Becky Stern • Posted by Sonia Wong

Published August 30, 2016 © CC BY-NC-SA

Light It Up Skirt Using Adafruit Flora

Make your clothes light up when you move! This is a sewing project using NeoPixels and FLORA.

BeginnerFull instructions provided5 hours1,311

Things used in this project

Hardware components

150 mAh LiPoly battery or 3xAAA battery pack

Conductive thread

Standard thread

Lined skirt with a sheer overlay or cutout top layer

Adafruit Flora

Adafruit Flora Accelerometer

Adafruit Flora RGB Neopixel LEDs- Pack of 4

Hand tools and fabrication machines

Scissors

Needle

Multimeter

Embroidery hoop

Clear nail polish or Fray Check

Water-soluble embroidery marker

Story

Make clothing that lights up when you move! This is a sewing (no soldering) FLORA project using 12 color-changing NeoPixels and the FLORA accelerometer/compass module.

Spikes in the sensor readings cause the pixels to flash and sparkle. The pixels are sewn to the skirt’s lining and are diffused by the outer layer of fabric, whether it be a sheer overlay or a cutout lace design. If a skirt doesn’t appeal to you, use this circuit and code on a hat, a belt buckle, or even a blinky dog collar.

Note: This project was excerpted and modified from the book Getting Started with Adafruit FLORA.

Figure 2. Some of the materials needed for a Sparkle Skirt.

Layout and Circuit Diagram

Select a skirt and start planning where your pixels will go. The Sparkle Skirt diagram shows how you can connect all the parts of this circuit.

Figure 3. Sparkle Skirt diagram.

Each component connects to the FLORA main board as follows:

Accelerometer:

GND → GND

SCL → SCL

SDA → SDA

3.3V → 3.3V

Array of NeoPixels:

Vcc (Power) → FLORA VBATT

IN (Data Input) → FLORA D6

Gnd (Ground) → GND

Since the conductive thread has nontrivial resistance, pay close attention to the extra connecting power and ground lines on either side of the skirt—they will help your colored lights shine to their full potential.

Lift the outside layer of the skirt away from the lining (The pixels will shine through the laser-cut top layer). If the layers are attached with small threads, snip them.

Figure 4. The pixels will shine through the laser-cut top layer.

Place your components on the front of the skirt lining according to the diagram. We’ll do the back pixels separately, after all six of the front pixels are working.

Figure 5. Arranging the pixels

Lift each component and make a mark with a water-soluble marking pen (or just use a very fine tip permanent marker to make a tiny dot), as shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6. Marking pixel locations.

Sew the Circuit

Begin by tacking the FLORA main board to the skirt lining with regular thread (Figure 7), using two unused pads (3.3V and the GND opposite it are good choices). Set up the fabric in a large embroidery hoop.

Figure 7. Tacking FLORA.

Stitch the four connections between the FLORA main board and the accelerometer board (Figure 8).

Figure 8. Stitches to accelerometer (front).

Seal your knots and trim the thread tails at the back (Figure 9).

Figure 9. Stitches to accelerometer (back).

Then begin stitching to connect your pixels’ data pads (marked with inward- and outward-facing arrows) from FLORA pad D6 (Figure 10).

Figure 10. Running stitch.

Knot, seal, and clip the ends of the threads, being careful to avoid unintended connections (aka shorts), as in Figure 11.

Figure 11. Sealing knots.

Using one extra-long piece of conductive thread, stitch the power bus for the six pixels on the front of the skirt (Figure 12). Repeat with another for the ground line (Figure 13). Make sure to test these pixels first, as described in the next section, before connecting more on the back.

1 / 2 • Figure 12. Stitching the power bus.

Figure 13. Power and ground.

WARNING

Don’t power up your skirt until you’ve checked for shorts! Double-check that your tails are clipped and your skirt is lying flat on a nonconductive surface. Never stitch pixels with the power connected, and never connect power with the skirt bunched up in your lap!

Code and Battery

Triple-check that all your conductive thread tails are trimmed and your skirt is lying flat on a nonconductive surface, and then connect your FLORA main board to your computer with a USB cable, as shown in Figure 14.

