waterCorset Journal
INTRODUCTION
The challenge I've encountered with integrating technology into fashion lies in its limited usability. Instead of functioning as practical, everyday wear, these tech-infused garments often lean more towards being artistic exhibition pieces found in museums, as seen in various examples from books, exhibitions and internet.
My aim is to bridge the gap between art, technology, and fashion by exploring how technology can be seamlessly incorporated into our daily attire for aesthetic purposes. While contemplating utilitarian applications like heat-generating elements, lightweight jackets, or anti-rain coats, my primary interest lies in the realm of luxury fashion. Ideally, I envision technology that serves both aesthetic and utilitarian purposes, emphasising a balance yet to be fully explored. My primary focus remains on achieving aesthetic and dramatic effects.
To delve deeper into the reasons behind the limited popularity of technology-infused fashion, I plan to ask questions and ideate. I aim to gather insights from people to address crucial aspects of my research. For instance, one apparent reason could be the weight and discomfort associated with the hardware. The striking examples showcased earlier may catch attention, but individuals seem hesitant to wear interactive pieces that resemble museum exhibits. Therefore, my approach is to start with everyday clothing items like basic t-shirts, skirts, or jeans, introducing subtle aesthetic interactions.
Moreover, people's casual attitude towards their attire could be a significant factor. Wearing something perceived as more expensive and adorned with wires or Arduino components may make the wearer uncomfortable with the idea of electricity in their garment. Additionally, it might influence them to handle the garment with extra caution, considering potential damage. Weather conditions, including exposure to rain, humidity, heat, and sweat, further present limitations to the widespread adoption of technologically enhanced fashion. These insights will guide my exploration towards creating technology-integrated clothing that seamlessly aligns with everyday lifestyles and preferences.
AESTHETIC OF ADINA NICOLA, luxury fashion brand
I believe that now is an opportune moment to introduce my conceptual fashion label.
Adina Nicola is dedicated to bridging the gap between opposing elements, such as constraint and liberation, the intersection of technology and fashion, and, most notably, the fusion of tradition and modernity. With a particular focus on preserving traditional crafts from diverse cultures, Adina Nicola, hailing from Eastern Europe in Romania, draws inspiration from her heritage as the creative director. The brand's previous collection delves into innovative shapes that intricately weave traditional crafts and heritage into contemporary designs, effectively preserving and revitalizing age-old techniques. Embracing a subversive nature, additional themes of spirituality, sexuality, and nature provide deeper context to the choice of materials, fabrics, trims, and accessories incorporated into the designs.
Adina Nicola places a strong emphasis on sustainability, with a commitment to recyclability and upcycling. The brand strives to minimize starting from scratch in the design production process, repurposing garments to reduce environmental impact.
A distinctive feature of the brand's aesthetic is the incorporation of silver jewelry adorned with stones and crystals, seamlessly embedded within the clothing. This addition serves as the final purifying element, imparting a ritualistic significance to the garments, enhancing both the production process and the wearer's experience.
Operating within this unique design philosophy, I am actively exploring ways to integrate technology into the narrative, ultimately elevating the storytelling concept and creating a harmonious blend of tradition, modernity, and innovation.
VISUAL CUES HERE: https://www.adinanicola.net/
WEEK 1
There’s a trend on tiktok about wearing clothes the wrong way. People, especially GenZ, being concerned with sustainability and cost of living crisis, but also wanting to look good are starting to wear their clothes in innovative ways (ex: making a skirt out of a poncho/scraf, wearing a shirt the wrong way around, using bobbin pins by crumbling and altering the garment to have a different shape)
CONCEPT OF THE THNEED: https://www.tiktok.com/@rachleahx/video/7162955426454129966?_r=1&_t=8gh9dx5qiWX
mechanical tech that crumples the fabric and transforms the shape:
FIRST SKETCH:
With this concept in mind, I meticulously crafted my initial sketch, envisioning a fusion of a corseted dress and a 3D printed necklace. Combining functionality and elegance, the necklace featuring clasps that possessed the ability to detect the presence of an individual nearby. Intertwined with technology, these clasps would gracefully swing open, initiating a mesmerising sequence of events as the fabric gracefully unfurled, revealing its hidden shape.
