Twinkling Lights Space Dress with LEDs

I am excited to show you my space dress, which had hidden LED lights I could turn on to make a twinkling galaxy with stars! I wore this last weekend to a private evening event at the Lawrence Hall of Science.

For the bodice pattern I used Vogue 8789, a 1950s dress pattern, but modified the skirt to be longer and slimmer.

I have used this pattern a number of times and like how easy it is to put together. The front and back of the bodice has 2 pieces each with darts, and the neckline facing just flips inside.

The space fabric is an embroidered galaxy-themed mesh. Since it’s transparent I flat-lined it with opaque black peach skin fabric for the top. For the skirt, I needed to maintain some transparency to let the lights show through, so the skirt is lined with a semi-sheer black chiffon.

Underneath the skirt I wore a petticoat with the lights sewn on in a random pattern. That way I could wash the dress separately. (It’s easier if you attach the lights while the finished petticoat is on a dress form, rather than trying to sew the lights to the fabric first). I made the petticoat about a foot shorter than the skirt of the dress because I was afraid I’d accidentally put my foot in the wrong place and trip on the light strands. (This is why the lights don’t go all the way to the bottom of the dress).

The petticoat is just a large rectangle gathered at the top with an elastic waistband. (Use a wide elastic at least 1 inch wide, otherwise the weight of the battery pack will make the petticoat sag). My battery pack had 3 AA batteries. I’ve seen some that use coin-sized batteries that are lighter, but this is what I happened to have on hand.

The side seam of the petticoat had a pocket for the battery pack, plus a snap to close it. The 3 sets of wires from the battery pack connected to the 3 strands of lights I had on the skirt. (Multiple strands allows you to have them twinkle because they are not all blinking on and off at the same time). I could also have them on continuously all at once.

I got my lights and battery for free, but it is easy to find “LED fairy lights” on Amazon and other sites. Look for battery-operated lights and long strands so you don’t have to use too many. I have not purchased this particular set on Amazon (affiliate link), but if I were to make this again I’d upgrade to these lights that have a remote control!

This dress is a bit hard to photograph in action, but here is an outdoor shot at night. You can visit my Instagram to see a video of the dress blinking.

I wore shoes that I dyed and rhinestoned.

My solar system necklace was from ThinkGeek.

DRESS PROJECT COSTS:

• 3 yards space fabric: $33.57 on Aliexpress
• 5 yards black chiffon: ~$7 from Fabricmart Fabrics. (I bought it during a $1/yard sale and bundled it with other items for shipping).
• Thread, zipper, snap, etc. from stash: $2
• LED lights: $0 (I got them for free but otherwise I’d spend ~$12 on Amazon)
• 3 AA batteries: ~$1

Total cost: ~$42.57 (or ~$53 if I had to buy the lights)

If you make a space dress of your own I’d love to see it!