Sometimes you just want to stand out at a party, and this NeoPixel ensemble of dress, platforms and purse is enough to turn anyone into a disco inferno. This is a first time outfit put together by Nikko Mamallo for a friend’s 21st birthday party. You may think Nikko is a seamstress, but really he is a video production guy and skydancer (yes, you read that right, he jumps out of planes with choreography!). I don’t know if he is seeing rainbows when he’s in the air, but this outfit really does hit every color!
The dress started out as a shiny piece, but Nikko added 46 NeoPixels and a FLORA microcontroller to add some color. He also incorporated a mic, so the dress can react to music. The outfit can do 12 different light sequences, with some using random colors to move to the music. Coding was done with the Adafruit NeoPixel library, particularly the Ampli-Tie tutorial.
Since the shoes and purse are smaller spaces, Nikko used GEMMA as the microcontroller. They both use Adafruit’s LED sequins, which are single color tiny LEDs. They really match the dress nicely and coordinate the entire ensemble. Nikko mentions the use of 22 AWG wire along with conductive thread. This proved helpful in areas where there was risk of a short because of close stitches. Definitely a smart move and something to keep in mind for projects.
Nikko was really psyched about his first exploration with wearables and has definite plans for the future.
The outfit was a definite show stopper and crowd pleaser. I’m already working on a v2 for this dress and another awesome wearables project, yay!
Don’t wait for Nikko to outdo you at the next party. Get working on a dazzling outfit of your own, starting with our Ampli-Tie. You’ll have everyone at the black tie affair taking off their jackets.
Every Wednesday is Wearable Wednesday here at Adafruit! We’re bringing you the blinkiest, most fashionable, innovative, and useful wearables from around the web and in our own original projects featuring our wearable Arduino-compatible platform, FLORA. Be sure to post up your wearables projects in the forums or send us a link and you might be featured here on Wearable Wednesday!
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Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
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Every Wednesday is Wearable Wednesday here at Adafruit! We’re bringing you the blinkiest, most fashionable, innovative, and useful wearables from around the web and in our own original projects featuring our wearable Arduino-compatible platform, FLORA. Be sure to post up your wearables projects in the forums or send us a link and you might be featured here on Wearable Wednesday!