Escape Hatch Labs

Ian Hanschen has been doing some amazing things with LED matrices at EHL. Check out his stuff.

Check out Ian's soldering job on these LEDs. Notice the RGB LED on the far right - this guy has incredible dexterity.

Conductive Toggle Switch on Instructables

Check out the toggle switch that I invented using conductive velcro that have been using on my projects. It's published on the Instructables site.

Nora Carria

Even though this blog does not focus on my fine sewing and pattern drafting skills, you should know that I do have them. But I really owe that all to Nora Carria, who broke me in. She would throw projects my way and say "I've never done something like this: you figure it out". I did figure some things out, but she was there, when this little sparrow was flapping her wings over a puff sleeve, or a gusset in a crotch, and multiple other pattern drafting dilemmas. She is a fantastic custom clothier and a genius when it comes to flat patternmaking and draping. I was lucky enough to have her as a mentor and I completed my internship with her this summer. She is one of Seattle's best secrets, but I have no intention of keeping it that way.

Contact Nora Carria and ask her to show you the link to her work.

By the way, she came up with the shape of the hat in many of these projects.

Hanging LEDs

Here is a prototype and an idea that I am currently working on for some wall pieces using LEDs. This is basically simple parallel circuit with the conductive thread on the back side of the fabric. I bring the conductive thread through the front and LEDs dangle from it with some simple knots. I'm thinking some of these LED "arrays" could look cool and do some interesting things if there were some sensors inputing some data to make the LEDs blink. And there are always microcontrollers...

Sparrow Makes Another Appearance

I'm not entirely done with this - but it has been a fun quick little project. The outer shell is polar fleece fused on to SewSheer interfacing. The circuits are all conductive. The LEDs are the surface mounts that I soldered crimp beads to.
The switch is in the back and it is conductive velcro. The battery is a 3v lithium ion cell battery that is sewn into the shell and is hidden by the hat - which by the way is beautifully lined in a raspberry acetate.

The sparrow is a little pronounced for my tastes, so I think I will color her.

Richard Clark

If you ever need a hand, or just can't figure it out, perhaps you need to try a new approach, or maybe you need to call in a... Troubleshooter: Richard Clark.

Well.. What can I say about Richard -- Why don't you read what I wrote below.

Hat II Project - in progress

Here is another hat I'm working on. I am waiting on some resistors from Digikey - but as soon as they come - let the fun begin!