Princess Pearl
04-10-2015, 12:17 AM
I'm taking the plunge and I've started working on my own sequins tail! And not just a tail, but a full bodysuit!
Composite of what I plan to make, just imagine more sparkle and actually in purple.
http://mernetwork.com/index/attachment.php?attachmentid=27540&d=1424367936
I'm making it out of an old wetsuit and the Dol-fin monofin I got from AptaMer. I've been hounding Victor Enterprises, makers of the nearly 2 inch wide shell sequins, and I will hopefully be getting my sequins from them. Please note that if you want to buy from them, you have to keep after them- every e-mail I've sent I've had to send twice before I get an answer. However, the most recent email I got from them said they were going to send me a paypal invoice, so here's hoping (I will be hassling them again if I don't hear anything by Monday, and I will let you know how it goes).
28898
But here's my supplies thus far! The monofin is TECHNICALLY broken. One of the clips that is used to adjust the heel straps has snapped. However, the clips can be removed entirely with a Philips head screwdriver, so that's what I shall do. Then I'm going to glue the straps in place to the right size.
As for the wetsuit, I have run afoul of the wonderful world of vanity sizing. In jackets, I am a 2. In pants, I'm a 6. So I ASSUMED that buying a size 10 wetsuit off of Kijiji would give me LOTS of material to be play with.
NOPE!!! Please excuse the brown blurriness of my photo. That's not some weird Instagram filter, just my crappy mirror. :eye twitch:
28897
This sucker fits me PERFECTLY, except in the boobular area, and as I VERY flat chested NOTHING ever fits me in the boobular area. Double A's! Not just for batteries anymore! And I should have known, because I'm a size 10 in vintage patterns. Oh well.
Luckily, the wetsuit is actually two parts- a "farmer john" (it covers the legs and body, but no sleeves, exactly like I want for my tail) and a "jacket" (it... well, it's a jacket). The jacket gives me plenty extra neoprene to work with. Luckily I'm using the Dol-fin, which is fairly small, and not a competitor or something like that.
SO! Here's my plan-
1)Fix Monofin
2)Rip out inseam and gusset from wetsuit. Pinch-and-pin to find correct leg size, but don't sew it up yet.
3)Use material from jacket to patchwork a cover for the monofin, reusing the jacket zipper along the bottom so that the fin can be removed (recycling!)
4)Get sequins from Victor Enterprises
5)cover suit with sequins (if all goes according to plan, I should be able to machine sew most of them on, and they'll hopefully hide my zipper. This is why I didn't sew the legs up earlier.
6)sew up legs, sew monofin cover to bottom
7)hand sew sequins over any gaps
This is the plan. No crafting plan survives the first encounter with the sewing machine, but hopefully it all works! Fins crossed!
Composite of what I plan to make, just imagine more sparkle and actually in purple.
http://mernetwork.com/index/attachment.php?attachmentid=27540&d=1424367936
I'm making it out of an old wetsuit and the Dol-fin monofin I got from AptaMer. I've been hounding Victor Enterprises, makers of the nearly 2 inch wide shell sequins, and I will hopefully be getting my sequins from them. Please note that if you want to buy from them, you have to keep after them- every e-mail I've sent I've had to send twice before I get an answer. However, the most recent email I got from them said they were going to send me a paypal invoice, so here's hoping (I will be hassling them again if I don't hear anything by Monday, and I will let you know how it goes).
28898
But here's my supplies thus far! The monofin is TECHNICALLY broken. One of the clips that is used to adjust the heel straps has snapped. However, the clips can be removed entirely with a Philips head screwdriver, so that's what I shall do. Then I'm going to glue the straps in place to the right size.
As for the wetsuit, I have run afoul of the wonderful world of vanity sizing. In jackets, I am a 2. In pants, I'm a 6. So I ASSUMED that buying a size 10 wetsuit off of Kijiji would give me LOTS of material to be play with.
NOPE!!! Please excuse the brown blurriness of my photo. That's not some weird Instagram filter, just my crappy mirror. :eye twitch:
28897
This sucker fits me PERFECTLY, except in the boobular area, and as I VERY flat chested NOTHING ever fits me in the boobular area. Double A's! Not just for batteries anymore! And I should have known, because I'm a size 10 in vintage patterns. Oh well.
Luckily, the wetsuit is actually two parts- a "farmer john" (it covers the legs and body, but no sleeves, exactly like I want for my tail) and a "jacket" (it... well, it's a jacket). The jacket gives me plenty extra neoprene to work with. Luckily I'm using the Dol-fin, which is fairly small, and not a competitor or something like that.
SO! Here's my plan-
1)Fix Monofin
2)Rip out inseam and gusset from wetsuit. Pinch-and-pin to find correct leg size, but don't sew it up yet.
3)Use material from jacket to patchwork a cover for the monofin, reusing the jacket zipper along the bottom so that the fin can be removed (recycling!)
4)Get sequins from Victor Enterprises
5)cover suit with sequins (if all goes according to plan, I should be able to machine sew most of them on, and they'll hopefully hide my zipper. This is why I didn't sew the legs up earlier.
6)sew up legs, sew monofin cover to bottom
7)hand sew sequins over any gaps
This is the plan. No crafting plan survives the first encounter with the sewing machine, but hopefully it all works! Fins crossed!