Sewing LEDS into Cosplay

[annamonopia]

I am working on a few cosplay projects which involve LEDS. I have been using strip LED so far, but for this new project I think sewing leds into the costume will work best for the desired result. I have the body suit made already. its constructed using a 4 way spandex fabric. I was looking at FLORA and GEMMA But I am not sure which is best for me needs. I will need the power source with a removeable battery and then about 100-200 LEDS placed throughout the suit. I am unsure how to link all these leds to eachother and link them back to the power source. Would I be stitching paths using connective thread? I have looked through the tutorials on the website but I have no coding experience. I am new to electronics in general, as all my experience is with sewing and garment construction.

any help is greatly appreciated

[caitlinsdad]

1. Go with the Flora as it has a more powerful chip than the one in the Gemma/Trinket. Other full blown sample "arduino" code that you may want to try is more adaptable to running on the Flora without need for modification. Gemma has it's quirks.
2. Your best bet is to go with using the silicone coated wire available from Adafruit. It is super flexible and unlike conductive thread, is insulated so you don't have to worry about wires crossing or body contact/sweat etc. Just "couch" or stitch over the wire to sew it in. You may even be able to zigzag over the wire with a sewing machine. It makes for a solid connection when you learn to solder too.
3. Neopixels are chained together. They are available with many neopixels on a ring, sticks, strip, individual LED format or on mini circuit boards. You just need to connect each other with + and ground, and the data line out to the data line in of the next neopixel. It would be wise to plan your layout of where your neopixels will be sewn so you can optimize the wiring needed to connect them. There is the Adafruit neopixel uberguide in the Learn section to get familiar with using neopixels.

I like to implement neopixel strips when I can. I even keep the silicone sheathing that comes with it and sew around it as it is a protective casing. The only real worry is to bulletproof the soldered connection on the end because that is subject to pull and strain breaking the connection. For extreme bends like at body joints you do have to section off the strip and bridge the connection with wire. Sew additional fabric channels so you can slide the strip in to mount it to the garment. Too much flexing can damage the plastic strip or pop off the tiny surface soldered parts. Make the electronics part an undergarment or topcoat so you can separate it out if something needs washing. Look through the Adafruit blog section - wearables to get more ideas and ask away. Good luck.

[adafruit_support_bill]

That is good advice from caitlinsdad. The Gemma is only capable of about 100 pixels. So if you need more than that you will need a Flora. The Flora is also a little easier to work with in general.

And for that many pixels, you will need good low-resistance power connections. The silicone coated wire has much lower resistance than conductive thread. The soldered connections are also much more reliable than knotted thread. And, as mentioned above, the insulation helps protect against accidental short circuits.