LEDs are widespread within the entertainment industry. From video panels to lighting fixtures, LEDs are showing up everywhere. And lately, the scope has grown even wider to include costumes. Recently, I turned on the television and stumbled across a performance by the famous Rockettes dance troupe in which they were all dressed in black jackets covered with LEDs. As I watched, I realized that video images were being pixel mapped onto the dancers; and of course I was instantly intrigued!
So, if you’re curious like me, then you may want to know what’s involved in using LEDs on costumes. If so, then here’s some basic research information to light the fire.
Wearable LEDs
If you use a search engine to search for LED costumes, you’ll likely be inundated with costumes that use LED strips; in other words, single rows of LEDs that all blink or fade in a single color at the same time. This isn’t very exciting for pixel mapping, however, so it will be necessary to search for wearable LEDs that allow for individual control.
Searching in this fashion led me to two companies that specialize in these types of LEDs, Lilypad and Adafruit Industries. While I’m sure there are more, I’ll limit this column to these two companies since I’m most familiar with their products.
To begin, controlling individual LEDs on a costume requires a main processing board. Controlling each LED directly like we do with lighting fixtures isn’t possible without a processing board used for the purpose of driving the LED. Both Lilypad and Adafruit offer unique and small processor board layouts designed for the LED market, and both base these boards on the Arduino platform.
Arduino is both a company and a product brand. Arduino manufactures its line of open-source hardware and software that can be used for creating prototypes and other electronics projects. End users can build entire projects on this platform using their free software and their available-for-purchase hardware. Both Lilypad and Adafruit Industries have based their wearables LED hardware on the Arduino platform, thus making it incredibly flexible and adaptable.
Both Lilypad and Adafruit Industries feature several types of LED pixel products that can be used in wearables. The Lilypad ProtoSnap, a introductory level sewing kit for electronics, comes with five white LEDs, conductive thread, battery holder, and power on/off switch. Adafruit has taken this a step further and created its own Flora line of hardware for wearables, which include some really interesting hardware pieces like the NeoPixels, Lux Sensor, GPS module, Color Sensor and Accelerometer. I ordered the kit from Adafruit for my own experimenting, and here’s some of what I learned about using wearable LEDs.
Challenges
Both Lilypad and Adafruit’s basic electronics sewing kit comes complete with a spool of conductive stainless steel thread. I ordered the kit from Adafruit and, when it arrived, I immediately realized I needed to read a bit about some basic sewing stitches. After all, even though I’d be creating circuits, I’d be sewing those circuits onto a piece of fabric.
Luckily, both websites offer great tips on some beginning stitches. After reading through a few of the basics, I laid out the NeoPixels I’d ordered on the fabric, along with the Flora to determine the design I wanted.
It’s recommended at this point to mark the fabric where the circuit will be sewn, but since I was only practicing, I didn’t. And I immediately realized a couple of things. First, sewing from point A to point B on a piece of fabric is tough without using an embroidery hoop (which I went out and bought), and second, have some clear nail polish on hand.
Why? Because when you need to start or end a line of thread, you have to tie a little knot in it. That knot is a royal pain to keep from unraveling without using nail polish to seal it. So don’t try to cut corners, just buy the polish.
A very important part of sewing circuits with conductive thread is to never cross the circuits. This also means never allowing the extra length at the ends of the threads to touch a circuit(another good reason for nail polish). I discovered this as I sewed my way around a circuit of 12 NeoPixels, trying to keep all the positives connected without crossing any negatives. Not hard usually, especially if you follow the first recommendation of marking on the fabric where the circuit path will be. (On my first try, I didn’t, so I had to start over again since I couldn’t find the problem).
And that brings us to our good ol’ friend, continuity.
Here’s my last helpful tidbit for now. Keep a multimeter nearby. You’re going to need it when you get everything sewn down but you have no LEDs lighting up when you turn on the power.
Putting It Together
Intimidated by electronics? You don’t have to be. Arduino, as well as Lilypad and Adafruit Industries, have compiled a large library of tutorials and other information making it a bit less intimidating.
Both Lilypad and Adafruit Industries also feature step by projects with video tutorials for creating some fun projects like the Firewalker LED sneakers and the Pac Man Pixel Suspenders. Now who doesn’t need some of those?
