soundie: a musical touch-sensitive light-up hoodie

Step 5 Sew power supply and LilyPad mainboard to your garment

Sew down the + petal of the power supply to your garment.
If you've never done any sewing before, here is an excellent tutorial to introduce you to the basics, including how to thread your needle, tie a knot, and make basic stitches.

First, cut a 3 or 4 foot length of conductive thread. Thread one end through the needle and pull enough thread through (I usually pull about a foot through) so that the thread doesn't fall out of the needle when you start sewing. Tie a knot at the end of the longer length of thread.

Starting with the inside of your garment facing you (we'll call the inside the back), poke the needle through to the other side (this is the outside of the garment, which we'll call the front) right next to the + petal of the power supply. Then, poke the needle (from front to back) into the + hole of the power supply. Poke it (from back to front) again in about the same place you poked it through the very first time. Your needle should now be on the front side of your garment (the outside). Poke it again through the + hole of the power supply. Repeat these steps until you have at least 4 or 5 loops going through the + hole of the power supply.

This stitching should be very secure; it is necessary for the connection between the conductive thread and the power supply to be very strong (which is why we loop the thread through so many times). Once you're done, do not cut your thread, and continue to the next step.

Sew from the power supply to the LilyPad main board.
Using your choice of stitch, sew over your chalk traces from the + of the power supply to the + of the LilyPad main board. I used backstitch (step 5 of the How to Sew Instructables tutorial), so that the design created on the outside of the garment would look neat.

A note on stitching: Be sure to make small neat stitches. Your stitches should be around 1 cm in length each. Long stitches will be messy and snag easily on other objects.

Sew the + petal of your LilyPad down.
Once you've followed your chalk traces to the LilyPad main board, sew down the + petal of your LilyPad board using the same technique you used to sew down the + petal of the power supply. Be sure to stitch at least 4 loops going through the hole of the + petal. Again, the connection between the thread and the LilyPad board here is very important, since the LilyPad will be drawing power from the power supply through this thread.

When you are done with the loops, end on the inside of the garment and sew back along your stitching until you're about an inch away from the LilyPad, and tie a knot. Cut the thread about an inch away from the knot so that the knot does not come unraveled.

Use nail polish to secure your knot.
Place a dab of nail polish onto your knot so that the knot doesn't unravel. Once the nail polish has dried, trim the excess thread close to the knot.

Repeat these steps for the - petal of your power supply and LilyPad main board.

Secure your power supply.
Since the power supply is currently only attached to your fabric by the + and - petals on one end, it will be dangling off your garment. Using the same technique as with the conductive thread (sewing loops through the petal hole), use regular thread of the same color to sew the two petals on the other end of the power supply down to your fabric. You can see a photo of how I've done it below.