Fun Fur
This is a long pile white polyester fun fur. This is probably my favorite of all the diffusion materials. It looks and feels fabulous and diffuses any kind of LED strip beautifully. A little distance gives a gorgeous psychedelic matrix type effect. Fun fur FTW. Usually around $20-$30/yard depending on your source and how nice it is.
White Sequin Fabric
This is a piece of medium-weight polyester fabric with iridescent sequins on the front. It diffuses the lights fairly well but the sequins and shininess really get lost. I had pretty high hopes for this one but ended up a little disappointed.
Shiny things are shiny because they are reflecting light back at the viewer. In order to see the shine and sparkle, the light needs to be bouncing off the front of the sparkly thing, which means it needs to be coming from behind you. Using something like this for diffusion means the light is coming from behind the fabric instead, eliminating all the sparkle.
Lace
Lace comes in so many formats. You can find zillions of different patterns online. It comes in narrow trims and full fabric widths.
Most lace is pretty transparent, so doesn't do a super great job of diffusing the LEDs, but it sure does make a pretty effect anyway.
Lining Fabric
This is a white lining fabric I found at my local fabric store for around $2/yard. It's really lightweight and very inexpensive. With a little bit of distance it does a great job of diffusing the lights, at a very nice price.
Mesh / Tulle
White mesh is really inexpensive and easy to find. Depending on the density of the weave, it may or may not diffuse your LEDs much. It gets a bit more interesting with some distance - the polyester fibers get a bit shiny and give a silvery look when it's a few inches away. Enough light sneaks through the holes in this fabric that the reflective properties carry through a bit to the viewer. Mesh is really inexpensive - you can find it for around $2-3/yard at just about any fabric store.
Neoprene Scuba Fabric
This is a lightweight 2mil neoprene fabric. It's smooth and stretchy, almost like a really thick spandex. This fabric is a mid-priced option at around $11/yard. It's wonderful to work with and stands up to a lot of stretching. It's also really warm. I think it diffuses the lights really well also.
Rib Knit Cotton
This is a textured cotton fabric, often used for sleeve cuffs or other stretchy bits on clothing. It has thicker ribs and valleys that run along the weft of the fabric. I found it for around $5/yard at a local fabric store.
It makes a pretty interesting texture and emphasizes the animation a bit when it's aligned with the LED strips.
White Satin
This is a lightweight white satin fabric. It is shiny and diffus-ey and absolutely fabulous. Satin comes in a lot of different weights, from super thin satiny lining fabric which is almost translucent, and $2-3/yard, to heavyweight bridal satin, which is much more expensive and heavy and opaque and won't pass much light through at all. Test your strips before you make your choice, but you'll probably be really happy with satin as a diffuser. The shininess of the fabric picks up the lights and gives a lovely soft look.
Faux Sheepskin
This is a lightweight white faux sheepskin fabric. It's nice and soft, but it's a little to heavyweight to pass much light through. Even at a couple inches away the light starts to get blocked by the fur. It does look pretty good when it's touching the strips directly, but .. not my favorite.
Fosshape / Felt
White felt is another great option. You can find it in varying thicknesses at any craft or fabric store and it does a nice job of diffusing the pixels with a bit of a fuzzy texture.
Fosshape is a nifty heat-reactive material that's basically a thermoplastic felt. When you heat it, it shrinks a bit an hardens to retain its shape. It's a really cool material choice for hats or other "stiff" costume pieces.
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