Silverell, 2 ply Stainless Steel, and 3 ply Stainless Steel Conductive Thread.    

  Silverell Conductive thread from 2008. 75 yard spool. Unfortunately as of 2012 Silverell changed its manufacturing and/or supplier and this style/quality of thread is no longer available. Their website is also difficult to navigate, doesn’t provide data sheets, and doesn’t have product images. This supplier is a challenging place to shop for the eTextile novice.    

  2 ply Stainless Steel wound on a 75 yard spool. This conductive thread frays at the ends and is pesky to work with. If you want a stainless steel thread I suggest the 4 ply as it provides more stability and less resistance.    

  Threading the Louet Hollandia loom with a four layer plain-weave.   Thru the texasolv heddles 1-8.     Grouping the warp threads in bunches of eight.     Throwing a few rows to test the threading and treadle tie-ups.    

  eTextiles on my workbench!     Just like embroidery and Arduino.    

  Textiles and electronics and have more similarities than you imagined.   For example – thread and jumper cables. Both connect objects and allow the project to function as a cohesive unit.     While the colors designate hierarchy and design aesthetics.    

Stainless steel thread has the lowest resistance, but is frays and whiskers like a cat rubbing up against a balloon! 2 ply 117/17 Stainless Steel Thread Resistance and Review from 23 April 2014.   6ply Stainless Steel   2 ply, 4 ply, and 6 ply Stainless Steel Thread  

Way way back in 2010 I was working on a competition piece for the Handweavers Guild of America conference and wanted to improve the aesthetics and durability of the conductive thread I was using. Syne Mitchell of Weavezine connected me with Jaycee Boggs (@insubordiknit) and I sent her some conductive thread to see what she would do…… A few month […]

  RESISTANCE hand sewn 8” trace has a resistance of 7 ohms machine sewn top thread 4” trace before thread broke has a resistance of 1 ohms machine sewn bottom thread 8” trace has a resistance of 1 ohms THREAD QUALITY difficult to thread a size 24 crewel needle frays and whiskers medium ease to sew by hand, breaks as […]

  RESISTANCE hand sewn 8” trace has a resistance of 7 ohms machine sewn top thread 8” trace has a resistance of 13 ohms machine sewn bottom thread 8” trace has a resistance of 7 ohms THREAD QUALITY easy to thread a size 24 crewel needle does not fray or whisker easy to sew by hand as well as machine […]