Insta-Hue Party Heels

I’m one of those people who is always late to a party because I can’t decide what to wear. I’m also someone who creates elaborate last-minute projects for those parties. This project was designed and created in less than week for me to wear out to the SparkFun Electronics holiday party. LEDs on the heels are wirelessly controlled by a matching bracelet connected to Adafruit’s free Bluefruit LE Connect app, allowing for quick color changes for any occasion. The magical effect of instantly controlling color through a smartphone is a great way to interact with other partygoers — let them try changing your look!

It’s easy to replicate with a little time, patience, and the perfect pair of pumps. Check the full project out in issue 63 of Make Magazine available May 2018.

*Photo by Geoff Decker, Hidden Vision Photography*

Hardware in the Bracelet:SparkFun Pro Micro 3.3VRFM69 Wireless Transceiver - 915MHZAdafruit Flora Bluefruit ModuleAdafruit NeoPixel RingNavigation SwitchLithium Polymer Battery — Hardware in the Bracelet:
SparkFun Pro Micro 3.3V
RFM69 Wireless Transceiver - 915MHZ
A dafruit Flora Bluefruit Module
Adafruit NeoPixel Ring
Navigation Switch
Lithium Polymer Battery

Hardware in the Shoes:Qduino MiniRFM69 Wireless Transceiver - 915MHZAdafruit Flexible 8x8 RGB PanelLithium Polymer Battery — Hardware in the Shoes:
Q duino Mini
RFM69 Wireless Transceiver - 915MHZ
Adafruit Flexible 8x8 RGB Panel
Lithium Polymer Battery

Creating the Heels

Here are some photos and videos of my build process.

Taking a break from coding to start planning out construction of this bluetooth bracelet. Gold piece is the top layer, then Neopixel ring and Bluefruit module, switch next with laser cut holes for wires and USB connector, then baseplate with a Pro Micro. Wiring it up to fit is going to be a fun puzzle. #sparkfun #adafruit #wearabletech #wearables #prototyping #arduino #fashiontech

A post shared by GellaCraft (@gellacraft) on Jan 14, 2018 at 11:49am PST

Phase 2: bluetooth controlled circuit on first breadboard (my eventual bracelet) which then broadcasts through RFM69 transceivers to the heels. This lets me use Adafruit's Bluefruit app to control multiple parts of my outfit. #adafruit #diy #bluetooth #fashiontech #wearabletech #wearables #partyoutfit #leds #electronics #arduino

A post shared by GellaCraft (@gellacraft) on Jan 15, 2018 at 5:12pm PST

All wired up and doing another functional test with my handy color sensing wireless magic wand before final install in the shoes 💖 👠 #fashiontech #wearabletech #leds #partyoutfit #diy #electronics

A post shared by GellaCraft (@gellacraft) on Jan 17, 2018 at 7:02pm PST

Phone paired to my bracelet via bluetooth to select colors in the @adafruit Bluefruit app. The bracelet then broadcasts to my shoes via RFM69 radio modules. So much fun! Next step is creating some animations selected via the bracelet that use the color data. Wearing these out to the @sparkfun holiday party tomorrow night! #fashiontech #prototyping #partyoutfit #neopixels #wearabletech #wearables #arduino #adafruit #sparkfun

A post shared by GellaCraft (@gellacraft) on Jan 20, 2018 at 12:20am PST

Insta-Hue Party Heels

Hardware in the Bracelet:

Hardware in the Shoes:

Creating the Heels