STEAM Up Your Makerspace with E-Textiles and Wearable Technology
- Lindy Hockenbary
- Sep 24
- 6 min read
Updated: Sep 25
When we think of STEM, STEAM, and maker learning, we often picture robotics kits or 3D printers—but there’s another powerful (and often overlooked) way to spark creativity: e-textiles and wearable technology. Imagine a shirt that monitors heart rate, shorts that instruct running pace, or a purse that lights up when it is opened.
Implementing these strategies in your classroom, makerspace, or library opens up an exciting pathway for students to combine engineering, design, fashion, and coding—all while solving real-world problems. Climb aboard the STEAM train to learn how to quickly and easily create e-textiles and wearables with your students!
All Aboard: Definitions
E-Textiles, or electronic textiles, are fabrics embedded with electronics. E-textiles can be used for aesthetic reasons, such as theater, costumes, cosplay, fashion, and interior design. E-textiles can also be performance enhancing, such as heated socks, infant smart socks (the Owlet Dream Sock is a real life example), power gloves for space walks, and smart hospital gowns.
Wearable technologies are electronic devices worn on your person. Examples include virtual reality (VR), smartwatches, fitness trackers, smartglasses, heated socks, and smart hospital gowns.
E-textiles and wearables are related but distinct categories with important overlap. While an e-textile project can be designed as a wearable item, it doesn't need to be. Similarly, wearable technology can incorporate e-textile components but may rely on other materials and methods entirely.
Why Take the Journey?
Our kids deserve to have exposure to both emerging technologies and career opportunities across industries; this is exactly what e-textiles and wearables offer. These technologies are becoming more and more common in many industries:
Fashion
Medical
Sporting goods
Automotive
Engineering
Interior design
Technology
To name a few! This also creates an opportunity for interdisciplinary projects in your classroom and school. These interdisciplinary connections make e-textiles and wearables perfect for STEM and STEAM learning.
If you are an elective teacher, head of a student club, or makerspace manager, this strategy is also great for program recruitment. It can help increase participation of under-represented demographics in certain areas, such as girls in STEM and computer science.
The process of creating e-textiles and wearables is nothing but problem solving and critical thinking. Therefore, you can easily frame these projects around your favorite disciplinary process, such as the engineering design process or the design thinking process.
If none of those reasons convince you to jump on the train, creating e-textiles and wearables is so fun and creative!
First Journey: LED Sequin Express
Ready to start? My favorite entry point into creating e-textiles and wearables is the sewable LED sequin project. It’s beginner-friendly, inexpensive, requires no coding, and gives students instant results—their creation literally lights up!
This project is suggested for grade levels 4-12. It does require hand sewing, which requires fine motor skills. You know your students best. You may have younger students that will do just fine and older students that may find the hand sewing challenging. Use your teacher judgement. Plan for at least two hours to completely finish the project; two hours is really a conservative estimate.
What Does Done Look Like?
Here’s how it works at a high level:
Get power: Use a sewable coin cell battery holder.
Test your LED: Alligator clips help students test before sewing. This is of utmost importance to minimize frustration!
Find some fabric: Pick an existing clothing/accessory item or make something out of fabric.
Sew the circuit: Replace the alligator clips with conductive thread to create a circuit by connecting positive to positive and negative to negative.
Light it up: Turn on the battery and watch your design glow.
From there, students can embellish, hide circuits creatively, and reflect on the design process.
Design Thinking Tip
The LED sequin project is perfect to integrate into the design thinking process. For the empathize stage, frame the project around problem solving. Have students brainstorm: What problems could you solve by combining lights and textiles? Then, for the define and ideate phases, students could make a shirt with lighted cuffs or a hat with a motion sensor light. We are solving world problems! You could even integrate this project with the United Nation’s sustainable development goals (SDGs).
Essential Cargo: Supplies
To complete the LED sequin project you will need the following supplies:
Sewable coin cell battery holder
Sewable LED sequins
Coin cell batteries
Conductive thread
Sewing needles
Alligator clips
Fabric, item of clothing, or accessory
Scissors
Seam ripper
The following supplies are optional additions:
Embroidery hoop
Clear nail polish
Glue
Needle threader
Tweezers
Non-conductive thread
Find a list of all supplies as well as links to purchase in the supply spreadsheet:
Detailed Instructions
Find step-by-step instructions to complete the LED sequin project in this resource:
Utilize these instructions along with the following tips to bring your project to life:
Start with one sequin: Highly recommend starting with one LED sequin for your first project
Alligator clips: Use alligator clips to test before you sew! Ensure the battery, coin cell battery holder, and LED sequin are working properly.
Positive to positive, negative to negative: Simply attach the positive port of the coin cell battery holder to the positive port of the LED sequin; repeat for the negative side.
Conductive thread: Replace the alligator clips with conductive thread to create a sewable circuit! After you sew the first line, use alligator clips to test the other side before continuing to sew.
Parallel circuit: Create a parallel circuit, not a series circuit, by using two separate threads: one going through the positives, the other through the negatives.
Never cross threads: Ensure your conductive thread never crosses as it will create a short circuit.
Fabric choice: Felt and knit fabric is much easier to hide threads than woven fabric for beginner sewers, especially.
Plan the placement: Analyze the placement of the coin cell battery holder and LED sequins to ensure they won’t interfere with each other and your threads won’t cross. An “insulator” (aka a piece of fabric) can be placed in between the battery holder and the sequin, if needed. Use glue to hold the placement.
Embroidery hoop: Helps beginner sewers.
Laundering: Think about how/if you need to launder your textile. Can you create electronics pieces that can be removed with snaps, Velcro, or zippers?
Secure:
Use non-conductive thread to secure the battery holder through the unused positive and negative ports.
Use clear fingernail polish to secure the thread ends.
Once students master the LED Sequin Project, the possibilities expand:
Add multiple LEDs and plan for placement
Experiment with laundering and design for removable electronics
Next Stop: Microcontrollers
Ready for advanced travel? Once students have mastered the LED sequin project with a coin cell battery holder, exchange the coin cell battery holder for a microcontroller and 2-pack battery holder. Microcontrollers allow you to code patterns, colors, sensors, etc.
The Gemma is a microcontroller created for e-textiles and wearables as it is very small. Although there are several other microcontrollers for wearables. See pages 14-15 of this guide.
Consider the following when utilizing microcontrollers:
Analyze the placement to ensure you can hide both the Gemma and the larger battery holder. Think about how you could use a pocket or brim of a hat.
Orient the Gemma to account for the battery holder wire.
The negative goes to the GND (ground) port on the Gemma.
The positive goes to the 3VO (3 volt) port on the Gemma.
Future Destinations
Ready for more? Explore the following projects to spark ideas and get your creative juices flowing:
Additional resources:
Ready for More Destinations? Training
Need support implementing e-textiles, wearables, or other maker learning strategies? Lindy is here to help with customized training options:
E-Textiles and Wearable Technology Guide
E-Textiles and wearable technologies bring together creativity, engineering, and real-world application in a way few projects can. Whether your students are designing a glowing hat, coding a color-changing scarf, or prototyping mechanical gloves, they’re building both technical skills and imagination. When the lights switch on, so do the ideas.
Ready to go full STEAM ahead? Everything you need to get started is in this visual, printable resource:
