Lighting up the Glow Worm

Of all the characters in “James & the Giant Peach”… well my son had to go and get assigned Glow Worm.
His first lines in the play explain that he’s not a worm, but a lady firefly (you know, they don’t have wings…)
His basic costume was simple: I found a nice (women’s) suit for $1 at Goodwill on Thursday. (THAT was not a simple task a couple weeks before Halloween!) I did have to take in the waist of the trousers quite a bit.My most important task, according to the director, was to light up Glow Worm’s butt! She purchased a variety of light strands that I brought home & played with until I found the one I thought would work for this costume.The tone of our production’s set & costuming was a throw-back to 1940’s England. I was inspired with the brilliant idea that Glow Worm would wear an apron that “she” could turn around to the tail area when it came time to light it up.
I found a wonderful pattern from Wild Ginger for a “Petal Apron” that I sized for my actor.I backed the iridescent fabric on two of the petals with some light yellow cotton from my stash.
With the center backing panel I used invisible thread to stitch on the lights!I was so impressed I took it into the darkened laundry room to try to get a visual.

Very carefully, then, I attached the iridescent front to the petal. (Uhhhh… using a serger around fragile wires was quite frightening to me!) Next, all three petals were stitched to the band/tie. Apron complete!
I took video of the entire mannequin in the dark to make sure it had the effect I wanted.

I fashioned a hat with the remaining fabric.
My boy was a hit!

(Please excuse the “ocean” waves down front…)