Lace Sensor Project

We have some lovely little speakers that we want to integrate into the dresses by covering them with crochet.  Of course this has an effect on the sound quality, so we’re testing, testing and more testing…

Lots of progress withe the Wave Shield!  Thanks to the tip posted in the adafruit forums, we managed to reduce our Wave Shield/Arduino Pro sandwich to 1.5cm in total, including all the sticky-out components.  Behold:

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After making the pressure sensors A and B, we decided that we’d like to integrate the sensors into a garment.  Originally we were going to stick to experimenting with sensors only, but after continued research of the history of lace making and textile handwork we felt inspired to broaden the project.  We also like the idea of giving the sensors a context.

We plan to make three dresses with three different themes.  The themes are taken from poems we’ve found on antique embroidery samplers and each poem says something about the person who made the embroidery and communicates a certain feeling, e.g., weariness, melancholy, resolve.  We’ve translated each theme into a gesture which, when made by the wearer, will trigger audio of the poem being read.  We’ll write more about the poems later, but meanwhile, here are some photos of the toile we’ve made for the dresses.

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