Janet Hanson, the founder and Chief Fashion Engineer of Enlighted Designs, has designed costumes for artists like Daft Punk, M.I.A. and Kanye West. Needless to say, a lot of people are curious about how she makes her clothes.Our friends at Motherboard.tv went to her San Diego studio to find out how she manages to get the custom orders she does—her superstition is that if she listens to an artist’s music enough, they will eventually call her. In this week’s Instructables How-To, she walks us through the process of adding EL wire to a garment of your choice.The first step is selecting the piece of clothing you want to illuminate. Janet recommends altering garments that are made from stiffer material like leather, suede, denim or anything made from a medium to heavyweight fabric that does not stretch. Other materials you’ll need are a needle, clear thread, EL wire (can be a single color or mix), and EL wire driver/inverter, battery holder, switch, soldering iron, solder, wire strippers, heat-shrinking tubing and a heat gun.
Now plan your lighting layout. Since the core of EL wire is made from copper, it will break with repeat bending. So avoid areas on the body that move the most, like joints and hips. Mark the placement of the EL wire on the garment, deciding which sections can be lit up with a continuous piece of wire, and which ones will require multiple pieces. Decide what paths the wires will take for each section and mark the entry and exit points on the fabrics.Measure the total length of EL wire that you’ll need and decide if you want to solder the wires yourself or buy them pre-soldered. Then choose and order your desired thickness and colors of EL wire. Reference this Instructable if you decide to do your own soldering.Before attaching, test the wires to make sure you’re getting your desired brightness. Under normal usage, EL wire should have 3,000 to 5,000 hours of glowing life before the phosphor fades to half of its normal brightness.Sew the wire to the garment with clear thread (or fishing line) using a diagonal whip stitch. Tie a knot in the thread or fishing line every 5-6 inches in case it accidentally breaks while sewing.Finally, after you make sure the wires have enough slack to run to the inverter, hard-wire them together and sew a pocket inside of the garment to hold your battery. Check out the slideshow above to see various ways you can implement EL wire into your wardrobe.Visit the Instructables How-To for further instruction, more detailed photographs, and tips on where to buy materials.
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