Figure 14. Plug in the USB cable to load sample code.

Open the Adafruit Arduino IDE. You will need the NeoPixel library for this next step, which comes preloaded with the Adafruit Arduino IDE and Codebender.

First, test out all six pixels by uploading the sketch in: File→Examples→Adafruit_NeoPixel→strandtest. If all of your pixels light up and change color, you’re good to continue to the back! Disconnect the USB cable before stitching more pixels on the back of the skirt.

To test the accelerometer, you’ll need to install the Adafruit Sensor library as well as the unified LSM303DLHC library. You can test out the accelerometer by uploading the sketch in File→Examples→Adafruit_LSM303→Test. Open up the serial monitor and watch for changing motion values.

When you have pixels on the front and back of the skirt, place a piece of scrap fabric in between them for testing (so they don’t touch and short each other out), or put the skirt on a (nonconductive) dress form. When you’re wearing the skirt, your body will keep the front and back from touching.

If your skirt has lots of folds, you may have trouble with your pixel connections shorting out against each other. You can insulate them under a piece of ribbon, wear a slip under the skirt, and also add some wobble to your pixel line so when the skirt folds, traces aren’t up against each other.

To add sparkle to your skirt, copy the following code into your Adafruit Arduino IDE and click Upload. You can specify the colors in the myFavoriteColors array, and if you’re not getting any reaction to your movement, you can adjust the sensitivity by setting MOVE_THRESHOLD to a lower number.

You can also download the code from Adafruit; there are two versions of the code on that page. The first one uses the older Adafruit_LSM303 driver. The second one requires you to install the drivers listed earlier in this section. Make sure you use the version that matches the libraries you’ve got installed. The second version is attached to this project.

Use a scrap piece of coordinating fabric to sew a small battery pouch. We doubled ours over, used the sewing machine to stitch in an L, then clipped the corner and turned the pouch right-side out (Scrap fabric battery pocket).

Figure 15. Scrap fabric battery pocket.

Stitch the battery pouch to the skirt lining with regular thread in a place nearby the FLORA main board.

Figure 16. Battery pocket near FLORA

Wear It!

LED NeoPixels flash in the layers of fabric.

Wear your new flashy skirt to your next party or out dancing, make one for each bridesmaid, and be sure to document and share your creations online! Change the colors to match the rest of your outfit or suit the occasion.

Sparkle Code

C/C++

To add sparkle to your skirt, copy the following code into your Adafruit Arduino IDE and click Upload. You can specify the colors in the myFavoriteColors array, and if you’re not getting any reaction to your movement, you can adjust the sensitivity by setting MOVE_THRESHOLD to a lower number.

You can also download the code from Adafruit; there are two versions of the code on that page. The first one uses the older Adafruit_LSM303 driver. The second one requires you to install the drivers listed earlier in this section. Make sure you use the version that matches the libraries you’ve got installed. The second version is listed here.

#include <Wire.h>
#include <Adafruit_Sensor.h>
#include <Adafruit_LSM303_U.h>
#include <Adafruit_NeoPixel.h>

// Parameter 1 = number of pixels in strip
// Parameter 2 = pin number (most are valid)
// Parameter 3 = pixel type flags, add together as needed:
//   NEO_RGB     Pixels are wired for RGB bitstream
//   NEO_GRB     Pixels are wired for GRB bitstream
//   NEO_KHZ400  400 KHz bitstream (e.g. FLORA pixels)
//   NEO_KHZ800  800 KHz bitstream (e.g. High Density LED
//   strip)
Adafruit_NeoPixel strip = Adafruit_NeoPixel(6, 6, NEO_GRB + NEO_KHZ800);
Adafruit_LSM303_Accel_Unified accel = Adafruit_LSM303_Accel_Unified(54321);

// Here is where you can put in your favorite colors that will
// appear! Just add new {nnn, nnn, nnn}, lines. They will be
// picked out randomly.
//                                  R   G   B
uint8_t myFavoriteColors[][3] = {{200,   0, 200},   // purple
                                 {200,   0,   0},   // red
                                 {200, 200, 200},   // white
                               };
// don't edit the line below
#define FAVCOLORS sizeof(myFavoriteColors) / 3

