Fabricating Electronic Yarns from Off-the-Shelf Circuits for Smart Fabric
A full-day hands-on tutorial introducing Circuit2Yarn, a fabrication workflow for transforming planar flexible circuits into yarn-like electronic interfaces for smart textiles.
Overview
Electronic textiles can transform everyday fabrics into distributed sensing and interactive interfaces, but current prototyping methods often require a trade-off between soft textile integration and electronic functionality. This tutorial introduces Circuit2Yarn, a reproducible workflow that turns planar flexible circuits into yarn-like electronic interfaces.
Participants will learn how to pattern copper traces, transfer them onto TPU substrates, attach surface-mount components using conductive silver epoxy, roll the assembled circuit into a yarn form factor, and program capacitive touch interaction using Arduino. By the end of the tutorial, participants will build a working touch-to-light electronic yarn prototype and explore how the workflow can be extended to wearable sensing, smart garments, and interactive textile interfaces.
Why This Tutorial
- Introduces an accessible fabrication workflow for interactive yarns.
- Combines hands-on making with interaction prototyping.
- Uses low-cost desktop tools suitable for research labs and maker spaces.
- Connects electronic fabrication with textile integration strategies.
What You'll Learn
Fabrication workflow
Transform planar flexible circuits into yarn-like electronic interfaces through copper trace patterning, TPU transfer, component attachment, rolling, and debugging.
Interactive prototype building
Build a touch-to-light electronic yarn that combines capacitive touch input with LED output.
Arduino-based interaction logic
Read capacitive signals, tune thresholds, and stabilize touch-triggered responses using Arduino.
Textile integration strategies
Explore how electronic yarns can be sewn, woven, or embroidered into textile forms and discuss open research challenges.
Planned Schedule
Motivation, Circuit2Yarn overview, one-dimensional yarn transformations, routing, component placement, and stress minimization.
Pattern copper foil, transfer traces onto TPU, attach LEDs and resistors using conductive silver epoxy, apply adhesive or encapsulation materials, and roll the circuit into a yarn form factor.
Use Arduino and the CapacitiveSensor library to implement capacitive touch sensing and tune the touch-to-light interaction.
Test prototypes, discuss observations, and see demonstrations of sewing, weaving, or embroidery-based integration.
Organizers
Jiayi Shao
University of Washington / University of Notre Dame
Chun-Cheng Chang
University of Washington
Zhechen Zhao
University of Chicago
Yiyue Luo
University of Washington
Shwetak Patel
University of Washington
Vikram Iyer
University of Washington
Zhihan Zhang
University of Washington
Tingyu Cheng
University of Notre Dame
Call for Participation
We invite researchers, students, designers, and makers interested in wearable computing, smart textiles, human-computer interaction, and physical prototyping to participate in this full-day hands-on tutorial.
No prior experience with electronic yarn fabrication is required. Basic familiarity with electronic circuits and Arduino programming is helpful but not mandatory. The organizers will provide demonstrations, step-by-step guidance, and troubleshooting support throughout the tutorial.
Participant Information
- Please bring: a laptop with the Arduino IDE pre-installed.
- Provided by organizers: fabrication materials, electronic components, microcontroller boards, and portable tools for the hands-on activities.
- Attendance: limited to approximately 12–15 participants to ensure access to tools and personalized guidance.
Contact
For questions about the tutorial, please contact the primary organizer:
Jiayi Shao
Email: jshao2@nd.edu