Recently, I turned on the television and saw the Rockettes 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! …There are a few things to know before you get started, however. Controlling each LED directly like we do with lighting fixtures isn’t possible without a processing board used for the purpose of driving the LEDs…Also, while both Lilypad and Adafruit Industries feature several types of LED pixel products that can be used in wearables on the on the Arduino platform and both offer a basic electronics sewing kit comes complete with a spool of conductive stainless steel thread, 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. And I 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.
—From “Video Digerati” by Vickie Claiborne, PLSN, Nov. 2013
