21st Century Skills InnovatIon LIbrary Contents Chapter 1 What are E-textiles Chapter 2 Sewing with Electronics Chapter 3 beginning Projects with Soft Circuits Chapter 4 Microcontrollers Chapter 5 Light It Up Glossary Find Out More Index about the author 4 9 19 23 26 30 31 32 32
MakerS as innovaTors Chapter 1 What Are E-Textiles C an you imagine making a phone call from your T-shirt Would you like to have a scarf that gets tighter as the wind kicks up These are not quite reality yet but fashion designers artists and scientists are working together to combine textiles and technology The future of your clothing could be electronic E-textile is short for electronic or electro-textile E-textiles are also called conductive clothing electronic clothing and soft circuits Electronics small computers or other digital devices are built into in them Special conductive thread or paints can be sewn or applied to the fabric as well Smart fabrics do not only sense the environment but also react to it One example might be a shirt that warms you when it’s cold outside cleans itself when it’s dirty lights up when it gets dark or protects the wearer from a fall Smart clothes could monitor your workout and give you advice on how to train A shirt with a pocket that charges mobile phones would be 4
E-TExTilEs E-textiles allow makers to build lights and other electronic devices into clothes and other wearable accessories such as this cuff convenient Smart fabrics are part of a larger category called digital wearables The field of building advanced technology into textile fibers is sometimes called fibertronics Smart clothes and e-textiles can act like a second skin to help monitor what goes on under real skin Electronic or digital sensors woven into or painted onto the clothes can track people’s body changes and 5
