A few weeks ago, I found a yard and a half of reversible sequin fabric at the thrift shop for $1.50. I jumped on it, although I had no idea of what I would make. Sequined fabric always comes home with me.
Sometime later, my grands, age 3 and 1, decided to be mermaids for Halloween. I had mermaid fabric. I searched Etsy for options and found the Makana Mermaid Tail pattern from Tadah Patterns. I printed out and glued up the size 2-4 option, laid it on the fabric, and cut out the two tail parts.
1. Sequins are tricky to sew.
2. Reversible sequin fabric is ultra scratchy.
I rummaged through stash to find lining fabrics, and then hunted around the internet to learn about sewing sequins. Several authors recommended picking the sequins out of the seam allowance. I spent an hour in the car on a road trip picking sequins from the edge of the tail fins and knew the tails would never get finished if I had to do the entire seam allowances of two tails. The Sequin Queen had good information. Now that I review it, I see she doesn’t mention using a vinyl needle, but that’s what I did. I didn’t unpick any more sequins.
The underlying part of the tail fins is an iridescent rip-stop fabric that will stand up to dragging a bit better than the lining fabrics. Both tails have a wrist strap tucked inside the folds at the fins.
I made the pattern for the infant tail by cutting about 3″ off each side of the 2-4 pattern, tapering to the tail join.
The second tail was easier; I got the waist right. Stitched the lining to the tail along the side seams, folded the end to fit inside the fins, and then added a waistband at the top. I used elastic and a crocheted drawstring; Mom can pull the drawstring out if it’s not needed.
As I was photographing the tails, I realized the underlying edge of the smaller tail had protruding sequins. These things are scratchy–I’m binding the armhole edges of a grown-up top because the sequins stick me. A one-year old might be miserable. I bound the edge with a bias strip of the same fabric used for the bottom of the tail (because I had a scrap that was cut on the bias). I bagged the lining of the larger tail, and it has enough overlap on the inside edge to shield the sequins.
DIL and SIL are working on their own costumes…
