Festivals and events can get chilly at night. What better way to warm up than with a glowing hoodie -- especially one with interactive buttons that engage everyone you meet and offer conversations and connection, ooh's and aah's, and plenty of light to find your way home.
This glowing hoodie is controlled by seven 3D printed buttons along the front, each corresonding to one of the seven chakras. When a colored button is pressed, the Neopixel strip lining the hood and the individual neopixels on the tail animate in that chakra's color.
I started with a gorgeous handmade hoodie from Kinetic Couture, but any hoodie, vest, or furry muppet coat will work well with all the techniques in this guide. Let your imagination run wild!
Before you start: This project is fairly complex and involved, and refers to several other guides for techniques and ideas. It's really meant to inspire you to create your own unique light-up clothing. Be sure to read through the whole guide and let the ideas rattle around for a while before jumping in!
Materials
This project builds on the Neopixel Tactile Switch buttons guide, adding two types of LED strands for two very different effects.
- 7 Neopixel Tactile Switch Buttons
- 1 Adafruit Metro Mini
- 1 meter of 60/m NeoPixel Strip in white
- 30-50 individual NeoPixels
- JST on/off breakout switch
- 2500mAH LiPoly battery (get a charger too)
- 30awg wire in at least 3 colors
Tools & Crafting Materials
- Needle & thread
- Fabric glue
- Interfacing and / or lining fabric
- Sewing machine (helpful but not necessary)
- Soldering iron & heat shrink
- Fun fur or other diffusion material
Page last edited July 19, 2016
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