Skirt full of stars - in half dark

Illuminated, Interactive ‘Skirt Full of Stars’ – Part 1

Hooray, Hooray – it’s finally done!

Introducing my ‘Skirt Full of Stars’ – an interactive, illuminated skirt using the Lilypad Arduino – a microcontroller board designed for textile use.  The skirt incorporates an accelerometer to measure the wearer’s movement, and the ‘stars’ change color based on that movement.

Skirt full of stars - in lightSkirt full of stars - in half dark

I’ve been working on this skirt for around a year now – you may remember the video I posted last spring of my proof of concept circuit. In the time since then I’ve created two other prototype skirts, which were great steps in my learning but didn’t end up working quite as I’d hoped. This one, however, made it though a full real-world test wear at last week’s Bassnectar concert with flying, or at least dancing, colors.

Here’s what that circuit from the video ended up turning into:

Skirt Full of Stars - the circuit

And here it is showing a different color as I move the accelerometer:

Skirt Full of Stars - circuit with motion

I sewed the circuit into a handmade tulle wrap skirt, then attached fiber optics to each of the LEDs and wove them through the lower layer of tulle.

I’m hoping to get some better pictures and some video of it this weekend, so stay tuned for more details.

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What Others Are Saying

  1. Ahava Feb 12, 2010 at 5:59 pm

    I think this is one of my favorite uses of the lilypad so far! I *love* it.

    • ShannonHenry Feb 12, 2010 at 6:06 pm

      Thanks so much, and thanks for commenting!

  2. Kurt Feb 13, 2010 at 7:11 am

    You are so ridiculously creative and resourceful at the same time. I am super impressed.

    • ShannonHenry Feb 13, 2010 at 9:01 am

      Wow! Thank you, Kurt!

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  4. Alison Feb 18, 2010 at 7:18 am

    If you have some more photos or video, let me know and we’ll post it up on SWITCH. Great Work!

  5. Pingback: Illuminated, Interactive ‘Skirt Full of Stars’ – Part 2 « Polymath's Lab Notebook