There should be an automatic ripper built into sewing machines, so that you don't have to spend large amounts of time ripping seams by hand (which is inevitable during large projects). This would work just like you were sewing, except it would be ripping. You just follow the same line you sewed, and it either reverses the stitch or tears it out. Would someone please invent this?!
-- longdecember79, Jun 26 2008

I don't see how this would work, desirable though it may be.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jun 26 2008


I suppose you could do it with a camera mount and AI stitch recognition, but that's a little silly.
-- daseva, Jun 26 2008


"A little silly"?! This is halfbakery, man! This is PERFECT here! [+]
-- absterge, Jun 26 2008


//would work just like you were sewing, except it would be ripping//

Exactly how is ripping anything like sewing? One is the opposite of the other, but it is not as if you can just run the machine backwards and the stitches come out.

Ripping is still handwork for a reason. How would you keep the machine from ripping other threads in the fabric? How would the machine know where to rip?
-- nomocrow, Jun 26 2008


you would need a knife action that went from side to side (between the two sewn pieces) as opposed the up and down motion of the needle. totally doable (but slightly scary) I think a seamstress would prefer more control.
-- po, Jun 26 2008



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