What's more, those items could be electrically conductive.

The prototype fabric printer contains rolls of cloth, which are coated with a heat-activated adhesive on one side. Here's how the printing process works ...

A vacuum holds a length of the material in place up above a laser, which first burns a rectangle out of the cloth. Then, within that rectangle, it cuts a shape representing one 2D cross-sectional slice of the desired object. That shape isn't completely cut away from the rest of the rectangle, as the surrounding cloth is used for structural support.

Next, the vacuum is turned off, releasing the rectangle. It is then placed on top of a stack of previously-cut rectangles, and is bonded to the one on top through the application of heat. The roll of cloth advances so that a new rectangle can be made, the vacuum goes back on, and the process continues until all of the sequential slices of the object have been cut and bonded together within a cube of fabric.

The user then pulls the supporting material away by hand, revealing the finished product underneath.