make your own electronic sewing kit
(no previous electronics knowledge or soldering required)

Note: This page is currently under construction. Check out my old diy e-sewing page for a complete example project. Scan through this page first for better information on how to make stitchable LEDs and a fabric switch.

jump to a section:
supplies
about circuits and LEDs
making LEDs stitch-able
making a fabric switch
design
construction
washing and wearing
troubleshooting and FAQ


supplies
    Purchase a kit here. (Designed by me and Nwanua and sold through Nwanua's company Aniomagic.)

    or build your own...



    basic e-sewing supplies. click for a bigger image.


  • conductive thread and a needle: purchase silver coated thread from SparkFun
  • lights, Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs): purchase from SparkFun, Digikey or your local RadioShack
  • CR2032 battery: purchase from Digikey part #: SY189-ND or your local RadioShack (not shown in picture)
  • CR2032 battery holder: purchase from Digikey part # BA2032SM-ND
  • needle-nosed pliers: purchase from your local hardware store
  • puffy fabric paint to use as an insulator: purchase from your local craft store or Michaels
  • fabric glue: purchase from your local craft store or Michaels
  • a piece of fabric or an item of clothing to decorate

additional supplies for fabric switch



supplies for the fabric switch.

  • conductive fabric: purchase a small piece of "Zelt" fabric from Less EMF
  • a piece of felt, wool or a similar thick, springy material
  • a piece of fabric for the outside of the switch


a little about circuits and LEDs

If you are completely new to circuits, you should read enough to understand how a basic circuit works before embarking on this project. Introductions to electricity and circuits can be found at: Electronics Club - Electricity and the Electron and Doctronics - Circuits.

Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) are highly efficient lights that come in an assortment of colors, shapes and sizes. A search for "LED" on Digikey will give you an indication of the variety of LEDs that are manufactured. Any through-hole packaged LED like the ones shown in the picture of the supplies shown above will work for this project. If you are new to LEDs, you should read the first section of the page at: Electronics Club - Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) before proceeding.

An LED has two leads: one lead is the positive (+) end of the LED, called the "anode", and one lead is the negative (-) end of the LED, called the "cathode". In the picture of the supplies above and the picture of the LED and pliers below, you can see that one lead is longer than the other. The longer lead is usually the anode lead.

A note about LEDs and resistors: generally, you have to be careful not to attach an LED directly to a power supply. Attaching an LED directly to a power supply can cause the LED to burn up as too much electrical current flows through it. Normally, you have to attach an LED to a power supply through an electrical component called a resistor. However, for the project described here we will not need resistors because we will use a relatively low-voltage power supply (a 3 volt coin-cell battery) and the conductive thread we will use to sew out our circuit has some natural resistance. IF YOU USE A DIFFERENT POWER SUPPLY FOR THIS PROJECT OR DO ANY OTHER ELECTRICAL PROJECTS INVOLVING LEDs YOU NEED TO USE RESISTORS IN YOUR CIRCUITS TO PREVENT BURNING UP YOUR LEDs! For more information on resistors and LEDs see Electronics Club - Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs).


make stitch-able LEDs

 1. get out your LEDs and pliers.



what you'll need: your pliers and LEDs.


2. Grasp the long lead of of an LED with the pliers. This is most likely the anode (+) lead of your LED. Bend this lead so that it is flush with the bottom of the LED, at a right angle to the other LED lead as is shown below.


one lead of the LED is bent out.


3. Grasp the bent out lead with the pliers and twist it into a rounded circular spiral.



twisting an LED lead.


4. Repeat this bending process for the other LED lead, twisting the second lead into a square spiral. Twisting the anode (+) lead one way and the cathode (-) another will help you easily distinguish the anode and cathode leads as you are sewing. The finished LED is shown below.


the finished "stitch-able" LED.
note that the anode (+) lead of the LED has been twisted into a round spiral
and the cathode (-) lead of the LED has been twisted in a square spiral.


5. Repeat this process for the rest of your LEDs


 make a fabric switch/touch sensor

1. Get out the conductive fabric, felt, switch fabric, scissors and fabric paint.



supplies for the fabric switch


2. Cut out a square of felt. This will be the soft and springy center of your switch.



cutting the felt.


3. Cut a hole out of the center of the felt square you just cut.



cutting a hole out of the center of the felt square.


4. Cut out two squares of fabric. These will be the outside of your switch.



cutting the exterior fabric.


5. Cut two strips of conductive fabric for the contacts in your switch. Each strip should be slightly longer than the felt square you cut and just wide enough to cover the hole in the felt.



cutting conductive fabric strips.


6. Now you have all of the pieces you need for your switch. The basic idea is that the two pieces of conductive fabric strips will be on either side of the felt square and when you press the switch the conductive strips will contact one another through the hole. The strips will extend outside of the rest of the switch so that you can stitch them down with conductive thread. The other pieces of fabric (the purple squares) will be the outside of the switch. Now you'll glue everything together.



the pieces you need to make a fabric touch switch.


7. Glue the conductive strips to the exterior fabric.



spreading fabric glue.




gluing down one of the strips.




both strips glued on.


8. Glue the pieces you just made to either side of the felt square. Align the conductive strips so that they will contact one another through the hole in the felt when the switch is pressed, but will not contact each other otherwise.



spreading glue.




one side glued on.




the finished switch.



design the circuit

The rest of this page is under construction. Check out my old diy e-sewing page for more information on designing and sewing your circuit. A full version of this page is coming soon!


construction

The rest of this page is under construction. Check out my old diy e-sewing page for more information on designing and sewing your circuit. A full version of this page is coming soon!


washing and wearing

Your sewn circuit is washable. Remove the battery and wash the garment by hand with a gentle detergent. Drip dry.


troubleshooting and FAQ

The rest of this page is under construction. Check out my old diy e-sewing page for more information on designing and sewing your circuit. A full version of this page is coming soon!


for more information:

 For information on more sophisticated techniques, including instructions on how to attach microcontrollers to fabric, check out my make your own wearable LED display page.

Sewing Circuits: more information about the Craft Technology Group's electronic sewing workshops, a collaborative project with Nwanua Elumeze and Sue Hendrix.
SWITCH: Alison Lewis has a web broadcast of how tos intended to introduce girls to technology.
Electronic Jewelry Workshops Page: Elisabeth Sylvan conducts workshops where participants learn to make electronic jewelry
Electronics Club: an excellent electronics reference for beginners
Enlighted Designs: for inspiration, check out this site where you can order custom made LED clothing.



This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0326054.

Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation (NSF).