GlowStitch LED Strips

Here's another printable instruction sheet specific to sewing machine usage.  This sheet can help seasoned sewists understand how to get the most out of the LED strips for wearable technology projects.  This draft is still a work in progress and will continue to evolve with feedback.  Check out the printable PDF's in the files section for the latest version!

Another application of these LED Strips is to use them in art and crafting activities.  You can paint over them and the conductive tape without any effect on the circuit.  

This is a great way to plan STEAM activities:  Learn electronics while doing art and craft.  You can also uplift your art with LED lights and experiment with interesting ways to diffuse the light in mixed media pieces.  Here's a speed paint video demo of the concept:   

One of the reasons I'm excited about this project is that it will make electronics easier to learn.  Too often complexity is a barrier to entry for new electronics learners, and this aims to make it smooth and fun to get started.  Here's some instructions sheets I've created to ship with the sample packs for feedback from users, including a double-sided set of general use instructions with circuit diagram examples.  It also comes with a couple of project ideas, including a crown headband and how to make a glow bag.  The aim is to make this accessible to a breadth of people, including teachers who may not have any electronics experience to those who are experienced but have no wearable tech experience.  
I've made these instruction sheets printable PDF files (download in the files section of this project page) and made them in Adobe Illustrator.  

It takes longer to make instructions this way but makes it easier for the user to absorb with large images and a bright, colourful, fun design.  I appreciate any feedback or thoughts on these!  More project idea sheets coming soon.

I received my custom tape compatible battery holders in the mail and wanted to mention the small, simple safety feature I've included in this design. 

Coin cell batteries are a swallowing hazard for young children, and if ingested must be taken to the nearest emergency centre.  In Australia, we have new product safety guidelines which state that products must now contain 'Keep out of reach of children' and 'Swallowing hazard' warnings and the battery holder must be child resistant.  There is a small screw beneath where the battery slides in to make it difficult for a child to remove, and the screw can be removed by a screwdriver.  I have used a 1.6mm hole and 1.6mm screw, but will likely move up to M3 / 3mm size to make sure that an average screwdriver will do the job.  
Alpenglow also released an interesting alternative to the coin cell battery that is still in progress, a PCB that fits in the shape of the battery.  It can daisy chain many small soldering kits together for displays and convert coin cell battery holders to run USB power. 

This weekend, my large order of my LED Strips arrived.  It was taking too much time to hand solder these tiny 0807 size LEDs!  I can now start sending out samples for beta testing and I've begun some of my own product testing.  In this test, I wanted to find out what the failure rate was for repetitive machine sewing on the tabs.  I laid out 100 LED Strips and sewed five lines of straight stitch down each side.  Generally you would only need one or two rows of stitching, and five is overkill. I found that all LED strips still functioned after this torture test, which is an under 1% failure rate.  Super happy with this result!