Non-stretchy traces make very stable connections on a non-stretch fabric but make less or no sense when working with stretchy fabrics.

Non-stretchy conductive fabric traces

Most of our examples using non-stretchy fabric traces are for sewable component breakout boards.

also see: Circuits >> Fabric PCB

Non-stretchy conductive thread traces

Running stitches of conductive thread are a great way to make fabric cables. As long as the threads don’t fray they can be sewn very close to each other. the sewing machine is ideal for this, but it can also be done by hand. We tend to use a 2mm spacing, which aligns up with the perfboard perforations, see Permanent Hard/Soft connections.

Connecting to perfboard

Sensitive Fingertips example

Connecting to perfboard on one side and poppers on the other.

Perfect Human example

This method was used in the Puppeteer costume for the Perfect Human performance. Although the suit itself was super stretchy, connections from the sensors to the Multiplexers, Lilypad, XBee and power were made via a non-stretch collar, that had conductive thread traces sewn down it lengthwise. The conductive threads were sewn as bobbin (bottom) thread and we used different colours on the top to differentiate between inputs, but mainly for looks. The conductive side of the stitch was on the back (inside) of the collar and was isolated by fusing a layer of fabric on top of it, see Isolating Non-stretch traces.

Also, inside the collar of the Perfect Human the circuitry was sewn on non-stretch conductive fabric with conductive thread. The resistance of the thread turned out to be too high and it had to be changed to conductive fabric. We chose stretch conductive fabric because of the softness of it vs. non-stretch conductive fabrics.