I finally finished it!
Edited 2012-05-12
If you believe it or not, I finished my mermaid tail! After talking for month I finally managed to finish this project and I'm quite happy with it. (This was before I tried to swim in it!) Before I show you the pictures (which are made in our living-room), I'll talk about the fabric.
The choice for the perfect fabric was tricky. I bought this awesome looking blue fabric,
but like I mentioned before, it was neither stretchy nor simple to sew. *pouts* Neoprene, like Hannah Mermaid uses for her tail is too expensive. The colour selection is aweful and you have to glue it!?! You can't sew it. (Wrong! I figured out that it IS possible to sew it, but one need a special needle for the sewing machine and the neoprene shouldn't be too thick.) But don't ask me why, it was written somewhere. Wonderful, I thought. What now? It was already too late for wet suite fabric (like for bikinis). But I didn't want to give up. So I went again to the store and found the best fabric ever! CHECK IT OUT!
Doesn't it look like scales of a fish? I think this kind of fabric is called "Volant" and it looks like a tube. It's sewed in a circle, so you won't need a zipper. You just turn it over your fluke and legs and - tadaa - it's done! It doesn't matter if you're super thin or well-proportioned, because the fabric is super elastic! I had to modify it around my ankles a bit, so the shape looks really like a tail. Sabina helped me to pin it and I sewed it together. In the end it looks like a back fin. :)
Note: I'm pretty sure the fabric will slide down my legs while swimming or at least will twist. Dunno yet, because I couldn't try it. (Believe me I tried it and I sank to the bottom like a stone, lol!) That's why I used a trick and sewed a leggings inside. (Which didn't help AT ALL!!!) So it'll stay on my hips and won't twist around my legs. One is for sure: I'll let you all know when I had my first swim lesson. ^_^ (Note to myself: this tail is superb for dry shoots, but definitely NOT for swimming!)
If you believe it or not, I finished my mermaid tail! After talking for month I finally managed to finish this project and I'm quite happy with it. (This was before I tried to swim in it!) Before I show you the pictures (which are made in our living-room), I'll talk about the fabric.
The choice for the perfect fabric was tricky. I bought this awesome looking blue fabric,
but like I mentioned before, it was neither stretchy nor simple to sew. *pouts* Neoprene, like Hannah Mermaid uses for her tail is too expensive. The colour selection is aweful and you have to glue it!?! You can't sew it. (Wrong! I figured out that it IS possible to sew it, but one need a special needle for the sewing machine and the neoprene shouldn't be too thick.) But don't ask me why, it was written somewhere. Wonderful, I thought. What now? It was already too late for wet suite fabric (like for bikinis). But I didn't want to give up. So I went again to the store and found the best fabric ever! CHECK IT OUT!
Doesn't it look like scales of a fish? I think this kind of fabric is called "Volant" and it looks like a tube. It's sewed in a circle, so you won't need a zipper. You just turn it over your fluke and legs and - tadaa - it's done! It doesn't matter if you're super thin or well-proportioned, because the fabric is super elastic! I had to modify it around my ankles a bit, so the shape looks really like a tail. Sabina helped me to pin it and I sewed it together. In the end it looks like a back fin. :)
Note: I'm pretty sure the fabric will slide down my legs while swimming or at least will twist. Dunno yet, because I couldn't try it. (Believe me I tried it and I sank to the bottom like a stone, lol!) That's why I used a trick and sewed a leggings inside. (Which didn't help AT ALL!!!) So it'll stay on my hips and won't twist around my legs. One is for sure: I'll let you all know when I had my first swim lesson. ^_^ (Note to myself: this tail is superb for dry shoots, but definitely NOT for swimming!)