Wearable Toy Piano

A Toy Piano embedded on a T-shirt. It has 8 keys from Do to Do (1 octave). You can play simple music by wearing the shirt and pushing the fabric button on the shirt. All the components from the toy piano (batteries, speaker, circuit board) are placed on the shirt and connected with poppers. All these hard components are detachable so that you can wash it if you wish.

This particular Instructable is made for the Electronic Textile workshop that will be held in Zurich/Switzerland on Saturday 7th December 2009 as part of the DIY Festival Zurich. If you are interested in this workshop, please contact the festival.

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Step 1: What you need

What you need:
-Toy piano (batteries included)
-T-shirt
-conductive fabric
-conductive thread
-normal thread
-neoprene (or normal thick fabric)
-fusible interface (iron on)
-3mm foam sheet
-ink jet iron on paper
-poppers
-electronic wire

Tool:
-needle
-scissors
-iron
-hammer
-soldering iron
-ink jet printer
-screw driver

J-Five says: Sep 4, 2012. 7:09 AM

Very creative

J-Five in reply to J-FiveFeb 1, 2013. 3:55 PM

Also, is it washable?

And could make some money, if you sold them to people.

porcupinemamma says: Apr 23, 2012. 5:10 AM

You've made one very cool shirt! Way to go! :0)

codongolev says: Dec 4, 2008. 5:44 PM

that's utterly useless. and uselessness is half of the things I make. (I have a usb powered christmas tree on my desk right now.)

jedi pen-gui-n in reply to codongolevDec 8, 2008. 5:45 AM

then you should build it! :D

codongolev in reply to jedi pen-gui-nDec 9, 2008. 2:07 PM

alas, I don't have a toy piano.

maybe_i_dont_care in reply to codongolevApr 21, 2010. 9:11 AM

Buy one! Could be bought online, at Toys R Us, Babies R Us, or any other toy/baby store!!!!!

Miss_LyLa in reply to maybe_i_dont_careNov 26, 2011. 10:55 PM

or in any thrift store or dollarama ....

jedi pen-gui-n in reply to codongolevDec 10, 2008. 6:25 AM

that could be a problem.

sonicsizer says: Jul 28, 2011. 12:32 PM

Can you put it on a backpack ?

lizlock681 says: May 3, 2011. 3:03 AM

I love this, I am so psyched, probably buying the piano on ebay.
I need to find conductive fabric and thread, if you have any leads, please let me know.
Also, I can't open the pattern. My version of Illustrator is older than yours. Can you save it as a pdf and put it on this site or email it to me at lockwooddesign@yahoo.com.
This shirt is just too cool for words. I'm new at doing things like this, but can't wait to give it a go.
I turned a pair of adult sketchers into light up ones tonight using the info from someone on this site. Believe it or not I am a grandmother, but love cool stuff.
And I really don't care much about what others think, well a little, but I have a really neat, awesome pair of sneakers. I'm trying some led projects also.
Again, thanks so much for posting this t-shirt.

madest says: Dec 7, 2008. 12:57 PM

who manufactures that shirt and is it available on-line?

maybe_i_dont_care in reply to madestApr 21, 2010. 9:09 AM

No, it's not available online, madest (i dunno maybe it is) I think this person who wrote the article was just being creative and maybe you could take the time to actually make it. It's not expensive, far less than it would be if it were purchased online. All you need is a t-shirt, a children's toy piano, a few basic tools, and some foam.

thinkdunson in reply to madestDec 12, 2008. 1:44 AM

yes, i, uh... second this question? we need an answer, please.

imrobot in reply to thinkdunsonMar 12, 2009. 6:23 PM

it's a regular white long sleeve t-shirt you can get them just about anywhere. clothing store-wise

Valche in reply to thinkdunsonFeb 6, 2009. 4:59 AM

Lol.

daphnedaf says: Oct 7, 2009. 12:53 PM

What do you mean with poppers and where can I get them? I have just started working on this project, I think its a very cool idea :)

equiliberator in reply to daphnedafNov 9, 2009. 8:57 AM

daphne, I beleive "poppers" is another word for snaps.

DELETED_chrisyjwai says: Dec 12, 2008. 3:40 AM

(removed by author or community request)

TechNerd1012 in reply to DELETED_chrisyjwaiApr 28, 2009. 8:32 PM

Be Piano Man with the theme song "Piano Man" by Billy Joel

jclaw says: Apr 26, 2009. 9:26 AM

where do you get the conductive fabric and thread? i really want to make this.

ReCreate says: Apr 1, 2009. 7:05 PM

Now goto an airport,and power it with red c cell batteries too!

hjabo says: Mar 24, 2009. 1:40 PM

Omg, THAT IS WEIRD

Deus says: Dec 12, 2008. 8:39 AM

I love it, and I'm gonna make it. Then I'm gonna wear it in class:P

Syuzi says: Dec 4, 2008. 4:37 PM

nice! love the aesthetics.

thinkdunson in reply to SyuziDec 12, 2008. 1:45 AM

yeah, i think i'll just iron on the design and leave it at that. it looks pretty cool.

t.rohner says: Dec 12, 2008. 1:22 AM

nice ible, but i would certainly look better on shirt specialist giannyl.... Just the testosteron speaking...

Sandisk1duo says: Dec 11, 2008. 8:17 PM

Looks like an Astronaut suit!

craftygreen says: Dec 11, 2008. 5:32 PM

I love the fact that you could make this out of a baby toy piano and it is so simple even I could do it, but like most the things I make I probably wouldn't finish.