Fidgety

I have always been really into children fabric books and wanted to make them interactive. I came across to fidget blankets which are designed for elders who have dementia and Alzheimer's but also for younger age people who have seizures or ADHD. I decided to combine the idea of fidget blankets for Dementia, Alzheimer's, Seizures and fabric books to make a series of interactive fidget portable pieces for younger children in which they can play anywhere with them. These pieces are called Fidgety.

I drew all my swatches out on illustrator or you can draw it on paper. By drawing out your designs, you can get a better sense of how to plan your light circuits. You can find inspirations online of what design of your swatches should be. Pinterest has tons of designs!

So for my designs, I have two push button designs where I want children to push and light up the light and another design where you just need to connect the conductive thread to another conductive area to light up the led. So I drew my circuits accordingly.

Materials needed are as follows-

• Felt (different colors)
• Different texture paper (your choice)
• Sponge for push button
• Sewing kit & thread
• Buttons & small pompoms
• Patterned Fabric Material
• LEDs
• Paper roses
• Fabric glue
• Solder & Soldering Iron
• Conductive thread

Then according to your designs, cut and start to sew! Remember to try to connect the conductive thread at least 2 times for a stronger connection. It will be best to solder them for the strongest connection. I sew the side with the LEDS first and made sure they are all working.

Sewing up the other side without the LED is fun! You can try any shapes you want or put anything you like on this side.

I used a thick (6 threaded) embroidery thread so it is very visible. I think it looks really cute when the sides are thick and visible.

This is what my interactive side of the LED looks like!