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View Full Version : Sabie's fabric tail - wear/tear and upgrading!?



Mermaid Sabie
12-03-2015, 08:58 PM
So I made my very first tail last spring and pretty much abused it all summer long! I wanted to show what I would do different for anybody making their own tail for the first time, and show the wear and tear of Preprinted spandex


http://mernetwork.com/index/attachment.php?attachmentid=34385&stc=1 34388

FIRST!
I WOULD NOT USE THE SAME FABRIC
The scales rub off :( every post I had read through warned me about this but since I was short on time I didn't want to try to figure out how to paint scales on so I just went with the preprinted fabric and accepted my fate.

I've decided now that I personally would prefer the scales larger so that they would stand out more. In pictures you can't really see that there's scales unless you do a close up

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You can see how my tail is not shiny at all like my left over material

SECOND!
I didn't use enough glue/ I should have sewed my accent strips on the fluke

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My problem with the glue is that it would start soaking through and permanently change the fabric colour where it soaked through. But again, I was rushing and didn't sew it on

THIRD!
I actually was pretty bang on for size. After trying the measurement every couple cm thing I gave up on that and just traced my body laying down on paper. I figured the missing fabric to account for the width of my body would even out with the stretch and for me it worked

I however just traced my monofin onto the fabric when I should have made it smaller. Now that it's lost some of its elasticity it gets too big in the water. Because of that when I lift my fluke out of the water, the water drags the excess fabric and basically pulls my monofin out of my tail

Now I have a few ideas to update my tail before Christmas! Still debating tho as we are broke and again I am in a time crunch....

Mermaid Jaffa
12-03-2015, 11:24 PM
Yea, shiny spandex doesn't last long. Myself, I use printed spandex that has no foil or glitter effects and they've last through 18 months and still going.

If you wash it with wetsuit wash, the colors last longer.