The LilyPad Arduino is a set of tools that empowers people to build soft, flexible, fabric-based computers. A set of sewable electronic modules enables users to blend textile craft, electrical engineering, and programming in surprising and beautiful ways. A series of workshops that employed the LilyPad have demonstrated that tools such as these, which introduce engineering from new perspectives, are capable of involving unusual and diverse groups in technology development. Ongoing research will explore how the LilyPad and similar devices can engage under-represented groups in engineering, change popular assumptions about the look and feel of technology, and spark hybrid communities that combine rich crafting traditions with high-tech materials and processes.