Tag: featured

Light-Up Angler Fish Embroidery

This is a very simple FLORA project with no soldering– a single NeoPixel lights up on an embroidered angler fish on a pair of shorts. The main board is stitched on the front of the design, in the belly of the fish. A snap is used on the fin as a digital switch, triggering a color change in the pixel in the angler’s lure. Follow the circuit diagram to stitch up this circuit, and tuck the battery in the pocket.

Project created with assistance from Risa Rose, portraits by Collin Cunningham

Tools & Supplies

Bill of materials:

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Sparkle Skirt

Make clothing that lights up when you move! This is a sewing (no soldering) Flora project using 12 color-changing NeoPixels and the Flora accelerometer/compass module. Spikes in the sensor readings cause the pixels to flash, and sparkle. The pixels are sewn to the skirt’s lining and are diffused by the outer layer of fabric, whether it be a sheer overlay or a cutout lace design.

If a skirt doesn’t appeal to you, use this circuit and code on a hat, a belt buckle, and even a blinky dog collar.

Prerequisite guides:

Tools & Supplies

Bill of materials:

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Candle Flicker LED Hair Bow

Make a twinkling accent for your updo! This tutorial will teach you to make a ribbon bow and simple LED circuit. One Adafruit LED Sewing Kit has enough supplies for two bows, so make this project with a friend! The included LEDs contain a tiny chip that flickers the LEDs to simulate a candle’s glow, so all we have to do is power them up!

Before beginning this project, check out my LED Sewing Kit guide!

Tools & Supplies

For this project you will need:

  • LED Sewing Kit with candle flicker LEDs
  • 28-inch piece of 2.25″ wide pewter grosgrain ribbon
  • Small piece of trim/ribbon or colorful ribbon cable
  • Small piece of heat shrink tubing
  • Hair clip

Tools:

  • Scissors
  • Hot glue gun (keep a bowl of ice water nearby for burns)
  • Pliers
  • Permanent marker
  • Standard cotton/poly thread
  • Lighter (or wood burning tool/old soldering iron)
  • Clear nail polish
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10 Tips for Conductive Thread

I prefer to work with stainless steel conductive thread. It’s thin, strong, and smooth.

It’s thicker than normal sewing thread, but thin enough to be sewn by hand in medium-eye needles or in the bobbin of a sewing machine that can handle ‘heavy’ thread. Because it is strong and smooth, its ideal for any wearable/e-textile project. 2-ply has fairly low resistivity, 16 ohms per foot so you can use it to drive LEDs and other electronic components that use under ~50mA.

3 ply thread has a resistance of 10 ohms per foot for components that use under ~100mA. It is thicker than standard cotton/poly thread and can be used for hand sewing or in industrial sewing machines.

Because it is made of stainless steel fibers, it will not oxidize like silver does: your projects will not ‘stop working’ because of oxidation after a few months and its safe to wash. However, this thread is a little ‘stiff’, it feels a little like ‘waxed thread’ and is not ideal for making iPhone-compatible gloves (use conductive yarn for that instead).

Tools & supplies

You’ll need some conductive thread, scissors, needles, fabric or a garment, a battery pack, and the following:

  • Multimeter
  • Sharp scissors
  • Embroidery hoop
  • Fabric or garment
  • Alligator clips
  • Snaps and other metal fasteners
  • Circuit board components
  • Low viscosity, quick-setting adhesive such as clear nail polish or Starbond
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Ohm Sweet Ohm Cross-Stitch

It’s a resistor chart you cross-stitch yourself! I designed this x-stitch pattern for a now-discontinued kit I put together for Adafruit. The finished design fits perfectly in a frame measuring 8″x10″ and takes about 40 hours to complete. You can download the free PDF pattern/instructions right from this page:

Ohm Sweet Ohm x-stitch pattern and instructions PDFDownload

The design files are also posted on Thingiverse, and here:

Ohm_Sweet_Ohm_Cross-Stitch_KitDownload

If you’re new to the craft, you can learn to cross-stitch with my free tutorial.

Materials and tools needed for the Ohm Sweet Ohm design:

  • E385 GOLD (3 yards)
  • E168 SILVER (3 yards)
  • BLANC WHITE (5.25 yards)
  • 168 LIGHT GREY (2.25 yards)
  • 550 PURPLE (2.25 yards)
  • 322 BLUE (2.25 yards)
  • 163 GREEN (3.75 yards)
  • 444 YELLOW (3.75 yards)
  • 608 ORANGE (4.5 yards)
  • 666 RED (4.5 yards)
  • 938 BROWN (3 yards)
  • 310 BLACK (14.25 yards)
  • 317 DARK GREY (12.75 yards)
  • 950 TAN (4.5 yards)

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