// mess with this number to adjust TWINklitude :)
// lower number = more sensitive
#define MOVE_THRESHOLD 45

void setup()
{
  Serial.begin(9600);

  // Try to initialise and warn if we couldn't detect the chip
  if (!accel.begin())
  {
    Serial.println(
      "Oops ... unable to initialize the LSM303.
      Check your wiring!");
    while (1);
  }
  strip.begin();
  strip.show(); // Initialize all pixels to 'off'
}

void loop()
{
  /* Get a new sensor event */
  sensors_event_t event;
  accel.getEvent(&event);
  Serial.print("Accel X: ");
    Serial.print(event.acceleration.x); Serial.print(" ");

  Serial.print("Y: ");
    Serial.print(event.acceleration.y); Serial.print(" ");

  Serial.print("Z: ");
    Serial.print(event.acceleration.z); Serial.print(" ");

  // Get the magnitude (length) of the 3 axis vector
  // http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euclidean_vector#Length
  double storedVector =
   event.acceleration.x*event.acceleration.x;
  storedVector += event.acceleration.y*event.acceleration.y;
  storedVector += event.acceleration.z*event.acceleration.z;
  storedVector = sqrt(storedVector);
  Serial.print("Len: "); Serial.println(storedVector);

  // wait a bit
  delay(100);

  // get new data!
  accel.getEvent(&event);
  double newVector = event.acceleration.x*event.acceleration.x;
  newVector += event.acceleration.y*event.acceleration.y;
  newVector += event.acceleration.z*event.acceleration.z;
  newVector = sqrt(newVector);
  Serial.print("New Len: "); Serial.println(newVector);

  // are we moving
  if (abs(newVector - storedVector) > MOVE_THRESHOLD) {
    Serial.println("Twinkle!");
    flashRandom(5, 1);  // first number is 'wait' delay,
                        // shorter num == shorter twinkle
    flashRandom(5, 3);  // second number is how many neopixels
                        // to simultaneously light up
    flashRandom(5, 2);
  }
}

void flashRandom(int wait, uint8_t howmany) {

  for(uint16_t i=0; i<howmany; i++) {
    // pick a random favorite color!
    int c = random(FAVCOLORS);
    int red = myFavoriteColors[c][0];
    int green = myFavoriteColors[c][1];
    int blue = myFavoriteColors[c][2];

    // get a random pixel from the list
    int j = random(strip.numPixels());
    //Serial.print("Lighting up "); Serial.println(j);

    // now we will 'fade' it in in 5 steps
    for (int x=0; x < 5; x++) {
      int r = red * (x+1); r /= 5;
      int g = green * (x+1); g /= 5;
      int b = blue * (x+1); b /= 5;

      strip.setPixelColor(j, strip.Color(r, g, b));
      strip.show();
      delay(wait);
    }
    // & fade out in 5 steps
    for (int x=5; x >= 0; x--) {
      int r = red * x; r /= 5;
      int g = green * x; g /= 5;
      int b = blue * x; b /= 5;

      strip.setPixelColor(j, strip.Color(r, g, b));
      strip.show();
      delay(wait);
    }
  }
  // LEDs will be off when done (they are faded to 0)
}

#include <Wire.h>
#include <Adafruit_Sensor.h>
#include <Adafruit_LSM303_U.h>
#include <Adafruit_NeoPixel.h>

// Parameter 1 = number of pixels in strip
// Parameter 2 = pin number (most are valid)
// Parameter 3 = pixel type flags, add together as needed:
//   NEO_RGB     Pixels are wired for RGB bitstream
//   NEO_GRB     Pixels are wired for GRB bitstream
//   NEO_KHZ400  400 KHz bitstream (e.g. FLORA pixels)
//   NEO_KHZ800  800 KHz bitstream (e.g. High Density LED
//   strip)
Adafruit_NeoPixel strip = Adafruit_NeoPixel(6, 6, NEO_GRB + NEO_KHZ800);
Adafruit_LSM303_Accel_Unified accel = Adafruit_LSM303_Accel_Unified(54321);

