I am so delighted with the support that has come through in the first week of the GlowStitch campaign. We’re just over halfway funded and I am grateful for all of your shares, comments, and words of encouragement. It has been a huge and exciting week and I am moved by all the support so far. A huge thanks to all of you!

One of the questions I have received a few times this week is about whether you can wash GlowStitch LED strips. Yes, they are washable. I recommend hand washing with no tumble dry, and remember to take the battery out before immersing in water. You can read about some of my washing machine tests on my Hackaday project page.

After this first week of funding, I find myself reflecting on what a journey it has been to develop GlowStitch. Building a product hasn’t been easy, with my iterative design process spanning several years. Over this time, my skills and the product evolved and I learned so much about all the aspects of preparing and refining a product for launch.

I’ve written a detailed blog post documenting my journey building GlowStitch. It includes all the failures, lessons, and things I wish I’d known at the start of this project. I am a big fan of the Lean Startup methodology, where you use customer validation and iterate and pivot the product along the way. Looking back, I would have never guessed this product journey. You can read the whole story on my Hackaday project page.

I haven’t reached my funding goal as of yet so, if you learned something or enjoyed the honest reflection in the blog post mentioned above, I’d be delighted if you could share my campaign.

Have a great week!

• Steph