Glow in the Dark Solar System Dress

That's right, this dress glows in the dark. It's an amazing solar system print - including Pluto and the moon - with everything helpfully labelled.
I love a good quirky outfit, and this fabric makes a great quirky dress.

I picked this fabric up at a local quilting store. I'd actually gone there to get a new sewing box as the lid had broken off my old one. But they also had 30% off fabric so I thought I'd have a look. I saw this solar system fabric and loved the kitschness of it, so decided to buy some. When the woman serving told me it glowed in the dark, it just made it sound even better..

The selvedge of the fabric says it's for children's sleepwear, but that's crazy. Why waste such a great fabric on something that's not going to be shown off much? Ok sure, something that glows in the dark makes sense for nighttime - I, along with 90% of other teenage girls in the 90s had glow in the dark stars stuck on my ceiling - but this fabric needs to be seen. It needed to be a dress.

The pattern I used was a free download of a Gorman dress I got about five years ago from Tessuti. It's a fairly straightforward pattern, a bateau neck empire line bodice with a gathered skirt. However, it is very short, so I lengthened it by about two inches. I also changed the neckline, to a v-neck at the front and scoop at the back. I also decided to lengthen the back bodice, curving from the sides to centre back zipper, in turn giving the skirt a little bit of extra length at the back.

The dress itself was a very easy make. It's a completely straightforward construction, waist darts in the front, no darts in the back, and a plain gathered skirt. There are narrow facings aound the neckline and armholes, which are stitched down by hand to avoid a visible stitchline, and a 1.5cm hem. I have used this pattern before, so it was nice and quick to put together.

And as you can see, the fabric really does glow in the dark!