Sleeping Beauty Princess Aurora Light UP dress

[TeresaMRoberts]

Ok so I know I'm still finishing up my daughters Belle Costume but I've finally decided on my Costume. I'm doing Sleeping Beauty, however this costume will light up as well

So you know in the movie when the Fairies are making Princess Aurora's Dress and fighting over what color it should be either pink or blue. If you haven't seen it:

So I'm going to make my dress light up and change from Pink to blue a few times before half the dress turning pink and the other half blue....
How might you ask?

Fiber Optic Fabric.... I found this really awesome.... CRAZY EXPENSIVE Fiber Optic fabric. It comes in 12 different colors... And you can connect LED lights to it and the fabric lights up....


When I found the fabric I wanted to make something with it lol. I was like the fabric comes in yellow, I could maje the skirt of Snow White.... But snow is already in the parade.... I'd rather chose a character that isn't already in the parade... And then it hit me!
Sleeping beauty! I can use RGB lights hooked the fabric to change from pink and blue and even change half of it to pink and the other half to blue!

I've already written the code just waiting on the RGB LEDS and aurdino board to test it. I've never working with the RGB LEDs yet but you suppose to be able to make every color with them Looking forward to it!

So due to how expensive this fabric is I've decided to do a shorter version of the dress.


I'm VERY excited!! Its been ordered but it will probably be a few weeks before it gets here. Fabric is coming from France and the RGB LEDs and things are coming from China.
I also got some solid core side glow 8MM cord to make piping out of the bodice. I'll be able to hook up the RGB lights to them and change colors with the rest of the dress. I Can't WAIT!!! Got to get my daughters Belle Dress finished first!

 

[James Kenobi 1138]

Ambitious project, I'm curious to see it finished. I hope it's an easy costume for you to put together.

 

[Twananas]

I'll be keeping an eye out on this project! Sounds very interesting.

 

[TeresaMRoberts]

So I've got confirmation that my fiber optic fabric hit Chicago! so it should be here in a few days IF THE SNOW DOESN'T stop the mail lol. It came all the way from france. I ordered pink i'm so anxious to see what it looks like. They really do not show any good pictures of what this fabric looks like during the day only when its dark and its all lit up. I've found a few pictures where others have posted a project and the fabric has always been white and sheer. So i'm not sure if its sheer. (kinda hoping it is) I just don't think its popular because of the cost of the fabric. That and how careful and creative you have to get when you cut it or the fibers wont light up. China had their new year so my lights and boards still haven't shipped. And I found a beautiful contrasting fabric I want to use for this project. It's Indian Silk Brocade:

Its coming all the way from New Delhi, Delhi I found the shop in Etsy called "Everything Indian" and there fabrics are SO beautiful. She is also sending me a matching silk blend in the same color pink but just solid. The pieces for this project are slowly coming together. I'm also contemplating how I want to make her crown.... I can't wait!!!



------ Since this original post this fabric did make it way to me however... A LOT dark then picture looks. Its VERY beautiful but I'll have to save it for a different project... color just clashes with fiber optic fabric.

 

[pandatrooper]

Wow, cool idea! Looking forward to seeing it!

 

[TeresaMRoberts]

Its official i'm adding a sound effects board so right before the color change I have clips from the movie "Oh no, not pink... Make it blue!" with the pix magic sound play as it changes colors. I'm super excited. I think it will add a little something extra to the dress. I also know how annoying that could be after a while so i have a back up of how to disconnect the sound but keep the lights lol
I'm using Lilypad Mainboard for the lighting changes and Adafruit FX Sound Board. On the extra pins from lilypad that are not connected to lights I'll be using those to trigger the correct sound file.

 

[TeresaMRoberts]

I'm soooooo excited!!! My pink fiber optic fabric is here!!! Took only about a week to come from outside Paris. The color is soooo pretty, I would Defiantly compare this fabric to an organza it's got a nice sparkle to it and it's sheer. The part were the fiber optics are woven in have a lined pattern to it but it is not obvious as to why. People will just think it's a textured organza in till BAM it lights up!!! I can't Wait to get started on it!!!! I just have to finished Belle first!


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[TeresaMRoberts]

So my RGB LEDs are in as well as my lilypad and fx board of gotten them hooked up and ready to test I'm super happy with how the test went <a href="http://youtu.be/S2vD2oHOmJo" target="_blank">

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[Twananas]

That looks very cool! Looking forward to seeing more.

 

[nomuse]

Oh my wow! Fantastic idea! I've put LEDs in clothes before (well, once) but this is a wonderful idea!

 

[jennathewriter]

I loved your Belle costume! Quite excited to see how this one turns out. Subscribing. Disney should hire you for their park costumes, I think.

 

[TeresaMRoberts]

Ok been a while since I updated. Ok so analog pins on my board are only analog input and digital output. So I did a little research and found a board with 14 PWM outputs and I need 12 so I've changed to this board.

