By Craig Couden ■ Illustrations by Julie West
You will need
Sweatshirt with large hood
EL tape strip, about 40" Adafruit #415
Pocket-sized EL inverter 4×AAA or 2×AA
EL wire extension cord Adafruit #616
Velcro enough to match the EL tape
Batteries rechargeable
Sewing machine or needle and thread
Glue optional
Tron: Legacy was a decent movie, but what I was really wowed by were the luminescent costumes. I’ve been playing around with light-up clothing ideas ever since, and the simplest idea uses EL tape and some Velcro to approximate Jeff Bridges’s glowing druid look from the film. It’s not remotely screen accurate (for you purists out there), but it is a great way to wow your friends during a night out.
1. Sew Velcro to hood.
Cut a length of Velcro equal to the length of the EL tape and hand or machine stitch the soft side onto the inside of the hood near the edge. You may want to remove the drawstring first.
2. Attach Velcro to EL tape.
Attach the prickly "hook" side of the Velcro to the back of the EL tape. (Mine came with an adhesive backing, but you may have to glue it.)
3. Juice it.
Attach the EL tape to the hood. Connect the EL tape to the extension cable, then the inverter. Turn it on, stick the inverter in your pocket, and show that you, too, fight for the User!
Going Further
To achieve a longer wear time, use 2 shorter lengths of EL tape that meet at the apex of the hood, each with its own 2×AA inverter.
When not obsessing over his new couture EL fashion line, Craig Couden is an editorial assistant for Make: magazine.
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