also: Interweb, Bondaweb, Fusible, Interfacing, “iron-on“, Fusible web…

16-17 May 2009
V2_ Institute for the Unstable Media
Rotterdam, The Netherlands
We provide participants with: Hackable sound devices and programmable controllers, DIY fabric sensors, conductive fabrics and threads, lots of stretchy fabric, thread and sewing machines…

1 February 2009
Plug.in
Basel, Switzerland
This workshop aims to be an introduction into soft fabric electronic circuits and a DIY concept of wearable technology. Both in our own projects and in workshops we choose to introduce affordable, available, off-the-shelf materials, basic techniques and detailed instructions, so that workshop participants can continue to develop their own ideas and [...]

5-6 December 2008
DIY Art and Technology Festival
Zurich, Switzerland
This workshop aims to be a short introduction into simple soft fabric electronic circuits. The materials used are cheap and off the shelf, so that the practice introduced in the workshop can be continued at home. Sewing, soldering and experimenting with materials is not hard and should [...]

also: Massage me: How to get what you want
This workshop references the motivations behind creating Massage me. We wanted a free massage, so we decided to modify an existing scenario for our benefit. Participants are encouraged to consider alternative interaction scenarios concerning console gaming and must think about how different, and possibly soft input methods, [...]

This workshop gives a basic overview of how to get analog output from fabric pressure and bend sensors into the computer.

Using stretch stitch on sewing machine, you can create stretchy fabric cable.
The picture shows 9 line stretchy fabric cable, which resistance is 150 ohm/m.

Sewing machines, sergers, embroidery…

Used in Wearable Waste of Energy, Tilt Sensing Bracelet (feedback bracelet)…

Sew together various soft electronic components to turn your favorite clothing item into a wearable waste of energy!

Used in: Wearable Waste of Energy, Piano T-Shirt, Wearable Toy Piano

Produced as an example for a workshop, this sleeve combines a range of fabric components.

A Toy Piano embedded on a T-shirt. It has 8 keys from Do to Do (1 octave). You can play simple music by wearing the shirt and pushing the fabric button on the shirt. All the components from the toy piano (batteries, speaker, circuit board) are placed on the shirt and connected with poppers. All [...]

Here are some basic data (size, capacity) of various chargeable, non-chargeable batteries.

Neck-stroking wearable for sunny days. The components for this solar driven circuit are integrated in this decorative t-shirt, exploring the possibilities of textile electronics and interaction with the sun.

As an example for an electronic textiles workshop this t-shirt interfaces with a toy piano, allowing for people to play music on my back. Fabric Buttons replace the keys, poppers connect to the circuit so that it can be connected and disconnected from the t-shirt. This allows for all of the components on the t-shirt [...]

In most applications it is important to isolate the conductive traces. For stretchy traces this requires a stretchy isolation. So far we have experimented and had good results with: stretchy fabric glue, puffy fabric paint and extra layers of fabric.

Stretchy conductive traces are great for wearables because their stretchiness makes these traces comfortable and durable against wear and strain.

Most plugable connections require some soft of permanent connection that connect to the actual plugable part.

There are a range of different possibilities to connect conductive materials. One of the hardest and at this point very relevant one in textile electronics is the hard/soft connection between conductive textiles and traditional components and circuit boards. Most connections are a combination of permanent and plugable (de- and re- attachable) connections. Here we try [...]

This circuit was inspired by the Overheadbots. The circuit harvests the energy from a 0,5V 100mA solar cell, storing it in capacitors and then releasing it to drive a motor. This circuit was used in the Solar T-Shirt example project.

xbee is a wireless communication device from digi.com that uses ZigBee protocol. “ZigBee is a specification for a suite of high level communication protocols using small, low-power digital radios based on the IEEE 802.15.4-2003 standard for wireless personal area networks (WPANs), such as wireless headphones connecting with cell phones via short-range radio. The technology defined by the ZigBee specification is intended to be simpler and less expensive than other WPANs, such [...]

Flux is “a chemical cleaning agent which facilitates soldering, brazing, and welding by removing oxidation from the metals to be joined.” and additionally, it “allows solder to flow easily on the working piece rather than forming beads as it would otherwise.” (wikipedia) So, my problem of solder getting crumbly and not dropping onto the fabric [...]

arduino >> http://www.arduino.cc/
USB : Diecimila
 
“The Arduino Diecimila is a microcontroller board based on the ATmega168 (datasheet). It has 14 digital input/output pins (of which 6 can be used as PWM outputs), 6 analog inputs, a 16 MHz crystal oscillator, a USB connection, a power jack, an ICSP header, and a reset button. It contains everything needed to support the microcontroller; [...]

also: knitting nancy, knitting machine, German: Strickmühle
also see: circular sock knitting machine
These machines are amazingly easy to use. I bought myself a barbie Knitting machine via Amazon UK because it was cheaper than the more professional looking ones. It works fine for the circular knit but is very messy at the edges when it comes [...]

By now there are a range of both commercially available sewable circuits. But there is also a nice range of people’se personal one-off sewable circuit designs.

I had hard time soldering DIP pin legs to conductive fabric. It becomes always crumbly and does not stick to the fabric good. (Also I am using lead free solder, that makes it look crumbly too)

By using Vinyl Cutter , you can cut a copper foil into circuit trace shape and make a soft circuit. There are some nice post from Simon de Bakker and Nadya Peek showing how to make a vinyl cut circuit. Since I had an access to Roland CAMM 1 GX-24E vinyl cutter, I’ve made my own. The [...]

Most of our processing code we use to visualize our sensor input is based on the following “arduino meets Processing” Potentiometer example.

also: Craft ROBO, Klic-N-Kut, vinyl sign cutter, plotter