Really like this board thinking going back to belle swirly lights to one board like this. After the dress is on for a while the lights go out of sync and takes a while for them to go back in sync just enough to drive me CRAZY! But if I switch this lights to this board I've got plenty of pins. This board has 54 digital i/o pins. And sync issue will never happen since it's one board. I should have looked into different boards before but I'm still new to arduino world and electronics.

I've also got the skirt finally frayed to the right shape and all the fiber optics into bundles


I've also ordered some high power LEDs to see if I can get the dress brighter. I'll keep you updated!!


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[TeresaMRoberts]

Took translucent thread and hand whip stitch along the top of the skit panel. This will help keep the bundles together and not accidentally pulling on fibers. Also easier to sew the waistband on to the skit and not catch the fibers in sewing machine easier. I'm thinking of using a layer of blackout fabric under this skit to prevent anyone from seeing parts of the LEDs under it


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[u2ecila]

Here is a picture of an LED color changing Aurora dress on display at Disneyworld. This version cost over $11,000 to make and was shifting between pink and blue.

 

[TeresaMRoberts]

I didn't know this existed! Do know where it's on display at? I love to look at while I'm there! Mine cost nothing near that and even if I could afford more of the fiber optic fabric to do a full length dress it STILL wouldn't cost that lol


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[u2ecila]

It was at a dressmaker themed shop in Magic Kingdom that sold little girl dresses. I hope you do get to see it! Looking forward to seeing your creation as well.

 

[TeresaMRoberts]

Working on the central command and power belt for my costume this will be worn on my hips, under the skirt.


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[TeresaMRoberts]

Alrighty... Update! I used Blackout white fabric (typically used for curtains to block light) as a layer under the sheer Fabric. Where the fiber optic bundles connect to the LED is very distracting. You can see a lot of light from the bundles and at the connection point. So adding this blackout fabric now solves that problem. I also got my High Power LEDs in. I've attached heat sink to them and although they get hot. They are never too hot for me to touch so I think they will be fine for my costume. I checked the combustible temperature for the fabrics I'm using and the lights would have to get 400 degrees and they would stop working far before they would get that hot. So I'm comfortable using them for this project. I've hooked up two of them to half the skirt and I'm super happy!
[video]https://youtu.be/Ff2HW1mOenc[/video]

I'm working on hooking up the two other lights to the skirt. I've decided to use the super bright bulbs (not the high power) on the bodice. Only the center of the bodice and the piping will be lighting up on the top part of the dress.


FYI if you plan on using High power with Arduino I have to use two separate battery packs. I'm using really large lipo batteries I ordered from China. They are single cell 11000mAh batteries and because they were manufactured to my order all at the same time (they are LG brand and have date stickers to ensure this) I'm confortable connecting them to create a 2cell 22000mAh battery back. I used JST connector. The batteries each have protection boards on them and I'm using the adafruit Lipo usb charger with these (it too has protection board) I've not had any issues charging or using them. So I have two 22000mAh battery packs. One is connected to a adafruit powerboster1000 to power the 2560 aurdino, speakers, and the adafruit FX soundboard. Using the second battery back (with no Voltage Powerbooster) to power the actual LEDs. The LEDS draw too much current for the arduino so I'm using N-channel power MOSFET - 30V / 60A batterys hook strait to LEDS through the mosfets and the ardrino connects to the mosfets as well. With low positive power hits the mosfit it tells it to connect the circuit the other batteries turn on the LED light. Since I'm using the PWM pins I can even change color ect. Remember Electronics is new to me is you may or may not understand this but I'm all 100% self taught with the help of youtube, adafruit live wearable electronics show where you can ask questions and the arduino forum. This all so fascinating to me. It takes planning an research but anyone can do this!


****I used aliexpress for the Lipo Batteries. It was was less than $13 Per battery and free shipping. Took about 2 months to get maybe alittle longer but it was also during Chinese new year where everything shuts down for a week. This made sense for me cause I also got 2 for the Belle dress. I wanted to make sure if we wanted the dresses on ALL night that the battery could handle this with out needing to be recharged. It also made more sense to me to do it this way because they arent that heavy VS the metal lithium ion 18650 batteries. Which are TONs of fakes and so many aren't really protected and if they exploid medal shards can fly... Lipo batteries expand and can eventually catch fire but they don't explode the same way and its a lot easier to tell when something wrong cause the expand like a balloon first. Lastly the cost of regular batteries they don't hold as much capacity and a lot heavier. I can also reuse these for future costumes as log as i'm careful and take care of them. I did LOTS of research before deciding on a power source!

 

[TeresaMRoberts]

Working on the bodice of the dress. I used fiber optic fabric for center of corset. Then clear 3mm fiber optic tubing for the piping with white sparkle organza. I used the white floral brocade under the fiber optic fabric in the front. I'm using this same fabric for the collar and part on the bottom of the corset. Really loving the combination. Now to but the lining layer together with the metal boning. ( pattern calls for plastic boning but plastic sucks lol don't use it!) the put the lining layer and outer shell together then hook lights up to it!


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[Pseudonym]

I love the cross of a Sleepy Beauty dress mixed with Arduino controlled lights! Your progress so far is awesome!