5. E-textiles¶

A Journey from Mysterious Wires to E-Textile Designs¶

Whenever I saw any electronic piece, I felt as if I were reading hieroglyphics! Every wire and component was a cryptic symbol that I couldn't understand... until I started learning and discovering. Every symbol and every circuit became understandable, and my journey with electronics became fun and interesting. This website is where I've compiled all my notes and experiences, serving as a guide for anyone who wants to read "symbols" and translate them to understand my work.

From Research to Design: E-Textile Steps¶

E-textile, or electronic/smart fabrics, is a type of fabric that has integrated electronic circuits or conductive materials, enabling it to interact with the environment or the user. Unlike conventional fabrics, which are limited to covering, protection, or aesthetics alone, e-textiles are characterized by their ability to illuminate, receive signals, or transmit information, making them a smart means of interaction. Examples of their uses include interactive clothing that changes color or design based on movement or sound; fabrics with built-in lighting for visual impact or safety; and wearable devices such as smart gloves or jackets that measure heart rate or temperature.

The technologies used in e-textiles include several methods for adding smart functionality to fabric:

The most important is sewing with conductive wires, either hand-sewn or through e-embroidery, to safely and aesthetically integrate electrical circuits.
Printing or welding is also used on fabrics to add electronic components or conductive paths without affecting the fabric's softness.
In addition, small control boards such as the Arduino or LilyPad are used to manage interactions between the user and the fabric, such as controlling lighting, motion, or receiving data from embedded sensors. learn more about Arduino types

Journey Inside the Circuit: Getting to Know the Parts and Tools¶


LEDs	Light Emitting Diodes, you can read more about what is LED
Resistors	learn more: A Complete Guide To Resistors: What They Are, The Different Types And Uses
Arduino Board	learn more: A Guide to Arduino PCB
Multimeter	learn more: What is a multimeter?
Breadboard	learn more: What is a breadboard?
jumper wires	learn more: What is jumper wire?
soldering iron	learn more: soldering iron uses and types
Arduino software	learn more: Arduino software?
coincell 3V battery	learn more: 3V Battery: All Things You Want Know
Seeed studio xiao board	learn more: Getting Started with Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32C3

E-TEXTILE INTERISTING MATERIALS

Materials that can be cobined together with other tools to get an interesting E- textiles:

Conductive thread:

A flexible, electrically conductive thread that works like conventional wire but is designed for textile applications.

Benefits: It enables the integration of electronics into fabrics without compromising comfort or flexibility.

Use: This thread can be sewn into fabrics, making it ideal for creating lightweight, flexible electrical circuits.

Conductive fabrics:

Here we can clearly see that the conductive fabric is exposed to the oxidation process.

Fabrics coated with conductive metals such as copper or silver.

Benefits: The ability to cover larger areas compared to conductive yarn, making them suitable for large and complex components, while blending into fabrics for a seamless, homogeneous design.

Use: These fabrics can be used to create large conductive surfaces, touchpads, or soft switches within a textile-based electrical circuit.

Velostat:

A resistive material whose resistance changes when bent, compressed, or deformed.

Benefits: Its ability to respond to physical changes makes it ideal for creating dynamic and interactive components in wearable technology and interactive textiles.

Uses: It can be used as a pressure sensor, a bend sensor, or as part of interactive textile designs that respond to touch or motion.

The start to understanding¶

The first step was to break the barrier. I started by getting to know the electrical circuit.

We can see how we delve into the details of electrical circuits.

First time to learn about multimeter and resistance measurement

It is essential to learn how to solder to gain more control over the components of an electrical circuit.

How we transitioned from connecting the LED to a battery to using a breadboard:

Initially, we connected the LED directly to a battery. The circuit was very simple: the positive terminal of the battery to the long end of the LED, and the short end of the LED to the negative.

Next, we switched to using a breadboard to organize the circuit more clearly and safely.

We added a resistor before the LED to reduce the current and protect it from burning out. Then, we connected the terminals as follows:

We placed the LED on the breadboard with the long (positive) and short (negative) leads in separate rows.

We placed a resistor in front of the long end of the LED.

We connected the resistor's lead to 5V or 3.3V from a power source ( an Arduino ).

We connected the short end of the LED to ground (GND).

The circuit is now structured as follows:

Power → Resistor → LED → Ground (GND)

Using Breadboard helped us to:

See the circuit more clearly

Easily add new components

Protect the LED using the resistor

Prepare the circuit for later connection to sensors or an Arduino

Next, we moved on to the Seeed XIAO board, a smaller and more flexible board compared to the Arduino Uno.¶

We explored its features and how to integrate it into the Arduino IDE by installing its board manager. We then uploaded a simple piece of code to ensure it functioned correctly.

