CRAFT Video: Color Changing LED Brooch

Sew up this little colorful brooch using a LilyPad tri-color LED and three small potentiometers for a customizable color wardrobe embellishment. No programming required!

Subscribe to the CRAFT Podcast in iTunes, or download the m4v video.

Potentiometers are variable resistors. They change the amount of electricity that can pass through them based on the turning of the knob, thereby dimming and brightening the three channels of the tri-color LED. The colors mix and diffuse through the roving, producing any color in the rainbow. Here’s the front,

and the back,

and here’s the diagram for sewing the components together.

Materials and tools:

• conductive thread (E-sewing Kit)
• coincell battery (E-sewing Kit)
• sewable battery holder (E-sewing Kit)
• LilyPad tri-color LED (Sparkfun)
• 3 small 1K-ohm potentiometers (Digikey)
• small on-off pushbutton switch (Digikey)
• brooch template (cardboard or illustration board)
• fabric
• needle and thread
• pin back
• wool roving
• felting needle
• felting surface (upholstery foam scrap works great)
• scissors
• pliers
• alligator clips for prototyping

More:

• CRAFT Video: LilyPad Arduino 101
  
• CRAFT Video: LilyPad Arduino Blinking Bike Patch
  
• Electronic Embroidery – CRAFT Video Podcast

In the Maker Shed:

LilyPad E-Sewing Kit