As part of my BWSI summer course we were prompted to build a light up purse with embedded neopixels. It was supposed to be an introduction to machine sewing, e-sewing, and integrating electronic parts into textiles. As someone who had never sewn before, I found that to be the most challenging part of this exercise.
1. The idea
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| prototype sketch |
I came up with a forest scene for my purse, since I wanted it to tell a story. The idea is that the snap on the purse (that I would hand sew on) would act as a switch, which turned on the lights on the front side of the purse. These lights would have bear paws going to trees embroidered on them, and would light up sequentially to make it seem like the bear paws are "going" to the trees. Then, when you opened up the purse, the switch would be "off" and sensing this, the circuit would direct another neopixel which is stationed on the nose of a bear print inside the fold of the purse to blink red (simulating a "rudolph the bear" kind of look).
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| Circuit diagram/schematic/tracing |
^^^This is my schematic diagram. This was my first time using components that were sewable such as neopixels and the circuit playground. E-sewing can be tricky because wires CANNOT intersect for risk of shorting since they are not insulated. So, along with just wiring as in a regular circuit diagram, I had to conceptualize where on the purse I would be 'tracing' my e-sewing thread. I had to manage three different lines: data, power, ground, and make sure they were properly routed to the inside of the purse (where circuit playground was), under the fold to the bear's nose, and prettily under where the bear paws would be.
2. Sewing : )
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| machine sewed purse, hand stitched snap |
I have a new respect for sewing machines and their users. a) they seem like a hugely innovative piece of technology b) they are still complex to operate in my opinion. I machine stitched individual pieces. First, I created patterns (which I cut out in accordance with grain lines etc), then I stitched a double layer back (house shape) and a single layered front (rectangle shape). I forgot to take picture of this process unfortunately but above is the sewn purse. I also hand stitched the snap on there (which I might have to go reinforce since it is terribly loose right now).
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| e-sewing in progress, data line complete |
I started e-sewing with conductive thread according to my circuit diagram/tracing plan. These are the four neopixels in a row where they would blink sequentially to simulate bear paws going to a tree. The top neopixel (the one on the bear's nose) is still just tacked on waiting to be sewed. You can see how getting a thread link from the bottom to the top without sewing the purse shut or crossing the threads can be difficult (especially for an amateur sewer).
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| e-sewing done! |
Here I've finished e-sewing. It took a few hours, but I've also connected to my metallic/conductive snap to my microcontroller (which is underneath the front flap, lightly outlined if you can see it). Making sure there were no shorts was the hardest part, especially as my design had a closing/opening mechanism so I had to make sure thread from the top of the flap did not touch the purse when closed as well. I completed a continuity check with a multimeter and sealed my threads/insulated them with nail paint afterwards.
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| plugged in and coded! |
I coded up a quick neopixel sketch and had them blinking sequentially when plugged into my computer.
TO DO next [I'll probably get to this next week but I've been so busy this week lol]
*Add in the analog input function so that the switch can play its part of having some neopixel light up when connected etc
*Add in the coincell battery after loading on all the code
*Embroidering it! [this will be time intensive and I can probably keep up with it during downtime but it will pull my forest scene together!]
^^I'll update this post after doing these action items : )
I guess the craziest thing about this project is that while it was (is?) technically simple, it was a new experience to integrate circuit components with textiles through e-sewing. I also can't believe that I'm actually DABBLING in the e-textiles I read about in research papers just a few months ago (this is quite different but STILL!)
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