Ahhhh yeah. Instructables user englighted shared her process for making the light suits worn by Daft Punk in the Alive 2007 shows. From her intro...
As a lighted costume designer, I get a lot of questions from people who want to know how to make their own EL wire costumes (many of them seeking to mimic the immensely popular Daft Punk red robot suits, which I illuminated for their Alive 2007 tour). I don't have time to help everyone individually, so I thought I'd consolidate my advice into one instructable. Hopefully this will help you understand the steps involved in this labor-intensive process, and get you started with your own lighted clothing projects.
Rather than describe how to make a single specific design, I am trying to make these instructions fairly general so you can create your own EL wire layout for almost any type of clothing, although many of my example photos refer to lighted coats. Also, since EL wire is very fragile in situations where it is flexed repeatedly, a lot of these tips will focus on methods for improving durability and getting the longest possible life out of the garment
Looks pretty damned time consuming, but I'll bet I'll see one of these walking around in October.
I actually was playing with making an origami business card holder for those moo cards you see in the middle photo. While playing with some paper folding, ended up making an origami notebook instead, and slid the moo cards into the side pocket.
The notebook is a design I took from one of my origami books (Origami: The Art of Paper Folding
I've actually been toting this along with me for my daily todo lists--as an adjunct tickler to the many 3x5 index cards that sit in my Action folder.
One of the problems being an early adopter is not having accessories like device cases for your gear. I started using a Blackberry Pearl 8100 last week and was using a case I sewed out of painting canvas for a few days to keep things in my pocket from scratching the screen. Today I sewed together an interim case using an old laptop screen protector/keyboard cover from Other World Computing. I used a quarter to trace a thumb-slide hole.
Right side out
Inside out
The right side out version looks nice and the fit is snug, like a condom for my cell phone. But because I put the shiny leather side out and the velvety side in, the phone doesn't slide out as nicely as when it's inside out. I also like the way the case feels inside out, so I may try it that way for a while. Of course, when a better, more appropriate case comes out, I'll probably just use that and dump this one, but you gotta make do with what you have or can make. This serves its purpose for now.
I guess I'll also post more thoughts on using the Pearl a little later. Still testing it out to see if the SureType works for me or if I should send it back and wait for the 8800 with the full keyboard. I'm a Sidekick refugee, having owned the I and II, so I've got lots of nits about the user experience, but the form factor and speed are working for me so far.
I'd come a cross an article in a magazine a while ago offering suggestions about how to make a vintage t-shirt, you know the kind that's soft, worn out and super thin to the point of being nearly threadbare because it's 10 years old? I couldn't remember all the tips, so I culled a few off the web. Here are the suggestions (each is a separate tip). The technique is basically find a way to distress the fabric without destroying it.
Wash the fabric repeatedly with any of the following methods:
- Machine wash with hard objects such as load of tennis balls, sandpaper, rock salt
- Hand wash with sand, rocks or try using Dryer Balls
- Soak it in water, salt and vinegar
- Bleach and wash repeatedly
American Apparel is apparently also selling tshirts in different weights. Seek out the paper thin ones. If you are looking for information on fading tshirts, preshrunk.info has a method for doing that.