New Textiles 2010

Success Story

Only 2 days after completing the project, one of my roommates had some French friends come to town to visit. They arrived exhausted and jetlagged, so they went to sleep on the futon in the living room at 9pm. I knew my slippers were a success when my other roommate asked to borrow them so that he could go to the bathroom without having to turn on the hallway light and wake up our guests.

For my final project, I wanted to create a pair of whimsical but useful slippers that would light your way as you walked around your apartment at night, without disturbing your roommates. (You can read about the proposal here.) These were the features I wanted:

Sources: Battery, LEDs, Solar Panel, Diode, Pressure-sensitive rubber (not used on the final product)

Sources: Battery, LEDs, , Diode?, Pressure-sensitive rubber? (not used on the final product)

For my final project, I wanted to create a pair of whimsical but useful slippers based on a cute pattern I had seen online a few years ago. (You can read about the proposal here.) These were the features I wanted:

For my final project, I wanted to create a pair of whimsical but useful slippers based on a cute pattern I had seen online a few years ago. (You can read about the proposal .) These were the features I wanted:

http://web.mit.edu/dawn/www/MAS962/final/circuit.jpg

• Making two of something is much harder than making one thing! A pair of slippers was definitely a challenge (twice as much debugging, plus its REALLY obvious if they don't match).
• Insulation in textiles is a real challenge. I had several shorting issues, especially when I tried burying the wires into the felted knitting and I forgot where I put them. Oops!
• The slippers would benefit from a light sensor so that the LEDs don't come on unless it is dark.

The surface-mount LEDs were turned into LED sequins by soldering on some silver crimp beads for ease of sewing.

http://web.mit.edu/dawn/www/MAS962/final/LED.jpg

Here is a top view of the slippers, one with the flap open (showing the battery) and one with it closed (showing the solar panel and the diode).

http://web.mit.edu/dawn/www/MAS962/final/process.jpg

Finally, I sewed the LEDs onto the slippers and sewed all connections with conductive thread. They didn't work on the first try (I had some shorting issues), but once I rewired the first slipper, they worked like a charm!

http://web.mit.edu/dawn/www/MAS962/final/lightup.jpg

Lessons Learned / Future Ideas

Insulation in textiles is a real challenge. I had several shorting issues, especially when I tried burying the wires into the felted knitting and I forgot where I put them. Oops!

The slippers would benefit from a light sensor so that the LEDs don't come on unless it is dark.

I designed a simple circuit for both charging the battery from a small solar panel and for lighting a trio of LEDs when a pressure sensor was depressed.

Sources: Battery, LEDs, Solar Panel, Diode, Pressure-sensitive rubber (not used on the final product)

The battery was hidden under the slipper's decorative flap. I cut off the wire connectors and soldered the wire ends into loops for easy sewing. The solar panel and diode was sewed to the top of the flap.

http://web.mit.edu/dawn/www/MAS962/final/wire.jpg http://web.mit.edu/dawn/www/MAS962/final/diode_solar.jpg

My pressure-sensitive rubber order was slow to arrive, so I made a pressure sensor similar to the one from my Rescue Bracelet project. I used felt instead of neoprene to try to minimize the height of the sensor. Then I sewed it under the toe area of the slippers.

http://web.mit.edu/dawn/www/MAS962/final/pressure.jpg

Insulation in textiles is a real challenge. I had several shorting issues, especially when I tried burying the wires into the felted knitting and I forgot where I put them. Oops!

CIRCUIT DIAGRAM!!!

Documentation

Ravelry Page

Final Presentation PDF

Lessons Learned

Making two of something is much harder than making one thing! A pair of slippers was definitely a challenge (twice as much debugging, plus its REALLY obvious if they don't match).

Insulation in textiles is a real challenge. I had several shorting issues, especially when I tried burying the wires into the felted knitting and I forgot where I put them. Oops!

(from the knitting assignment's project page)

The yarn is Istex Lett-Lopi which I received as a gift from a friend who visited Iceland. It is a single-ply yarn so it felts easily. I knit it following the pattern for French Press Felted Slippers from the French Press Knits blog. I knit on gauge with size US15 (metric 10) needles. They were metal and heavy and I hated them. But they worked! I also ran low on yarn so I knit the bottoms with two strands of lighter purple yarn and one strand of the dark purple. It gives the slippers a faux-sole look. Because I have very narrow feet I made the bottoms two stitches narrower throughout in hopes that they would fit better.

Knitting:

http://web.mit.edu/dawn/www/MAS962/knitting/slip1.jpg

The pattern had 4 pieces per slipper: two sides, the bottom, and the strap. That meant 8 pieces total.

http://web.mit.edu/dawn/www/MAS962/knitting/slip2.jpg

After weaving in the ends and sewing them together, they looked more slipper-like.

http://web.mit.edu/dawn/www/MAS962/knitting/slip3.jpg

Felting was a bit adventurous. The directions said to put the pieces in a pillowcase, tie it shut, and put into the washer on hot water. Agitate and check every 5 minutes. It also said to NOT let it spin, no rinsing. My process wasn't exactly the same. The pillowcase kept coming unknotted so I put everything in a mesh lingerie bag with a zip top. I let it agitate for more than 25 minutes at 5-minute intervals before forgetting to check it so everything went through the rinse and spin cycle. I caught it before the final rinse and looked at the slippers and they had finally felted to size! The nearly-dry state was also a plus for letting it spin.

http://web.mit.edu/dawn/www/MAS962/knitting/slip4.jpg

Overall, a very successful knitting and felting experience!

The project is divided into 2 major parts: the knitting and the electronics.

The Knitting

(from the knitting assignment project page)

The Electronics

For my final project, I wanted to create a pair of whimsical but useful slippers based on a cute pattern I had seen online a few years ago. (You can read about the proposal .) These were the features I wanted:

http://web.mit.edu/dawn/www/MAS962/final/slippers-proposal.jpg

http://web.mit.edu/dawn/www/MAS962/final/slippers-done.jpg

http://web.mit.edu/dawn/www/MAS962/final/slippers-done.jpg

PDF

Keynote

YouTube

RavPage

Dawn's Final Project: Sneaky Slippers

Due May 12, 2010

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVfj70gVVT4 |Video]

[http://ravel.me/MITchick/fpfs |RavPage]

More documentation coming...