Part 1: Develop & Plan
When I was developing my plan for the first sewing project, I thought about making pins mainly, because it seemed like it would be the most practical out of the three: bookmark, pin, and wristband. I made a design for bookmark and two design for pin. But, due to the space limitations for the bookmark, I could only use the pin. I had a design that had four triangles on it and a design that had a drawing of a house on it. Ms. Kim suggested me to use the house one because it was more simpler. I agreed, and I ended up using the house plan. In order to avoid the conductive thread overlapping, I had to alter my plan to not have any traces overlap. On the second project, I was making a demo for future Circuit students, so I decided to do an ISB themed project. I started with the ISB logo, but it was too complex to even draw, let alone make out of felt. So, I decided to go with the three alphabets: I, S, and B. I planned for I and B to have four LEDs each and for S to have two LEDs, but it became too complex and I was running out of time, so I decided that I would have to go with two LEDs on each letter.
Part 2: Create & Improve
When I first started this unit, I didn’t know how to sew at all. I didn’t have any knowledge about connecting electronic components together using thread, and I was very confused at the start. I also had a lot of short circuits at the start, because I was very bad at thinking of where each piece of thread should go. I learned about the microcontrollers, sensors, and input/outputs in this unit by using the Circuit Playground Express. For the first project, I had the conductive thread showing at the top, so it was more uglier than I had expected it to be. So, I put a thin piece of felt on top of it, so that it covered the ugly pieces of the project. Thankfully, the LEDs shone through, and the project worked nicely. In project two, I had a long length to sew, so I focused on improving my speed of the sewing. Now, I could sew a meter-long running stitch in two minutes! But, I might still need to grow my skills on cinch stitches, since I learned the existence of it not too long ago…
Part 3: Reflect & Share
What were some challenging areas and how did you work through them?
One challenging area for me was figuring out the location of the conductive thread traces and making the routes for them to go. At the start, I short circuited my circuit a lot, because I didn’t know where I should put the threads. But now, I learned some techniques to not let the traces touch, so I could plan and make more easily, without having to figure out where the short circuit happened.
What tips, tricks, and advice would you give to next semester’s new students?
I would recommend studying more about sewing, because that is the most time-consuming part of the “make” part.
What would you have liked me to change about the course and how it ran in order to make it better? What went well?
I think you should have everyone connect their CPXs to their computer via WebUSB, because it allows for one-click flashing to their CPX. But, it might still have some bugs (because it’s in beta right now), so maybe just have that as a backup. I think something that was good is explanation of the features and the pins of the CPX, because it helped me a lot in my planning.
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