Yeah I do kinda the same but I embed them into latex prosthetics. Like horns or protrusions for the face that you glue on. They're really good for a cyberpunkey vibe.
They look great but they're difficult to solder. Too little heat and it doesn't attach, too much and it damages them. Some of them have metal crimped contacts but at the expense of end flexibility. And those usually have contacts at each end, i prefer them with both contacts at the same end so I can cut the strips to size.
They're also prone to breaking and the silicone is very resistant to glues and it keeps jumping around when you try to fix it in place. Embedding totally in liquid latex helps but if you use a lot it takes ages to cure.
I wonder if white thread would've been more invisible, the black thread seems more obvious against the LEDs? Being nitpicky, its a cool project for a single night.
There's actually a specific transparent thread you can use for this, it's called a monofilament polyester (aka "MonoPoly") thread, in clear or "invisible" variant. Would be perfect for this project.
Have you thought about ways to make the lights detachable so you can wash the garment? Or is the trade off at a point where redoing it is easier overall?
It’s maybe plausible to gently wash it with the filaments still attached? I did actually use connectors so the shirt could be detached from the drive electronics, though I’d be a bit worried whether the stitches would survive and corrosion on the solder joints. Adhesive/waterproof heat shrink could maybe help?
The other option is maybe attach the filaments to an embroidery style patch instead of the shirt itself and then attach it with Velcro to the shirt?
One of my kids had something like this built into a Halloween costume that their mom procured from Amazon. One of the filaments was blinking out within a day so I started running the length of the filament to figure out where the bad connection was. Unexpectedly it shocked the hell out of me. I put a meter on it and it was 240V. I couldn't believe I got such a nasty poke from 2 AA batteries.
Yes I've used that too but it has some drawbacks. It's way less flexible for starters, and not as bright. It's not dimmable unlike the leds.
Also it needs much higher voltage around 100V compared to leds so you always need some bucket converter. And there's a minor risk too when it comes to wearables though in general the wire is well insulated.
LED uses EL effect of diode, EL wire uses EL effect of compounds dispersed in a material. Technically related, but this is based on tiny LEDs on a flexible PCB covered in the yellow LED goo. It's the same type of strip as ones used for retro look LED lightbulbs.
EL wire is different, it's higher voltage AC making a magnetic field and exciting a phosphor, it's actually a continuous strip of illuminating material. This is small, dense LEDs in a strip.
Ooo this is cool, I didn't know these exist. I once half made something like this with EL wire but I stopped after getting an electric shock from some EL tape. Turns out the edges are not at all insulated and you need high voltages to drive them. I'm not wearing that. 24V sounds much nicer.
They look great but they're difficult to solder. Too little heat and it doesn't attach, too much and it damages them. Some of them have metal crimped contacts but at the expense of end flexibility. And those usually have contacts at each end, i prefer them with both contacts at the same end so I can cut the strips to size.
They're also prone to breaking and the silicone is very resistant to glues and it keeps jumping around when you try to fix it in place. Embedding totally in liquid latex helps but if you use a lot it takes ages to cure.
p.s. thanks for the additional sourcing details
The other option is maybe attach the filaments to an embroidery style patch instead of the shirt itself and then attach it with Velcro to the shirt?
Also it needs much higher voltage around 100V compared to leds so you always need some bucket converter. And there's a minor risk too when it comes to wearables though in general the wire is well insulated.