YUCATECAN ELECTRIC

An evening dress combining yucatecan embroidery and electronics

Yucatecan Electric is the result of a collaboration I had with Theda (now Nikté), a fashion brand that creates contemporary fashion with Mayan Embroidery and Cooperativa Flor de Margarita, a mayan cooperative of textile artisans who are growing their skillsets in yucatecan mayan embroidery.

GOAL

The aim of the project was to create a piece that celebrated the technical exchange between the Mayan textile artisans and the electronic knowledge that I brought from my side and that would be presented at the fashion show Espacio Háptico.

The garment would have a Lilypad board and a circuit that would create a randomized light pattern on the belt, depending on the speed the model walked.

PROCESS

The first step was to plan the design of the embroidery with the team. Margaret, the founder of the brand Theda, helped coordinate the logistics and helped co-create the dress. Demetrio, an artisan with ability to bridge between the Cooperativa and a more technical production, helped with the design and fabrication. The family of the Cooperativa Margarita co-created the design with a floral motif and made the embroideries.

Once we agreed on the design, we picked the colors, according the the palette of embroidery threads available to us. I digitalized the belt design in Illustrator with the exact colors to get a rendering of how it would look like at the end.

Once the design was ready and the materials were purchased, we transferred the design to the fabric, preparing it for the embroidery phase.

Then, the magic began: with precision and grace Don Ana “painted” the flowers and leaves with the machine as if he was using a brush.

Part of the outfit included electric earrings, so Don Ana embroidered two turquoise flowers for that purpose.

The final embroidery of both belt and earrings looked spectacular. Time to embroider the electronic circuit!

Once the belt and earrings were ready, I built and sew the circuit on the back of the embroidery. The Lilypad was sewn and also connected with electric wire. The accelerometer and the sewable LEDs were all sewn with conductive thread, creating a soft circuit (for the most part). A lithium battery was also added in its storage pocket to power the dress.

We also added a yellow LED on the flower earrings, creating mini circuits with a battery and a switch in the back to power the earrings on and off. It was simple but the final effect was quite powerful.

Once the circuit was completely sewn to the belt and powered with the lithium battery, it was tested one more time. Then I cut and sew dress by using the draping technique, and added the belt to it.

OUTCOME

HOW DOES THE DRESS ACTUALLY WORK?

Great question. Thanks for asking.

When the wearer walks, the accelerometer calculates the acceleration of her stride. Depending on the speed she is walking at, a randomized pattern of blinking LEDs starts shining on the belt, changing at specific speed threshold.

So it looks like the dress is twinkling!

The dress was presented during the event Espacio Háptico in Merida, Yucatan, on May 19, 2018. It was also exhibited during the workshop Etextile Spring Break in Wassaic, in April 2019.