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Step 2Design and layout
Plan the layout of your garment.
When you place your hands on the conductive fabric of your garment, the program will detect that the circuit has been completed, and the LEDs and speaker will turn on. I laid out the conductive fabric on my hoodie in convenient places (arms, elbows, shoulder) that my hands might rest into naturally, so that placing my hands to complete the circuit does not cause strain.
Lay out what you want your garment to look like, and make a sketch (I've included mine below). Try not to plan too many overlapping conductive thread traces - the more overlaps you have, the more potential shorts you'll encounter in the circuit. In my sketch, I've circled every spot where there's an overlap with a blue pen.
Be sure to keep your power supply close to your LilyPad main board.
Conductive thread has nontrivial resistance. Leah Buechley has a nice explanation of what this does to the voltage at your LilyPad here. The general idea is that more resistance (that is, longer lengths of conductive thread) between your LilyPad and its power supply results in a lower voltage at your LilyPad. If the voltage is too low (generally below 3.3 V for the LilyPad), the LilyPad doesn't get enough power and stops working.
In my design, the power supply and the LilyPad are actually too far away from each other. We will see how to remedy this in the next step.
Locate your power supply.
Consider where you want to place your power supply. The power supply is the heaviest and bulkiest piece of everything you'll be placing onto your garment, so it's nice to place the power supply somewhere that is unobtrusive and not delicate. For instance, you wouldn't want to put it in the crook of your elbow, because then you wouldn't be able to bend your arm. I placed it near my lapel, so that it's both out of the way and at a spot with sturdy fabric.
For a larger image of my sketches below, click for the front and the back.
When you place your hands on the conductive fabric of your garment, the program will detect that the circuit has been completed, and the LEDs and speaker will turn on. I laid out the conductive fabric on my hoodie in convenient places (arms, elbows, shoulder) that my hands might rest into naturally, so that placing my hands to complete the circuit does not cause strain.
Lay out what you want your garment to look like, and make a sketch (I've included mine below). Try not to plan too many overlapping conductive thread traces - the more overlaps you have, the more potential shorts you'll encounter in the circuit. In my sketch, I've circled every spot where there's an overlap with a blue pen.
Be sure to keep your power supply close to your LilyPad main board.
Conductive thread has nontrivial resistance. Leah Buechley has a nice explanation of what this does to the voltage at your LilyPad here. The general idea is that more resistance (that is, longer lengths of conductive thread) between your LilyPad and its power supply results in a lower voltage at your LilyPad. If the voltage is too low (generally below 3.3 V for the LilyPad), the LilyPad doesn't get enough power and stops working.
In my design, the power supply and the LilyPad are actually too far away from each other. We will see how to remedy this in the next step.
Locate your power supply.
Consider where you want to place your power supply. The power supply is the heaviest and bulkiest piece of everything you'll be placing onto your garment, so it's nice to place the power supply somewhere that is unobtrusive and not delicate. For instance, you wouldn't want to put it in the crook of your elbow, because then you wouldn't be able to bend your arm. I placed it near my lapel, so that it's both out of the way and at a spot with sturdy fabric.
For a larger image of my sketches below, click for the front and the back.
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