Embroidered Circuit Flower "Aigul" That Grows in Kyrgyzstan

In this tutorial, we will be combining sublimation printing, hand embroidery, and circuitry to create a beautiful and functional flower that can light. I chose a rare flower called "Aigul" that grows in the mountains of my country Kyrgyzstan, but you can choose any flower you prefer! This project requires some basic knowledge of electronics and hand embroidery, but anyone without prior experience in them like me can also easily make it :)

Let's go!

MATERIALS

For sublimation printing:

• Sublimation printer and a paper (A4)
• White cotton fabric
• Mini portable heat press sublimation transfer machine/iron

For embroidery

• Embroidery hoop
• Embroidery floss (multiple colors)
• Embroidery needles
• Scissor
• Conductive thread

For circuit

• LED lights x 4-5 pieces (I'd prefer sewable LED lights)
• Coin cell battery x 3-4 pieces
• Conductive copper tape
• Paper
• Scissor

We start with sublimation printing first:

1. Find a flower (or any picture) you prefer
2. Print it on the sublimation paper through a sublimation printer (make sure the photo is flipped horizontally before printing because when you iron it, it will be mirrored)
3. Get your white fabric and put the printed paper with a picture on top of it
4. Get a heat press sublimation transfer machine/iron and iron it for 2-3 mins on high heat (300-350 degrees)

Done!

The next is embroidery

1. You will use the sublimation printed fabric
2. Place the into an embroidery hoop
3. Use embroidery floss and needles to hand embroider the details of your flower onto the fabric
4. You can use any embroidery stitch you like to add texture and dimension to your flower

The final step is circuits:

1. Get a piece of paper that suits your fabric size
2. Mark the places on the paper where you want the lights to be sticked based on the flower/picture
3. Trace those dots and tape the conductive copper tape leaving a little bit of a space for the lights
4. Now tape the light over the tape (make sure the tapes are toughing the tapes well) and put them all in a positive side facing the negative (so it is +, -, +, -) but then the battery that will be places on the final ending ig the tape should be opposite
5. Insert a coin cell battery* into the battery holder and turn on the lights to test that everything is working properly.

• try putting a few coin batteries if your lights are not working.