I sewed this skirt for my daughter last year; but, in the spirit of the Champlain Maker Faire, I just transformed it into a spidery sparkle skirt, using a Flora, an accelerometer, some NeoPixels, and Becky Stern's code.
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.
After putting the finishing touches on this sound reactive leather skirt (made for my daughter, who may never actually wear it in public), I found myself thinking back to my high school years, hanging out in the discos of Germany! While I wouldn't dare go out in public wearing something like this today, I am amused to no end, imagining how quickly I would have jumped into this skirt back in the 80's! Forgive this shameless indulgence.
If you want to make your own sound reactive wearable, or see the process I followed to make this, check out the Sound Reactive Equalizer Skirt on Instructables.
I've been comparing and contrasting my LilyPad Arduino to the Adafruit Flora. Using the Chameleon Scarf tutorial (and code) from the Adafruit website, I have created my first eTextile made with Flora. This scarf has a color sensor and neopixel LEDs that change color, based upon what is placed in front of the sensor.
Although I did not write any of the code for this project (which feels like cheating), I learned how to use a new feature of my sewing machine, how to add Arduino libraries, and the advantages of using Adafruit conductive thread, rather than cheaper thread.
To get started, I bought an inexpensive cashmere scarf and sewed it in half to create the tube you see here. Using a special foot on my sewing machine that zig-zags over a cord, I was able to gather the tube into ruffles and quickly sew my power and ground lines.
The trickiest part of this project was making sure that my computer had the correct Arduino libraries added.
While sewing the circuit together, I discovered that Adafruit thread is stronger, shinier, and much easier to work with than the Spark Fun thread! I will never go back!
Rather than sewing the ribbon into a circle, I used Velcro, making it easier to remove the ribbon and LEDs from inside the scarf.
I enjoy the process of coding with a LilyPad, but I really like the way that a Flora doesn't require as many pins to create something truly inspiring; I have concluded that I am a fan of neopixel LEDs and the Flora Color Sensor. I am eager to learn how to write my own code using Flora and its many sensors.
I sewed this skirt for my daughter last year; but, in the spirit of the Champlain Maker Faire, I just transformed it into a spidery sparkle skirt, using a Flora, an accelerometer, some NeoPixels, and Becky Stern's code. 
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