25 Minute LED Sweater: Light Up FashionTech

This tutorial will teach you how to use to make an easy light up clothing project: no soldering or coding required!

Need a way to spice up an outfit quickly? Here’s how to make a quick LED wearable tech sweater in 25 min or less, with only two supplies required.

For this tutorial we used a sweater she already had: you can find something from your wardrobe or hit up a thrift store: go sustainability!

This project uses a wearable tech kit from wearabletutorials.com designed specifically to be used in wearable projects, and includes controllers that cycle through a variety of patterns. Get your wearable tech LED DIY kit here.

One sweater (upcycled)

One LED flex strand with controller and USB battery pack (we used the kit available here)

Needle and thread

Place the sweater inside out on the ground, working on the back first. Leave some space so that the cord for the battery pack can be easily accessible from the back pocket.

First, stitch in the controller portion of the kit at a place where it will be accessible.

Stitch in the LED lights with the lights facing outward. You can stitch as often as you want, the more you secure in the lights, the more comfortable and sturdy the garment will be: but if you plan to re-use the kit again later you can stitch them in loosely for easy removal.

Attach in the battery pack, and you’re good to glow! You can either sew in a small pocket for the battery, or leave enough cord so that it can fit in your actual pants pocket.

With the wearable tech kit listed, you can arrange different lighting colors and pacing with the buttons for endless variations on your style. If you're not using a kit with a controller, you can use a board like arduino to program the lights to a color or pattern of your liking.