5. E-textiles¶

Research¶

This week, we delved into the foundational principles of electronics and explored the role of various electronic components in e-textiles. To solidify our understanding, we worked in groups to build different types of circuits using LEDs, resistors, breadboards, and connecting wires. Following these exercises, we assembled both an analog temperature sensor and a digital light sensor. Moreover, we analyzed the power consumption for each setup individually and collectively by utilizing a Multimeter.

Key Concepts:

Voltage: The driving force behind electric current in a circuit, expressed in volts (V). Current (Amperage): The rate at which electric charge flows, measured in amperes (A). Resistance (Ohms, Ω): A measure of how much a material resists the flow of current. Arduino: An open-source platform combining user-friendly hardware and software to design digital and interactive projects.

describe what you see in this image

References & Inspiration¶

This project was inspired by the softness of flowers and their connection with touch. I wanted to create a piece that reacts in a gentle, poetic way — something that feels alive. The idea of pressing fabric and seeing something move evoked a sense of tenderness, an intimate gesture that generates a small transformation.

my inspiration is YING GAO she created dresses with flowers that move in response to sound and voice using sensors and small motors. In another series, "(no)where (now)here", the garments softly move using interactive technologies.

describe what you see in this image

Links to reference files, PDF, booklets,

about your images..

Remember to credit/reference all your images to their authors. Open source helps us create change faster together, but we all deserve recognition for what we make, design, think, develop.
remember to resize and optimize all your images. You will run out of space and the more data, the more servers, the more cooling systems and energy wasted :) make a choice at every image :) This image is optimised in size with resolution 72 and passed through tinypng for final optimisation.

Process and workflow¶

For this e-textiles exploration, I created a small kinetic flower that moves when the user touches a soft button made from conductive fabric. The idea was to merge an organic shape with a simple interactive system, using a motor and a textile-based tactile interface that blends with the aesthetic of the piece.

The flower spins thanks to a small motor activated through a circuit that closes when the button is pressed. The button was handmade using two layers of conductive fabric separated by a thin layer of foam or non-conductive material. The system is powered by a 3V coin cell battery, keeping the whole piece light and compact.

Tools¶

Small DC motor

3V coin cell battery (CR2032)

Battery holder with switch

Conductive thread

Conductive fabric (for the button)

Regular fabric (for the flower structure)

Foam or EVA (as separator between conductive layers)

Scissors, needle and thread

Also this week we learn a little bit of Flora arduino

Adafruit Flora is a small, wearable microcontroller board based on the Arduino platform. It’s designed specifically for e-textiles and wearable projects. You can sew it into fabric using conductive thread and connect it to sensors, LEDs (like NeoPixels), and other components. It works like a regular Arduino but is lightweight and circular for easy integration into clothing or accessories.

I did an example.

Code Example¶

// the setup function runs once when you press reset or power the board
void setup() {
#include <Adafruit_NeoPixel.h>

#define PIN        6     // Pin al que están conectados los LEDs
#define NUMPIXELS  8     // Número total de LEDs en la tira

Adafruit_NeoPixel pixels(NUMPIXELS, PIN, NEO_GRB + NEO_KHZ800);

void setup() {
  pixels.begin(); // Inicializa los LEDs
}

void loop() {
  // Rojo
  setColor(255, 0, 0);
  delay(1000);

  // Verde
  setColor(0, 255, 0);
  delay(1000);

  // Azul
  setColor(0, 0, 255);
  delay(1000);
}

void setColor(uint8_t r, uint8_t g, uint8_t b) {
  for(int i=0; i<NUMPIXELS; i++) {
    pixels.setPixelColor(i, pixels.Color(r, g, b));
  }
  pixels.show();
}

🔧 What does this code do? It turns all the LEDs red, waits 1 second.

Then green, waits 1 second.

Then blue... and keeps looping like that.

This is not my example because i had a problem with my video, but here you can see how its work

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Fabrication files¶

File: xxx ↩
File: xxx ↩