In this video 2 trials the first part after blinling test after uploading to Arduino software, the second part includes connecting Seeed Xiao to breadboard circuit:

you can discover all the informations about it and how to upload to Arduino software from the link Getting Started with Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32C3

We observed the following differences:

Its very small size

It saves space in e-textile projects

It can be easily used in small or wearable devices.

Finally, we moved on to FabriXiao, a customized version of the XIAO board, better suited for smart fabric and e-textile projects.

FabriXiao is a modification and development of the Fab Xiao for Seeed XIAO board, designed within Fab Lab León as part of the Fabricademy program.

The idea was developed collaboratively by makers and fab lab supervisors, including Adrián Torres, and inspired by Nuria Robles, who was one of the first to be interested in creating a small, easy-to-program board that could be directly integrated into fabrics.

It is designed to:

Be suitable for sewing or attaching to fabrics

Have ends that easily connect to conductive threads or fabric connectors

Be more convenient for use in interactive fashion designs

You can read more about Fabri Xiao HERE

In this way, we have gradually moved:

From an educational electronic board (Arduino Uno) → to a compact micro-board (Seeed XIAO) → to a board specifically designed for textiles and wearable experiments (FabriXiao).

Fabric stitching circuit¶

First stitched ccircuit drawing:

First stitched circuit components:

Trying to connect the breadboard circuit to the stitched circuit LED:

In this picture, I connected the stitched circuit to the Arduino using wires with clips.

I connected the two clipped wire ends to the Arduino:

The wire connected to the long end of the LED → to the Digital Pin on the Arduino.

The wire connected to the short end → to GND (ground).

sensors circuit making¶

Digital sensor¶

A digital sensor is a type of sensor that sends a digital signal to a microcontroller, such as an Arduino. Its output is either:

🔹 HIGH (1) = indicates a specific signal or state (such as the presence of an object, light, or a specific temperature)

🔹 LOW (0) = indicates no signal or the state is absent

Simply put: A digital sensor does not provide temperature values; it only provides two states (on or off – on/off).

making steps
Digital sensor circuit

Analog sensor¶

An analog sensor is a type of sensor that produces a variable-value signal (not just 0 or 1 like a digital sensor). In other words, it measures the degree of change in something—such as heat, light, or sound—and converts it to a variable electrical value (voltage), typically ranging from 0 to 5 volts (in a standard Arduino).

How it works:

Whenever the factor the sensor measures changes (such as light intensity or temperature), the output voltage changes. The Arduino reads this voltage and converts it to a digital value between 0 and 1023 via the Analog Pins (A0, A1, A2, etc.).

Example that we tried during the week: Light sensor (LDR):

If the room is dark, the voltage is low, and the reading is 100.

If the room is bright, the voltage is high, and the reading is 900.

making steps:

Analog sensor circuit

Arduino¶

The first step was to define the Arduino board.

then we test the board with Blink code

Blink code

// the setup function runs once when you press reset or power the board
void setup() {
  // initialize digital pin LED_BUILTIN as an output.
  pinMode(LED_BUILTIN, OUTPUT);
}

// the loop function runs over and over again forever
void loop() {
  digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN, HIGH);  // turn the LED on (HIGH is the voltage level)
  delay(500);                      // wait for a second
  digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN, LOW);   // turn the LED off by making the voltage LOW
  delay(500);                      // wait for a second
}

and this is the result:

Other code that we experimented with this week — Light Sensor (LDR):¶

When the room is dark, the sensor receives low light, resulting in a low voltage and a reading of around 100.

When the room is bright, the sensor receives more light, producing a higher voltage and a reading of around 900.

void setup()
{
  Serial.begin(9600);                 
  pinMode(9, OUTPUT);               // NEW   
  digitalWrite(13, LOW);                // NEW
}

void loop()
{
  LDRValue = analogRead(LDRpin);        
  Serial.println(LDRValue);           
  delay(2);                           

  if (LDRValue < 30)            // NEW
  {
    digitalWrite(LedPin, HIGH); 
  }
  else
  {
    digitalWrite(LedPin, LOW);
    delay(500);
  }
}

"Bloom Interlace illuminated table cloth"¶

This week I decided to develop my previous project, "Bloom Interlace table cloth" to make it luminous using the techniques we learned.

_You can return to BLOOM INTERLACE IN OPEN CIRCULAR WEEK, to know the design details and how to design it.

I’ve started working on the schematic design for the Bloom Interlace illuminated table cloth.

_This schematic was obtained by TINKER KAD _

then I added a layer of filt fabric at the bottom of the table cloth, so I can make the stitching on it without any Unwanted distortion on the table cloth.