"Merry Christmas" Light-Up Shirt from Stranger Things

Get a sweatshirt with screen print. We found ours on Amazon.

First, cut a very small hole in the silk screen of each light that will get an LED.

Turn the sweatshirt inside out.

Lay out your pixels according to the holes. Note that the circuit will run like a snake, so the negative holes in the Neopixels on the first row are on the bottom, but the second row on the top, and the third row on the bottom again.

First, sew the components in place with regular black thread. Tip: Don't sew all the way through the fabric! Only sew through the fleecy backside so that the stitches don't show on the front.

Sew each Neopixel in place through at least two of the holes. Align the LED with the hole you made in the shirt.

Sew the Crazy Circuits Board just above the sweatshirt pocket.

Sew the power connector with the connection facing toward the inside of the pocket. Cut a hole in the shirt so that it fits through.

Then, make all connections with conductive thread as shown.

The threads need to cross near the Crazy Circuits board. Use a piece of electrical tape to make a small barrier between these threads to prevent a short circuit. *Photo #2

You can use one long piece of thread to connect the power and ground holes. BUT, you need to finish and start a new piece of thread for each of the data holes (in yellow). This way each pixel will be individually addressable.

Turn the sweatshirt inside out.

Insert the battery pack wires into the power connector with a small screw driver.

Tuck the battery pack into the pocket. While wearing, you can turn the sweatshirt on/off with the switch on the battery pack.

Use small scissors to trim back more of the sweatshirt so that the entire pixel is showing.

Add glittery fabric paint in colors matching the lights. This will conceal the LEDs when they are off and diffuse the light when they are on.

Download or copy and paste the Code from this link into the Arduino IDE.

Upload the code to your Crazy Circuits board.

Disconnect the USB cable and put on your shirt. Turn on the battery pack and you're ready for your next Christmas Party!