The Sewing Place
The Emporia => Embroidery and Embellishment => Topic started by: BrendaP on November 09, 2020, 12:53:02 PM
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Having taken inspiration from the spectacular lighted dress which @Manuela made a while ago I have just finished knitting four hats for the younger GC. The boys 13 and 9 will get the plain ones and the girls 15 and 13 will have the bobbles.
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They all have a button battery and two LEDs from a kit bought from Kitronik (https://kitronik.co.uk/collections/e-textiles-conductive-thread/e-textiles-kits). White LED in the red and light grey hats, blue LEDs in the charcoal and purple hats.
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It's not particularly difficult to. You have to use the special conductive thread and with knitted fabric it was important not to pull the thread tight between connections, although the connections themselves need to be secure to get a good circuit.
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The hardest part was sorting out the path of the threads; it has to be +ve to -ve and the threads must not cross. This turned out to be the simplest for what I wanted.
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As I haven't included switches it will be necessary to insert and remove the batteries to turn the LEDs on and off so I need to source a means of easily pushing the battery out, plastic or wooden. Terry suggests the wooden stirrers which come with take-away coffees. I just need to source them!
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Thats an idea I might have pinch @BrendaP . :D
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Very funky!
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Love it! So will your grandchildren :D
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Thats an idea I might have pinch @BrendaP . :D
@Ellabella By all means pinch it.
The instructions on the Kitronik website for adding an LED to a beanie hat suggest sewing the electronic bits to felt and then sewing the felt face down inside the hat but I decided that felt would be bulky and non-stretchy so I've just hidden the bits inside the turn-up. Hand knitting using DK yarn and 3.25mm needles has holes big enough for the LEDs to shine through. On woven fabric you would need to make eyelets where the LEDs go (and might even need to couch the conductive thread down to make it less conspicuous).
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I am sorry to be a downer ..... but unsecured button batteries are a danger for children. They can swallow the battery, either choking on it, or having it cause damage in the gut. And it happens very quickly, for the symptoms to be critical.
I think the concept is lovely, but maybe the instructions for encasing the battery are best followed.
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The youngest is nine - and well aware of battery dangers. I wouldn't dream of giving it to younger children.
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They will love them Brenda, what a good idea <3