them up. In analyzing his answers, we see this conversation is actually about a lot more than a simple sewing machine, and in fact helps illuminate the way we think about products we own and what we really want from them. His answers are long, in a good way, so it'll be presented in two parts. We think you'll find it interesting.

Core77: Can you tell us about your dual engineering/industrial design educational background?
Collin Antos: When I was in high school I really wanted to design and make shoes. I started off just studying Bio-Mechanical Engineering at Syracuse University, but I realized that I was missing two other parts that encompassed manufacturing, and those were Textile Science and Industrial Design. I took as many classes as I could in both and met some amazing people who taught me so much about how different views come together during production.

Since graduating I have always worked in a manufacturing plant as an engineer. Having an industrial design background has been such an advantage for me professionally, because normally engineers and artists are standing on opposite sides of the room. Having an understanding of the artist's point of view as well as the manufacturing product lifecycle, including machine limitations, has made working together so much easier.

How did you get into sewing and repairing sewing machines?
I learned to sew in a 7th grade Home Economics class. I love to build things, very different things, it doesn't matter what it is. For example I love woodworking and have slowly been building up a nice little shop in the garage. Sewing has always sort of been simmering in the background and usually bubbles to the surface for me when I see something in a catalogue that I like.

One of the most important things for me is owning only Made in America items. Sadly it's EXTREMELY hard to do. Yes, I own a cell phone, Macbook and iPod and none are made here (although the software was) and they were all designed here. This is why sewing comes to the surface so often; if I can't find it Made in the USA I try to make it myself....

If my Part 1 talk with Collin Antos sounds like a commercial for the Singer 15-91, that's because originally that was the goal: When I first came across Antos and read about his extensive refurbishment process for thes sewing machines, I thought "Man, we gotta ask him to sell these through Hand-Eye Supply!"

I figured our readers who'd want a machine like this would want to avoid the frustrating eBay bidding process, where victory is often snatched away at the last minute. It's even more painful losing a bid on an Antos machine, as I have, because they're so individual--he does extensive write-ups on the specific process for each machine, gives the machine's serial number (which you can then look up on Singer's website to see where and when it was made), and even shoots an individual YouTube video showing the specific machine sewing through a variety of materials. You can see the one he made for the machine I eventually bought from him down at the bottom of this entry, and my machine itself is pictured here going under the knife.

(Despite our wooing efforts, Antos is skittish about turning a hobby into a business. Unless we can get the guy to change his mind, if you want to buy one of his machines you'll have to go through the bidding process on his eBay wares.)

Now for Part 2 of our interview, where Antos gives us the breakdown on breaking these machines down, then building them back up. It's a heckuva lot more involved than cleaning out half-a-century-old gunk and replacing World-War-II-era wiring.

The guy makes his own springs, for chrissakes.

Core77: Please tell us about your repair process.
Collin Antos: My repair process is very intense. I remove 163 pieces from the machine and clean each one with rubbing alcohol, and on metal functional pieces (like the thread tensioning plates) I use 00 grade steel wool.

There are two springs in the bobbin winding assembly that, if broken, no replacements exist for. So I actually bought 12-inch spring stock of the same wire diameters and opening diameters and I form replacement springs myself.

I remove and resolder in, new, all of the wires from the motor, the foot controller and the light. Then I crimp and solder on electrical O-Ring-style wire terminators so that if something goes wrong on the machine in the future it can be serviced easily...

"Made with no money, just a little time and a lot of passion", a london-based art director going by the name of "BC2010" has totted up over 125,000 hits on a short film uploaded to Vimeo less than a fortnight ago.

The sci-fi short, entitled "Modern Times", gives us a mouthwatering, if slightly optimistic, glimpse into a future world of space-crafts, intelligent interfaces and transformer-esque workstations that magically materialise from the floor. The story, rather endearingly, centres around a humble cinema projectionist as he boots up a less-than-humble mega-projector; blasting its image on what appears to be the surface of the moon, for the pleasure of the orbiting viewers.

The viral spread of this futurist clip is more than a little reminiscent of last December's YouTube hit turned (expected) Hollywood blockbuster "Panic Attack", and is yet further proof of the impact a few enthusiastic amateurs can have broadcasting their goods on the net. Make sure to check out the "Behind the Scenes" clip to see how Director of Photography, Richard Mountney and the team created their vision for the future.

Front Page Graphic Designer/News Editor
The Huffington Post
New York, NY

The Huffington Post, a leading news and opinion website which in nearly five years has become an influential media brand. The site offers coverage of politics, media, business, entertainment, world, living, style, college, comedy, impact, food, and green, and is a top destination for news, blogs, video and original content. The site has over 35 million unique users each month.

The Huffington Post is looking for an editor with experience in graphic design to create buzz-worthy visuals for our major front page news stories. This editor will also sometimes file stories, follow news, and write headlines on our widely-read homepage. This position is based in NYC.

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The best design jobs and portfolios hang out at Coroflot.