This is my first sewable electronics project and I chose to make a hello kitty pin with an LED on the bow.

 

SHARING MY PRODUCT:

I made this pin because I thought it would be cool. It was also a pretty simple design and not too challenging for me to sew. I’m most proud that my LED sticks out (and it works) because I think it made my whole project look better in general. Besides that, I also really like how the bow color contrasts the background color. The back looks messy since it’s my first project but the stitches can’t be seen on the front.  Initially, I made three designs for what I was going to make and I chose the second one because I liked the design more. As you can see, in the final product I didn’t add whiskers becuase I liked the way it was and thought adding whiskers might make it look weird.

All the felt I used in this project (except the base of it) was the thinnest 2mm one as it was easier to sew on and that was all that my project required. The reason my pink base was slightly thicker was because using the 2mm one would mean that my threads in the back would be exposed.

This was my design process:

 

SHARING MY LEARNING: 

This whole e-textile thing was new to me because I didn’t take any circuit classes before but it was really fun and I learned a lot about how they work. The only thing I was slightly familiar with was sewing (because I did it when I was in ES) but other than that, almost everything was new to me. I never knew that conductive thread was a thing (it actually works as well as the conductive tape!). I ran into some small problems but with the help of my design teachers, I got feedback and came up with better solutions. For example, a problem I ran into was the path of the conductive thread. Because my original design for the conductive thread pathway overlapped my desgin in front, it would be hard for me to sew the thread on, so the solution I came up with (with the help of Ms. Kim) was to make the thread go around my design.

I also learned that making a paper prototype was very important, it may seem time consuming, but it actually helps a lot. I realized that my LED light would have to go through three layers of felt (the base, the face, and the bow) and figured that sewing it would probably be a challenge. So I decided to cut the hello kitty ears off seperately so that my LED only had to go through two layers of felt (the base and the bow).

 

The tips I would give to next semester students would be to make your design and always check with the teacher and find problems or ways to improve.  The design teachers are smart so they can help you overcome your problems. Also, (in my opinion) the bulb LED lights look better so maybe use that. The trick for getting it inside the felt is to use a thick needle and make two holes for your LED bulb to go in.

Based on this project, I would like to learn about other ways we can use conductive thread for.