// Here is where you can put in your favorite colors that will
// appear! Just add new {nnn, nnn, nnn}, lines. They will be
// picked out randomly.
//                                  R   G   B
uint8_t myFavoriteColors[][3] = {{200,   0, 200},   // purple
                                 {200,   0,   0},   // red
                                 {200, 200, 200},   // white
                               };
// don't edit the line below
#define FAVCOLORS sizeof(myFavoriteColors) / 3

// mess with this number to adjust TWINklitude :)
// lower number = more sensitive
#define MOVE_THRESHOLD 45

void setup()
{
  Serial.begin(9600);

  // Try to initialise and warn if we couldn't detect the chip
  if (!accel.begin())
  {
    Serial.println(
      "Oops ... unable to initialize the LSM303.
      Check your wiring!");
    while (1);
  }
  strip.begin();
  strip.show(); // Initialize all pixels to 'off'
}

void loop()
{
  /* Get a new sensor event */
  sensors_event_t event;
  accel.getEvent(&event);
  Serial.print("Accel X: ");
    Serial.print(event.acceleration.x); Serial.print(" ");

  Serial.print("Y: ");
    Serial.print(event.acceleration.y); Serial.print(" ");

  Serial.print("Z: ");
    Serial.print(event.acceleration.z); Serial.print(" ");

  // Get the magnitude (length) of the 3 axis vector
  // http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euclidean_vector#Length
  double storedVector =
   event.acceleration.x*event.acceleration.x;
  storedVector += event.acceleration.y*event.acceleration.y;
  storedVector += event.acceleration.z*event.acceleration.z;
  storedVector = sqrt(storedVector);
  Serial.print("Len: "); Serial.println(storedVector);

  // wait a bit
  delay(100);

  // get new data!
  accel.getEvent(&event);
  double newVector = event.acceleration.x*event.acceleration.x;
  newVector += event.acceleration.y*event.acceleration.y;
  newVector += event.acceleration.z*event.acceleration.z;
  newVector = sqrt(newVector);
  Serial.print("New Len: "); Serial.println(newVector);

  // are we moving
  if (abs(newVector - storedVector) > MOVE_THRESHOLD) {
    Serial.println("Twinkle!");
    flashRandom(5, 1);  // first number is 'wait' delay,
                        // shorter num == shorter twinkle
    flashRandom(5, 3);  // second number is how many neopixels
                        // to simultaneously light up
    flashRandom(5, 2);
  }
}

void flashRandom(int wait, uint8_t howmany) {

  for(uint16_t i=0; i<howmany; i++) {
    // pick a random favorite color!
    int c = random(FAVCOLORS);
    int red = myFavoriteColors[c][0];
    int green = myFavoriteColors[c][1];
    int blue = myFavoriteColors[c][2];

    // get a random pixel from the list
    int j = random(strip.numPixels());
    //Serial.print("Lighting up "); Serial.println(j);

    // now we will 'fade' it in in 5 steps
    for (int x=0; x < 5; x++) {
      int r = red * (x+1); r /= 5;
      int g = green * (x+1); g /= 5;
      int b = blue * (x+1); b /= 5;

      strip.setPixelColor(j, strip.Color(r, g, b));
      strip.show();
      delay(wait);
    }
    // & fade out in 5 steps
    for (int x=5; x >= 0; x--) {
      int r = red * x; r /= 5;
      int g = green * x; g /= 5;
      int b = blue * x; b /= 5;

      strip.setPixelColor(j, strip.Color(r, g, b));
      strip.show();
      delay(wait);
    }
  }
  // LEDs will be off when done (they are faded to 0)
}

Credits

Becky Stern

Posted by

Sonia Wong

Thanks to Tyler Cooper.

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Light It Up Skirt Using Adafruit Flora

Light It Up Skirt Using Adafruit Flora

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Hand tools and fabrication machines

Story

Layout and Circuit Diagram

Sew the Circuit

WARNING

Code and Battery

Code

Sparkle Code

Code snippet #2

Credits

Comments

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