I went up to Seattle Fabrics this afternoon and bought a piece of neoprene for some experiments in laserfingers design. It’s fun stuff: flexible, stretchy, springy, and durable. It’s easy to cut, easy to sew, and cut edges don’t fray.
The store was exciting: this is where you go to get outdoor and sports fabrics. Cordura, lycra, spandex, primaloft, gore-tex, webbing in every color, more buckles and fasteners than I knew existed – next time I make some kind of backpack, this is where I am going first.
As with any fabric that’s made partially out of a plastic or rubber make sure that you set your stitch length pretty wide when you sew neoprene, the fabric on one side will hold it together for the most part but you don’t want to sew the stitches too small or you’ll weaken the fabric. Unless you got stuff with fabric on both sides then it’s a lot stronger. :)
Comment by Amare — July 2, 2007 @ 8:50 pm
Have you considered using AAA lithium batteries for your next generation laser fingers? I’ve found that lithium last longer than rechargeable batteries. Also another plus side of using AAAs is that they are light weight. Just a thought…
Comment by Rachel — July 3, 2007 @ 3:45 am
The neoprene I’m using does have fabric on both sides. I hadn’t thought to adjust the stitch length – thanks for the pointer.
Lithium: good idea. Aren’t those rechargeable too? I’m pretty sure it’s the same technology they use in laptop batteries.
Comment by mars — July 3, 2007 @ 12:12 pm