I decided to give Thanksgiving the attention it deserves. As a kid, I loved making decorations for the Thanksgiving table. I thought whoever came up with the idea that your hand could be traced and transformed into a turkey was a genius. I made hand turkeys like they were going out of style – I even colored my fingers look like feathers so it would be more realistic.
Since I loved this so much as a kid, why wouldn’t I love the same activity as a so-called adult? Which is how the idea struck me, and I embarked on my second e-textile project: a LED hand turkey sweater.
My first idea was to have the turkey centered on a sweater. But while sweater shopping I discovered that apparently solid color crew necks are ‘sooooo last season’. I then went with plan B and moved the design to the lower-right corner of an orange v-neck sweater I picked up on the cheap.
Then it was turkey time! I traced my hand on a piece of brown felt and cut it out. Then, I sewed alternating rows of yellow and red LEDs onto my felt fingers with conductive thread. I then hand-stitched the felt to the sweater, added my batteries and stitched a beak, legs and an eye and….voilà!
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