E-Textiles 101

This page is a guide to different techniques that can be used in electronic textile design, places to source materials, and possible sources of inspiration/research references.

Resources

A fantastic resource for most e-textile related ideas and tutorials is How To Get What You Want, aka the KOBAKANT art collective DIY wearable technology documentation site. I'd strongly recommend just browsing around the site -- they have some great detailed guides, including knitted sensors, robust hard/soft connections, textile speakers, and using conductive velcro as a switch.

Sourcing Materials

• How To Get What You Want has a really good, long list of 'Basic E-textile Materials', as well as detailed reviews for materials such as Conductive Yarn, Conductive Paint/Ink, and Piezoresistive Fabrics
• Sparkfun has an e-textiles section that includes conductive thread, Lilypad and Chibitronics kits, pressure sensors and conformable data busses.