Ada Lovelace Day was established last year as an international day of blogging to celebrate the achievements of women in technology and science. If you’re not already familiar with Lady Ada, it’s worth learning more… The daughter of Lord Byron, she worked with Charles Babbage on his analytical engine and wrote the world’s first computer program.

In honor of Lady Ada, I’d like to highlight a handful of the women who inspire me in the world of wearable electronics and soft circuitry.

Leah Buechley

Director of the High-Low Tech research group at the MIT Media Lab, Leah developed the Lilypad Arduino – the microcontroller boards I’ve been using in my own wearable electronics experimentation. It’s a dream of mine to someday be involved with her lab – they come up with incredible, innovative, and beautiful things there!

LED Bracelet - Leah Buechley, 2005

Hannah Perner-Wilson

One of the graduate research assistants in Leah Buechley’s lab, Hannah has developed some incredible resources for others interested in wearable electronics, including the reference site HOW TO GET WHAT YOU WANT (with Mika Satomi) and a bunch of Instructables.

Knit & Crocheted Sensors - Hannah Perner-Wilson, 2009

Diana Eng

You may recognize Diana‘s name from her stint on Project Runway a couple of years ago. She’s still going strong with wearable technology -  most recently authoring Fashion Geek and creating Fairytale Fashion, a collection with electronics and shape-changing garments which integrated feedback from the public through her website during the design process. For extra geek points, she also covers ham radio for Make magazine!

Twinkle Dress and EL Wire Dress - Diana Eng, 2010

Syuzi Pakhchyan

Syuzi wrote Fashioning Technology, the first book that I picked up on the subject of soft circuitry, and runs a community by the same name. Syuzi is great about encouraging more people to experiment in the field – the Fashioning Tech community is very welcoming, and she regularly shares the projects that members blog about there.

ePuppets - Syuzi Pakhchyan, 2008

Alison Lewis

Alison is the founder of SWITCH and author of SwitchCraft. She also teaches at the Parsons School of Design, and brings a more high-fashion perspective to her work. I was incredibly flattered when she recently featured my Skirt Full of Stars on SWITCH.

Rodarte-style Lighted Heels - Alison Lewis, 2010

Becky Stern

Becky may have done more to spread the word of DIY soft circuitry than anyone else. As Associate Editor at MAKE and CRAFT, she frequently shares wearable tech projects and has produced a couple of CRAFT videos about wearables. She also teaches soft circuit workshops (I had to miss the one at Urban Craft Uprising in Seattle last summer because I didn’t have anyone else working my booth), and sells soft circuit starter kits through her company, Sternlab.

Lilypad Embroidery - Becky Stern, 2008

Lynne Bruning

‘Textile Enchantress’ Lynne makes absolutely stunning garments that frequently involve things like electronics or UV-reactive materials. She has also generously shared quite a few instructables of soft circuitry techniques. I’m particularly fascinated by the work she’s been doing using smart fashion to assist impaired individuals – like this sonar garment for the visually impaired.

Bats Have Feelings Too - Lynne Bruning, 2009

Angela Sheehan

Creator of the blog Soft Circuit Saturdays, Angela is another maker who has been diving deeply into wearable electronics. I love seeing what another dedicated explorer who is not a professional in the field comes up with!

Temperature Sensing Cup Sleeve - Angela Sheehan, 2009

Interested in seeing more posts honoring women in science and tech? Check out the list of posts over at Finding Ada, or follow the #ald10 tag on twitter.

To start, I’d like to direct your attention to fellow Mad Scientists of Etsy team member FurWillFly, whose creations include “The Insiders,” a family of plushies which each feature one anatomical feature, like this friendly-looking guy:

Large Lungs by FurWillFly

GIANTmicrobes turns out cuddly versions of the very small – from dust mites to platelets. We had some of their diseases around the office a few years ago, and everyone took no end of pleasure in giving each other the flu, flesh eating disease, and even the clap!

Penicillin by GIANTmicrobes

And if the single-celled isn’t small enough for you, I also recently discovered ParticleZoo, who makes adorable plush subatomic particles. They’re available singly, or in sets like the Universe in a Box, and she’s gone so far as to weight them by relative mass!

Charm Quark by Particle Zoo

Did all that cute make you feel like crafting your own plush scientific goodness? Perhaps you should take a look at this plush cell model instructable.

One of the things I would like to do in this space is periodically highlight a creative business that I particularly like. I’m going to kick off the Spotlight series by drawing your attention to Flood Clothing.

I should mention that I have always been a ‘hat person’ – just ask my mom. From the time that I was old enough to be able to pull a hat onto my own head, I was wearing them as much as possible. So when my little sister and I were walking around the Portland Saturday Market a few weeks ago, my attention was captured immediately by the Flood Clothing booth with its wall of adorable hats.

I stopped into the booth to try on a few of the creations, and was even more taken with the proprietress – Nicole Flood was incredibly personable, the kind of person you immediately want to be friends with. (So much so that I witnessed someone else in the booth, who I don’t believe she had met before, spontaneously invite her to their upcoming Halloween party.)

Her work was very well done, as well. Her line includes not just hats, but also shirts, skirts, dresses, and accessories such as wrist cuffs, and everything is based around recycled materials – the hat I ended up with used to be a pair of corduroy pants and a plaid men’s shirt, for example. She clearly has a gift for breathing new life into the materials, finding great ways to incorporate even the prints on t-shirts into her designs. I love that she gives each piece a unique name, too – it just underscores the fact that you are getting a true original when you buy one of her creations.

If you care about things like supporting creativity, green and sustainable business, or just gorgeous, fun clothes and accessories, I highly recommend checking out Flood Clothing – either by visiting the website, Portland Saturday Market, or one of the events or boutiques listed here (in the Seattle and Missoula areas as well as Portland).