WEEK 2
In the next week we did motors in class so I got another inspiration for my project. This one might have been even bolder for me.
With this concept in mind I made this first sketch that would involve an INPUT of having musical waves and transform them into vibrations that would be connected to a light fabric that would be moved by the vibration of the music. Along with a casing for the Arduino that would look like a shell, put at the back of the dress and connected through strings with conductive thread. See sketches below:
I was excited for this idea but I had a technical tutorial with Agnes and she brought me back to reality by saying that the vibrations won’t move the fabric that much no matter how light it is, the skin will also absorb the vibrations, the wiring with conductive thread might be very difficult because each sewing line has to be separate from the other when connected to Arduino. The next week I had the presentation in front of the whole class and once again I had to start from 0.
WEEK 3
LED’s or NeoPixels never excited me because all of the project that I have seen online using them were kind of ugly. I decided though I had to start with something easier so I want ahead to create what would be my final idea and that is a corset that would have NeoPixels in the front, with hook and eyes acting as switches on the sides, where you can connect and disconnect the circuit. At the back it will be connected to a wearable Arduino aka Flora Adafruit while receiving input from an accelerometer. When the accelerometer senses movements the NeoPixels will start displaying a blue dripping motion like water, when the wearer stops moving than the other the NeoPixels will just stay blue until it start walking again.
I was happy with the design, I got a good feedback in class from my presentation and I was ready to go. You can check the presentation here:
For this presentation I also used LDS and a breadboard to illustrate the graphic motion of dripping water:
Code for LEDs:
int switchState = 0;
void setup() {
pinMode(3, INPUT);
pinMode(6, OUTPUT);
pinMode(9, OUTPUT);
pinMode(10, OUTPUT);
pinMode(11, OUTPUT);
}
void loop() {
switchState = digitalRead(3);
if (switchState == HIGH) {
for (int x = 5; x <= 12; x++) {
for (int brightness = 255; brightness >= 0; brightness -= 5) {
digitalWrite(x, HIGH);
delay(5);
analogWrite(x-1, brightness);
}
}
}
}This week, besides handling my usual tasks, I started a new project of improving my clothing patterns with a fantastic 3D software called Clo3D. Even though I had used this software before, this time I decided to push myself and bring the patterns to life by printing them out. Unfortunately, this step turned out to be one of the toughest challenges I've faced so far in this project as I will later explain in the upcoming weeks.
WEEK 4
In week 4 I laser-cut the patterns of the corset, got NeoPixels, conductive thread and hook and eyes to work with.
The laser cutting took a couple of tries to make it work. I had to try out different setting in order to cut through the fabric. I started out with a basic calico fabric that is a type of cotton, commonly used as a toile material in the fashion industry.
I also wanted to combine the code that I made in my Creative Computing class by engraving it on the fabric. The engraving turned out fine but after putting it in Clo3D I realised I didn’t like how it looks. I might use my logo instead
This week I also sew my NeoPixels to the garment. I could have bought wearable ones but they were very expensive so I decided to try with regular NeoPixels and just make holes with a needle through the GND, DIN and 5V and sew it through. I sewed the pixels together and then to the hook. I would sew the eye to the fabric and then connect it with clamps to the wires (just because I didn’t have at this point the Adafruit Flora).
Unfortunately, the hook and eyes were coated with black paint so when I connected the hook and eye the current didn’t go through so next week I went to buy mental unpainted ones,
You can see the first trial below:
WEEK 5
I initiated the coding process for the NeoPixels to emulate the LED's behavior on the breadboard. Working with NeoPixels necessitated starting from the ground up due to their distinct coding methodology. However, I integrated certain logic from my previous code, ultimately achieving the desired functionality. Instead of relying on an AXDL to initiate the transition from all blue lights to the "dripping effect," I temporarily employed a timer as a workaround.
To conduct my experiments, I decided to use the same front side of the corset that I had previously hooked up with NeoPixels. Sewing up six NeoPixels on each side, I implemented a carefully coded effect. Initially, I was thrilled with the outcome, but soon encountered a frustrating issue - the NeoPixels kept breaking and needing replacement. Even if they weren't physically damaged, they would randomly stop functioning, forcing me to adjust their position or bend them in new ways just to make them light up again.
