E-texiles Wearable Textiles Health Band

We are trainee design and technology teachers on a subject knowledge enhancement course. We got given a brief to make a wearable e-textiles which was a wearable product that combines electronics and textiles and is under the brief of well being. We decided to make a health watch which reminded you to complete activities that would help you to improve or maintain your health and well being.The LEDs would be turned on in the morning when you get up and you turn off the LED when you have completed the activity. We made little pictures to put next to the LED. We used a droplet of water to remind you to drink 8 glasses of water. We used a apple to remind you to consume 5 fruit and vegetables a day. We used a pillow to remind you to get enough rest and sleep. We used a stick man to remind you to complete enough steps (usually 1000-3000 steps a day).

First we chose the fabric we needed to create the band. We chose brown felt and white cotton. The cotton was used to sew the igloo board to it. We used cotton because it is a breathable material to wear on the skin. We used brown felt to make the watch multi-gender and made it look like a normal wrist watch.

The next step was to sew the battery holder and the igloo board onto the cotton fabric. First we sewed the battery holder on using conductive thread, then we sewed the igloo board on too. We made connections using conductive thread from the battery holder to the igloo board; it is important to be aware of the postitive (+) and negative (-) parts of the igloo board; otherwise it won't work correctly. Also when sewing with conductive thread you need to make sure the thread isn't touching other bits of thread used for other components otherwise it will short the circuit out.

Next we sewed material onto the top of the igloo board to act as an insulator. This meant we could attach components on top of the igloo board to prevent it shorting out. We needed the igloo board to be as compact as possible to fit on the band and wrist comfortably.

Next we attached the LED and a switch using conductive thread. We put the LEDs on the right side of the igloo. The LEDs were attached to ports B3, B4 and B5. For example the positive leg of the red LED was attached to B3 (+) and and the negative leg was attached to the negative port where the battery holder was attached. The other LEDs attached at B4 and B5 were the negative leg (-) of the LED and the positive side of the LED was attached to the positive part at the bottom (+).

The switch was attached to the left hand side of the igloo and doesn't have a positive or negative side so can be attached in any way. For example the switch was attached to C4 port and to the positive port where the battery is connected. 

Once we had connected all the LEDs and switches some of the LEDs wouldn't light up so we added bigger batterys and 3 out of 4 LEDs lit up. Therefore we sewed the big battery holder onto the watch as a prototype but the battery holder could be attached to clip onto the sleeve to make the watch easier to wear.

We made little pictures to go next to the LEDs to remind you to complete the activity to improve your health. We used a droplet of water to remind you to drink 8 glasses of water. We used a apple to remind you to consume 5 fruit and vegetables a day. We used a pillow to remind you to get enough rest and sleep. We used a stick man to remind you to complete enough steps usually 1000-3000 steps a day.

To finish the band off we folded the cotton material (that contained the igloo) over and sewed it using the sewing machine. I folded the felt over the igloo and fixed it together using overlocking. I added fastenings to the band (pres studs) so the band can be fixed together. We added the small pictures above the switches to show which switch was linked to a activity.