Welcome to our Introduction to Handstitching and e-Textiles course. In this family-friendly course, we will introduce you to basic circuits and electronics, to color theory, fabrics and diffusion effects as well as to hand stitching techniques.

We will show you how circuits are found in pretty much every appliance and device you have around you and some of the basics that you can glean from opening up a device and taking a look inside.

From a basic circuit board, we will use some commercially available electronics kits, specifically designed for children, to review the basic circuitry concepts you will need to know in order to appreciate how an e-textile, or soft circuit works.

Next we will introduce color theory. Colors are important in e-textiles because LED bulbs give off different colors and when designing a project you may want to know how to combine and blend fabric colors as well the lights from the LED bulbs. This section will allow us to segway into our next set of topics that have to do with types of fabrics (synthetic vs natural) and the diffusion that each of these allows. Diffusion and weight of fabric are important when planning out your project (how bright you want it to be, for example).

Before jumping into the hands-on projects, we will introduce hand stitching techniques, including how to thread a needle, how to use a threader, and a variety of functional and decorative stitches

We will then bring all these concepts together to show you how you too can stitch circuits into fabric or clothing - a great opportunity to embed lights in your next Halloween or Cosplay costume!

This course is kid-friendly (please provide supervision when your child is using a sewing needle).

If you would like to stitch along with us, you may be interested in our Stitch a Circuit kit available on Etsy