Not only did this pose a logistical challenge, but it also consumed a significant amount of time. Hand-sawing each NeoPixel took ages,. Besides the physical difficulties, another major problem was the fear that one day they work perfectly, and the next, they would suddenly stop functioning altogether. To make matters worse, if even one NeoPixel stopped working, it caused a cascading effect, leading to all the others failing to light up as well. It felt like the whole flow just abruptly ceased.
Here is a video of a time the circuit was actually working:
NeoPixels Code:
During this period, my second focus was on laser cutting new patterns and assembling them through sewing, consuming a substantial portion of my time.
The garment itself serves as the casing in my case, making it crucial for it to fit perfectly and showcase the intended corset effect. Upon exporting the pattern from Clo3D, I observed a misalignment between the software-generated avatar and my measurements, despite my attempts to edit it accordingly. Consequently, I had to make adjustments, redoing the toile twice in one week and a total of three times, proving to be time-consuming for what seemed like a minor issue.
#include <Adafruit_NeoPixel.h>
#define PIN 6
#define NUMPIXELS 8
#define BRIGHTNESS 255
Adafruit_NeoPixel strip = Adafruit_NeoPixel(NUMPIXELS, PIN, NEO_GRB + NEO_KHZ800);
void setup() {
strip.begin();
strip.show(); // Initialize all pixels to 'off'
strip.setBrightness(BRIGHTNESS);
}
void loop() {
dripEffect(strip.Color(0, 0, 255), 10); // Blue drips with 100ms delay
}
void dripEffect(uint32_t color, int delayTime) {
for (int i = 0; i < strip.numPixels(); i++) {
for (int brightness = 255; brightness >= 0; brightness -= 5) {
strip.setPixelColor(i, color);
strip.show();
delay(delayTime);
strip.setPixelColor(i -2 , brightness);// Turn off the pixel slowly
strip.show();
}
}
delay(500); // Pause before starting the next drip
}WEEK 6
I got an accelerometer from Peckham Road and started to experiment with it. I found the ADXL to be much more difficult to code because you have the XYZ axis and use physics to calculate the Magnitude. Another physics theory I didn’t think I would revisit in this lifetime. But after I figured out that I realised that from there its gonna be smooth sailing. In order to learn I mainly used the Adafruit instructions on their website, and although they have a lot of information that can be quite complex, with many difficult terms, I eventually managed to update the code to work the way I wanted to.
The final code uses the accelerometer to see when the wearer is moving. If the person is static, the NeoPixels will display a bright blue color without any other effect. The moment the accelerometer senses movement, the NeoPixels start displaying the “dripping effect“. The NeoPixels light up individually and gradually and then as more light up the ones behind turn off slowly, just like a drop of water rolling on a surface. The other “analog“ input is a more non-traditional type of switched that is formed of three hook and eye. All of them are connecting one sewing line to GND, DIN, and V. If one is disconnected then the entire circuit will stop working because you interrupt the flow of conductivity.
