Running - Glow in the Dark Running Skirt

Hi everyone!
It's been a month, and it's time for another run. After the half marathon I really needed to recover and I'm not sure my knee is entirely up for it, but I'm going to give it a go anyway. It's only a 5K, whoever would have thought I would ever say that? Really, like ever? LOL. I've also registered to the Virtual 5K run by Sean Astin so I'm doing both races at the same time. I have until 11 May to run the Virtual 5K and this one is so much fun that I wanted to combine them. Technically it's not cheating as I'll still be running 5K and the Electric Run doens't have a medal so at least this way I get one, whoohoo!



Last year's run was great and I had a wonderful shiny tutu, which I really started to dislike after running several races in it, and I wanted something new. I found an image online that showed a tutu with a neon cord in it. It looked amazing! I just needed to buy the cord and make a new tutu. Yeah, that sounded really nice a few months back but now with only a couple of weeks to go it would be dicey time wise. A new plan was needed, so enter Poundland! I happened to be there with a friend when I saw this pink tutu, made for bachelorette parties. Let me tell you, this turned out to be a tiiiiny tutu. But it was pink, and it was a pound which is less than the material would have cost me so I bought and hoped for the best.



Once at home, a brilliant idea struck me. When I was visiting my mother, she put a surprise in my suitcase just before I flew back. Yes, not a great idea, putting stuff in people's suitcases without telling them! Not to worry, my mom now knows this. Anyway, the surprise was a string of red heart-shaped battery powered LED lights. Lovely present, not something I would use easily. But you never know so I put them aside at the time and kind of forgot about them. Until now. LED lights were exactly what I needed to make a killer skirt for the Electric Run!


The tutu had 2 layers of pink tulle so I sewed the cable by hand onto the bottom lawyer. I just tacked it on here and there with a few stitches. I did change the placement somewhat afterwards as I wanted it more central, you can see the new placing in the final pictures.

I made a quick pouch from some leftover cotton for the battery pack. 

Once the top layer of the tulle was folded back normally, this was the result.

Something I probably should have checked before: a lighting test! Obviously it was still daylight but the lights seemed to work!

I added a layer or dark pink/burgundy lining fabric under the tutu to give it a bit more fulness and colour. I thought the lights would wash out otherwise or be too red. Getting it to stretch was tricky but I pulled the pink jersey waistband tight while sewing o the lining and it seems to have worked. 

I also added one layer of red organza. I didn't have pink and I really wanted to spend as little money as possible on this and I still had a large piece left of red. With the pink it kinda worked I think :) It's not a bright pink, and now the red looks better too.

I tried taking some pics after dark, and forgot to turn off the flash. This way you can see quite well how it came out :)

Here it is, the end result :) The organza meant the waistband doesn't stretch an awful lot anymore, but I still fit it so all is well. Since the race is after dark, this will be just perfect!

Today I also collected my race pack with my running number (which is red so it matches!) and my twinkle bracelet. A few weeks back I bought some LED hair extensions which are going to be fantastic, and for Christmas I got some UV makeup that is going to look fabulous in the blacklight tunnel. Now if only my knee can play along, all is well. I'm not even too worried about the weather, not like I can change it anyway... I'll post pics asap so watch this space!

UPDATE 11 May 2015: my skirt has been featured :) 
 

Comments

  1. ik heb altijd zo'n bewondering voor mensen die zo'n loopprestaties doen !

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi there
    Just stopped by to let you know that I featured this on my Round Tuit post this week!
    A Round Tuit 257
    Thanks again for linking up! Hope you have a great week!
    Jill @ Creating my way to Success

    ReplyDelete
  3. That skirt is great! Did you know you could also get water proof LEDs and sew them onto your skirt? :-)

    ReplyDelete

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