Sunday, June 26, 2016

Flora Sparkle Skirt #etextile

After learning how to make digital clothing for my avatar in Jokaydia Grid (for a graduate class), I decided to return to the real world to try my hand at sewing a real skirt.



Taking inspiration from a variety of YouTube videos (most notably this one), I purchased 20 yards of black tulle (I only used six) and two yards of blue satin (I only needed one) to sew my first garment ever!

My first skirt...sans electronics.

While it turned out pretty well (albeit a little on the large side), it wasn't complete without some bling!  So, I followed Becky Stern's directions for creating a Sparkle Skirt, using a Flora, motion sensor, and 12 neopixels!

Strand test mode


I'm sure there is a better way to do this.

Throughout this process, I learned quite a bit.  In addition to figuring out how to make gathers in fabric using the cording foot on my sewing machine, I discovered the beauty of fabric paint as an electrical insulator, which I'd never thought about prior to this experiment.







Since my skirt has so many gathers, it was prone to short-circuiting before I applied a shiny, navy fabric paint to the exposed conductive thread.   This was the most tedious part of the process, since my circuit went all the way around a rather lengthy diameter. But, it worked like a charm!

On the underside of the skirt, I used iron-on fusible webbing to insulate the data line of the circuit, since it was hand-sewn.







Sunday, June 19, 2016

Bryan Cera's Paper Synth

After finding a link to Bryan Cera's Paper Electronics Workshop on the Google + 21st Century Notebooking community page, I ordered a few supplies and got started making my own paper synthesizer!

Bryan Cera's Paper Synth


I made a few mistakes along the way, but I learned how to use my multimeter in continuity mode and how to manually designate a sketchbook location in the Arduino IDE under preferences, neither of which I've ever had to do before.

Bryan's instructions are very detailed, and he generously shares his templates, code, and supply list.  So, if you are interested in using an ATtiny85 to create your own musical instrument, be sure to check out Bryan Cera's Paper Electronics Workshop!