Technique of the Week #1 – "Soft Circuitry"

Project hours: about 7
2 hours design + research
5 hours execution

I got a fabric circuitry kit for Christmas, and I had been dying to try some of the things from Craft/Make magazine about fashion technology. I thought this could be adapted to a quilt, and I was pretty ecstatic with the results.

First off, this is an interpretation of a taningia danae squid.  I say “interpretation” because not only is it a cartoon version, but the tentacles that exhibit the bioluminescence are exaggeratedly long.  Oh well!  I was researching cephalopods for my themes and came across bioluminescence and thought this was a great connection for my LED circuit project!

Here is a photo of the back of the quilt so you can see my “circuitry”.  Basically, I took 2 blue LEDs and connected the positives to the back side of my coin cell battery holder, and the negatives to the front. The battery does have to be inserted correctly.  The “holder” is just a folded over piece of cloth, sewn to the back after I connected the conductive threads to the right poles.  It’s nice and tight, and the battery has a good connection inside.  This holder has a benefit of being flat against a wall if I were to hang the quilt. 

A great start to my goal for a “technique a week”! I plan to provide the hours each one takes me to execute so you get a good idea of how intricate some of the methods are.