E-Clothing Installation - Made by Humans

During my master's thesis, I examined the use of e-clothing for activism. Since both components of e-clothing are often present in activism (clothing can become a protest symbol (e.g. pussy hat, statement t-shirt etc.) and digital tools being used to engage in activism (e.g. e-petitions, social media campaigns etc.)) I thought it would be interesting to examine the intersection of both. During my research I noticed that clothing and (digital) technologies are also used in art to draw attention to social injustices, which falls under the definition of activism in my thesis. Therefore, I decided to take an artistic approach to the topic in the practical part of my thesis with an e-clothing installation.

Since I was frequently confronted with the issue of fast fashion and its working conditions through my thesis, I decided to address this topic in my practical part of the thesis.

When we buy clothes in a store or online, we usually have no connection to the people who made them. The only clue is a small label that reads “Made in …”. This project aims to symbolically “humanize” clothing and draw attention to the production context.

For this purpose, I integrated movable 3D-printed eyes into a hoodie that follow the viewer’s position. The eye was chosen for two reasons:

1. Eyes express human emotions and enable nonverbal communication, helping to “humanize” the hoodie.
2. At the same time, the sensation of being watched should create discomfort and encourage reflection on consumer behavior.

Originally, the plan was to make the e-clothing project fully wearable and only present it on a mannequin. However, due to technical challenges in integrating the electronics into the garment, the current version is not wearable and can only be displayed on a mannequin.

Okay, enough about the background of the project—let’s move on to the instructions! The tutorial is divided into three parts: the clothing part, the electronics part (mainly the 3D-printed eye), and assembling everything.

Note: This is my first own project in both e-clothing and physical computing. Some aspects could certainly be implemented more effectively, and I’ll point out weaknesses where relevant. If you have suggestions for improvements, I’d be very happy to hear them! :)

Clothing part:

1. hoodie
2. tailor's interfacing (optional)
3. thread for sewing machine
4. embroidery thread
5. chalk pencil
6. needle
7. iron
8. scissor
9. sewing machine
10. Velcro fastener

Electronic part:

1. power supply for Raspberry Pi 4 and corresponding camera
2. Raspberry Pi 4
3. servo driver and power supply
4. 9 positional servo motors (I used this, but I would recommend using a bigger one such as this)
5. filament (PLA) black and white
6. superglue
7. paper clips and wire
8. small drill with sanding attachment (Optional, not necessary if 3D models have been measured correctly :D)
9. saw

Assembling part:

1. mannequin
2. nylon strap 3.3cm wide and corresponding buckle and regulator
3. fabric
4. screws for Raspberry camera

1. (Optional) Reinforcing the Fabric

First, I reinforced the hoodie fabric with tailor’s interfacing, since my first plan was to integrate the eyes directly into the garment. The interfacing not only adds stability but also improves the fit on the mannequin, preventing the hoodie from sagging. Whether you need this step depends on the type of hoodie you’re using.

a. Cut the interfacing to size and place it inside the hoodie, with the adhesive side facing the fabric. If needed, pin it in place to keep it from slipping.

b. Iron the interfacing onto the fabric. Instead of sliding the iron, press it down firmly to secure the adhesive.

2. Cutting and Preparing the Eye Openings

Next, cut the holes where the eyes will be placed. It’s best to have already printed an eye model at this stage so you can get the size right or even better the eyes are already on the mannequin (explained in step 3).

a. To prevent the fabric edges from fraying, sew a hem around each hole.

b. Attach Velcro fasteners to the inside of the hoodie above and below the holes. I originally glued them in place, but I recommend sewing them with an invisible seam instead. The glue isn’t strong enough for long-term use.

3. Adding Embroidered Veins (Optional)

To visually connect the eyes with the hoodie, I embroidered veins onto the fabric.

a. First, sketch the veins using a chalk pen. Then embroider them by hand.

b. For the stitch, I used a simple backstitch.

1. Choosing the Eye Model

Since the original small eye model I planned to integrate into the hoodie didn’t work out for various reasons, I switched to an alternative design. I used the model from MorganManly (detailed assembly instructions can be found here).

2. Adapting the Model

I had to make some adjustments to adapt the model to my needs:

a. For the first model, I had already purchased smaller servos, which didn’t fit into the second design. I reworked the parts in Autodesk Fusion to make them fit (though if I were to repeat the project, I’d use the servos recommended in the original instructions—since they are bigger they should allow a greater range of movement and have Dupont connectors instead of JST which becomes important later). Since I adjusted the basis of the model I also had to shorten the joints of the eye lids. All adjusted models are attached here and the rest can be found in the instructable that I linked.

b. The eyes also needed a housing to be mounted inside the mannequin. I designed this in Fusion as well. Since I originally wanted to mount the eyes directly into the hoodie, I had added fastening holes to the housing, but these aren’t necessary when integrating into a mannequin.

1. If you’re using larger servos, you may need to lengthen the model slightly and adjust the barrier for the basis that I created in the inside.
2. I initially placed the cable hole at the back, but later realized it works better on the right side. To avoid reprinting, I adjusted this manually with the drill at the end.

3. Eye Movement Setup

To control the eye movement, I used a Raspberry Pi 4 connected to a camera. I installed OpenCV and used its built-in face detection feature. You can find the code in the attached file faceTracking.py.

⚠️ Important: Don’t skip the calibration step from the original instructions—otherwise, the servos may be damaged.

Since I wanted to animate three eyes, I needed to control nine servos in total. For this, I connected the servos to the Raspberry Pi via a servo driver. Here you can find a video that helped me a lot: Connecting Servo driver PCA9685

1. The cables for the upper and middle eyes may need extensions to reach the driver.
2. My servos had JST connectors, so I used cables with JST connectors and added Dupont caps (I couldn’t find a ready-made alternative with short delivery time, but these should also work: ...).
3. If your servos already use Dupont connectors, you only need an extension if required.

This video by Core Electronics helped me a lot with setting up everything: Face Detection with Raspberry Pi + OpenCV + Python

4. Painting the Iris

Finally, I painted the iris of each eye with acrylic paint. The best approach is to start with a dark base color and gradually layer lighter shades toward the center for a realistic effect.

1. Positioning the Eyes

Once you have all the individual parts ready, you can start organizing everything on the mannequin.

a First, cut holes in the mannequin where the eyes will be placed. The outer edge of the housing prevents them from slipping inside.

b Attach Velcro fasteners to the edges of the eye covers so they can connect with the Velcro fasteners on the hoodie. I recommend reinforcing them with extra adhesive, as the standard glue doesn’t hold very well.

2. Mounting the Electronics

The remaining components (servo driver with power supply, Raspberry Pi 4 with power supply) need to be fixed securely to the mannequin. To do this, I sewed an adjustable waist belt and attached the parts there. Here is a tutorial that I used to build the adjustable waist belt (unfortunately in german, but I think you can understand it without sound).

a. For the Raspberry Pi, I imported a model by iSikkel from Maker World into Fusion and added a bracket so it could be mounted on the belt.

b. For the servo driver and its power supply, I created custom mounts in Fusion. The servo driver model needed a few manual adjustments, since I had made the connection hole slightly too small. The snap-fits also weren’t very stable, so gaffer tape had to fix this issue :D The power supply, however, fit without issue.

c. Because of its size, I sewed a small fabric bag with eyelets to hold the Raspberry Pi power supply (power bank).

3. Final Assembly

Finally, connect all the components to the mannequin and attach the camera, ideally with small screws. The last step is pulling the hoodie over the mannequin—which turned out to be a bit fiddly!