Sewing, Quilting, & Fabric Manipulation
A surface application for binding a single fabric into different structures and/or connecting pieces of fabric together, or interlacing a yarn through a fabric. It is one of the more common techniques used for e-textiles as a conductive thread serves the role as a wire within a simple circuit. The two most common techniques for sewing are hand sewing and machine sewing and each process follows a similar ordering of steps (though the instructions for implementation vary for if you are working by hand or machine.
Fabric Manipulation
Sewing is a great way to add texture and surface details to your project and there are needly countless ways that sewing can bind fabrics together or bind a fabric to itself to create textures. These techniques for added structure are described as Fabric Manipulation. For resources on these techniques we recommend:
Fabric Manipulation
The Art of Manipulating Fabric by Colette Wolff
https://www.theshapesoffabric.com/2019/05/26/fabric-manipulation-books-to-have/
Pattern Magic Series by Tomoko Nakamichi
https://www.laurenceking.com/us/product/pattern-magic/
Inspiration
The Catalog of Rei Kawakubo (aka Commes des Garçon)
https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2017/rei-kawakubo
Quilting
Quilting is another common way in which several smaller patches of fabric and joined into larger structures for the purposes of making blankets, rags, and/or quilted garments (such as jackets).
Electric Quilting Inspiration
E-textiles LED Matrix Quilts
http://kaytdek.trevorshp.com/projects/conductive/artStudi178/quilt.htm
Woven Core Memory Quilt
https://faculty.washington.edu/dkrosner/corememory/index.html
Configurable Quilt Squares with Motion Activation
https://ruthhunsinger.wordpress.com/category/cap1/
Structural Inspiration
Gee's Bend QuiltMakers
Gallery: https://www.soulsgrowndeep.org/gees-bend-quiltmakers
Exhibition: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/fabric-of-their-lives-132757004/
Quiltmakers of Gees Bend Film: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0381525/