#include <Wire.h>
#include <Adafruit_Sensor.h>
#include <Adafruit_ADXL345_U.h>
#include <Adafruit_NeoPixel.h>
#define PIN 6
#define NUMPIXELS 8
#define BRIGHTNESS 255
Adafruit_ADXL345_Unified accel = Adafruit_ADXL345_Unified(12345);
#define MOVE_THRESHOLD 45
Adafruit_NeoPixel strip = Adafruit_NeoPixel(NUMPIXELS, PIN, NEO_GRB + NEO_KHZ800); // Declare and initialize the NeoPixel object
void setup() {
Serial.begin(9600);
if (!accel.begin()) {
Serial.println("Ooops...");
while (1);
}
strip.begin();
strip.show(); // Initialize all pixels to 'off'
strip.setBrightness(BRIGHTNESS);
}
void loop() {
strip.Color(0, 0, 255);
strip.show();
sensors_event_t event;
accel.getEvent(&event);
Serial.print("Accel X: ");
Serial.print(event.acceleration.x); Serial.print(" ");
Serial.print("Accel y: ");
Serial.print(event.acceleration.y); Serial.print(" ");
Serial.print("Accel Z: ");
Serial.print(event.acceleration.z); Serial.print(" ");
double storedVector = event.acceleration.x * event.acceleration.x;
storedVector += event.acceleration.y * event.acceleration.y;
storedVector += event.acceleration.z * event.acceleration.z;
storedVector = sqrt(storedVector);
Serial.print("Len: "); Serial.println(storedVector);
delay(100);
accel.getEvent(&event);
double newVector = event.acceleration.x * event.acceleration.x;
newVector += event.acceleration.y * event.acceleration.y;
newVector += event.acceleration.z * event.acceleration.z;
newVector = sqrt(newVector);
Serial.print("New Len: "); Serial.println(newVector);
if (abs(newVector - storedVector) > MOVE_THRESHOLD) {
Serial.println("Water!");
dripEffect(strip.Color(0, 0, 255), 10); // Blue drips with 100ms delay
} else {
strip.Color(0, 0, 255);
strip.show();
}
}
//dripEffect
void dripEffect(uint32_t color, int delayTime) {
for (int i = 0; i < strip.numPixels(); i++) {
for (int brightness = 255; brightness >= 0; brightness -= 5) {
strip.setPixelColor(i, color);
strip.show();
delay(delayTime);
strip.setPixelColor(i -2 , brightness);// Turn off the pixel slowly
strip.show();
}
}
delay(500); // Pause before starting the next dripThis week I also decided on the fabric, having a light blue heavyweight cotton with a white cotton facing. I also got boning, a binding tool, invisible marker to mark the place of the conductive thread sewing lines, zippers for the sides and twill tape for the boning casing. When I got home I made the final toile to check that all my adjustments were correct. It was almost fine. I really love using the 3D Software for visualisation and digital display of a garment but when it comes to printing out the patterns, it’s not doing a very good job…
…
I received my Adafruit Flora on Friday from Ebay. I also bought a 3.7V battery and non-flexible NeoPixels. I wanted to try these because they are more rigid, making it easier for the circuit to flow. Plus, I don't have to cut and make the holes myself the way you would do with a strip.
WEEK 7
On week 7 it was all about putting it together. The other big challenge I came across was figuring out how to sew everything up, especially at the back of the garment where all the sewing lines would meet the Adafruit Flora. Because of its round and flat shape many of the sewing lines would have to overlap in ordered to get to the right pins. Thing that would be quite bad and could cose the whole circuit to short circuit. One option was to put tape in between the sewing lines, that way using the non conductivity of the tape to stop them from touching. The other option was to make the sewing lines in a point where one line goes under the fabric and the other one over it.
This week I was also thinking how to insert the battery in between the facing and the main fabric so that way it has a safe storage that is also hiding it. I was also considering hiding everything in the back facing and connecting the threads underneath to the ones on the top layer in the front. I still don’t know which method would be better and I feel I won’t have time to experiment with both because hand sewing the components its very time consuming.
Being scared of having such little time to test if the final garments its gonna work or not I made an Order of Assembly to have clear steps that I need to follow and hopefully everything will run smoothly.
Order of Assembly
Laser cut patterns for corset and facing
Engrave the corset patterns with the coded shape and logo in the middle front
Sew up corset FACE and BACK separately
Attach zipper and hook and eyes on the corset
Mark the path for the NeoPixels
Hand stitch the NeoPixels to the FRONT and to the hook and eyes
Sew up facing FRONT and BACK
On the BACK facing :
hand stitch the Adafruit Flora
connect it to the hook and eyes on both sides
hand stitch the ADXL to the Adafruit
make a pocket for the battery
connect the battery to the Adafruit
⚠️ CAREFUL when stitching with conductive thread to not overlap the sewing lines
Attach the FRONT of the corset to the FRONT of the facing
Attach the BACK of the corset to the BACK of the facing
⚠️ CAREFUL to the sides when sewing over the hook and eye
Attach invisible zipper on the sides at the BACK - in order to have access to the battery
Bind the rest of the corset
WEEK 8
I started putting everything together as detailed above. I only got to sewing the back facing and the complete front. It was all working well. The NeoPixels were working just fine and doing the water effect. The moment I added the Accelerometer, it all stopped working. No matter how I sew it, it just didn’t want to work. Now even when I was uploading just the code for the NeoPixels, that stopped working as well. I went to uni and soldered the Accelerometer with wires instead of using conductive thread. The Accelerometer started working, you could see the values on the screen, but the NeoPixels were still not responding properly. I used the multimeter and all the threads were making noise in the wrong places, showing somehow that all of the threads were short-circuited. It didn’t make any sense!! On the back I checked plenty of times that the threads would not touch one another. I asked Lexin what to do and she wasn’t sure either.
One thing I did realise was that the thread might have the resistance too big and the thread was loosing conductivity. Although this didn’t make that much sense either because the NeoPixel did work in the beginning with the first code. I also checked to see if they somehow burned but that wasn’t the case either because they were working individually, just not together. Hoping that the problem is the lack of conductivity of the thread, I decided to buy another conductive thread, this time with a lower resistance.
WEEK 9
The final week and my project is not working… I hoped to be finished with it two weeks ago but here we are. I got the conductive thread through express shipping on Monday. I had to remove all the NeoPixels that I have hand sewn previously (one side took me 3 hours) and resew them with the new thread. I tried using the sewing machine this time but the thread has a very rigid texture and the machine didn’t sew with it properly. Had to restart again. I spent the whole day on Thursday hand-sewing again all the NeoPixels. At the end, to my terror, it was working even worse than with the old thread, and on top of that I could see from time to time the thread starting to be read and smell like burned. Although again I couldn’t see any threads touching. I am writing this on Tuesday without much hope. I am extremely disappointed and scared I will fail this project. It’s also the fact that I don’t understand what went wrong. I have seen a lot of projects online doing similar things with NeoPixels but mine just stopped working. If I knew earlier I would have started doing something else but all the experiments that I have done previously have worked, as you can see above. I really though I could make it happen…
Anyways if I will have time, before submission, I will try to go to uni to solder the NeoPixels with wire. Although it won’t look as nice, at least maybe I can make them work as intended. I still have to finish my Coding One project before Thursday so wish me luck…
UPDATE: I am writing this two hours before deadline. Yesterday I spent all day in uni replacing all the conductive thread with wire. I managed to hide the wire under the corset and only pierce through on the other side of the corset to make the connections with the NeoPixels. One side is working just fine, the other one does not. On the other side just one NeoPixels lights up. I do not know the reason for this as both sides are exactly the same. I have checked the connection and everything sounds as it should be. As I was trying to fix that I realised it was 9pm and had to leave the building.
The next day I had to move on as it was the last day and still have to sew the rest of the corset up. I just finished it now, took a video and upload it here. I am very happy with how the corset turned out in terms of casing. You can’t see anything wires neither from the front or back and it looks just like a normal corset with some lights on it and on the back you couldn’t even tell there is more than just a top. I put all the wires in between the facing and main fabric and for the back, where the Adafruit Flora, Battery and Accelerometer is, I even added an invisible pocket that let’s you reach them easily if you want to change anything or upload new code.
Conclusion
I take great pride in the innovative zipper feature and the discreet concealment within the "casing" that I accomplished. Despite the project falling short of success, I am proud of translating the principles learned in Physical Computing into wearable technology, investing considerable effort and time. Unfortunately, the final product exhibits frequent glitches, persistent flickering, and intermittent functionality, mainly attributed to challenges with the conductive wire, varying resistances, and the choice of regular NeoPixels over specialized wearable ones. In my defense, the wearable alternatives were significantly more expensive, leading me to attempt using regular NeoPixels, which ultimately contributed to short-circuits due to the proximity of conductive thread.
At the end of the day, the setbacks provided valuable lessons, reinforcing the importance of careful material selection and prompting a deeper understanding of the nuances involved in creating functional and reliable wearables. In the future I am sure I will be able to use what I learned during this project to create even more wonderful (and hopefully fully functional) fashion pieces.
