Hot Pantz are a sleek, high waisted undergarment that soothe menstrual cramps on the go. This garment uses a thin heating fabric that targets cramping in the abdomen and lower back. It is designed to be sleek, not bulky, so it can be worn comfortably underneath your clothes. Its rechargeable lithium ion battery holds a charge for about an hour. Once it runs low, it can be powered with a USB from a computer or wall adapter, so you can have constant relief outside of bed.
The idea for this product came from my own relationship with my period, which recently, has been very painful. So painful that I’ve had to stay home because of how sick I feel. Heat has always been helpful in relieving my pain, but staying home with a hot water bottle on my belly is not really conducive to my lifestyle. So I wanted to create something that would soothe my menstrual pain while still allowing me to participate in my outside activities.
In my first draftings of the design, I imagined the heating pad like a belt thats tightness could be adjusted to your body -- something similar to a money belt.
Here is the first prototype based on the initial design, using a neoprene and jersey fabric stuffed with a thin heating pad and velcro to fasten.
But then I thought, why not create the heating pad in the form of clothing we are already used to wearing? Underwear! Here is one of the images that inspired the next iteration.
The moodboard I created featured highwaisted panties with loud prints after conversations with women who expressed wanting to have something like a fun secret underneath their clothing.
Here are sketches of the new design, where the heating pads would be placed and how they would be powered, either in serial or in parallel.
The heating pads I used were a woven polyester with conductive thread sealed in a plastic film. I tested the amperage and voltage while the heating pads were wired in parallel and in series to see how much power I would need.
I found a pattern for a high waisted panty online, bought cheap fabric, and started sewing away. Again, I had very little sewing experience before undertaking this project.
I created a little pocket between the inner and outer fabric layers to hold the heating pad. But in the next iteration, I removed the plastic protective layer and sewed the heating fabric directly on to the inner fabric of the underwear.
I used a 3.7v battery with a power boost from Adafruit to bump it up to 5v so I could power the heading fabric. I used silicone wire as connections.
For future iterations I’d like to experiment with all fabric connections and loose the silicone wires if possible. It would be great if we could have a soft battery as well. I’d also like to make a boy short/boxer brief style.
I build a soft case to hold the battery using leftover black neoprene and snapped it on with a metal button. Once the battery was unplugged from the garment, I hand washed and dried them and they still worked!
Ruffletron - demo Ruffletron is a prototype of a wearable musical interface and an experiment in performative interaction. This project was in collaboration with Cullen Miller. Since I wanted this project to have good sound quality, I asked him to be the sound engineer. I am a very lo-fi sound artist and need to be schooled in high quality DSP, Cullen is the perfect person to fill this role. Cullen is trained in music and has worked as a composer, it was not only important to have his technical skills, but his insight as a musician. http://lara-grant.com/ruffletr0n-2/
