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.