Ayame Koi Tail! Sequin/fabric

[Ayame]

Hello everyone!!
After I finish a fursuit commission, I'm going to start making my sequin koi tail! My plan is to have neoprene fabric (wetsuit material) underneath a fabric sleeve where the sequins will go on, mostly because I'm worried about stretch. But then the fabric the sequins are on could stretch too :/ I'm stuck on that part.
BUT here's my reference
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I think I'm going to get this monofin https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0195YD2PQ/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&th=1

And I'm going to change the black for a cobalt blue, because it looks pretty. Same with the orange into gold :) The sequins are going to be both 22mm and 12mm from Cartwrights, the 22mm is pictured and I did my best to match the 12mm
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So yeah! I'll be updating this as I work on stuff, but probably not until the new year, since my workspace is covered with fur.

[Neerai]

Helloooo... this is Mermaid Neerai and I'm going to stay here and follow your project!

[Miyu]

Oooh, I love your scale color choice!!! Can't wait to see what you do!

I would think that a swim fabric over the neoprene would stretch if you were sewing the scales just to the swim fabric. Scales seem to like thicker fabric (neoprene), and it makes the sewing process nicer as well (you have to pull the thread tight and knot it at every scale - the knots sink into neoprene).

[Ayame]

I would think that a swim fabric over the neoprene would stretch if you were sewing the scales just to the swim fabric. Scales seem to like thicker fabric (neoprene), and it makes the sewing process nicer as well (you have to pull the thread tight and knot it at every scale - the knots sink into neoprene).

Thanks for the input! I saw a few people machine sew the scales, which I might experiment with, my concern being the loop tabs snap off a bit easily. Or try to hand stitch through the plastic. I do have some thicker needles I could try.
In that case I'll have less fabric to buy!

[Mermaid Shyla]

I can't wait to see this!

[Ayame]

AAaaa thanks for the comment, I forgot I haven't updated this yet. lol

I figured out what I wanna do for the top! I really love the shell bikini things, but I'd rather have more coverage, so I came up with this:
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The front will be the white sequins, and the green would be where the top ends, with a little wavy fin kind of like in the Disney Little Mermaid. I'll probably use neoprene, a friend who runs Seaside Fairytales helped with some ideas, some of which might be pretty fun, if a bit costly. Like having neoprene, then the sequins, then thin silicone using a caulking tool to give more of a texture on top (to also hold the sequins in place, but have that transparent look to it like an outer layer of scales, even if it's thin).

After the fursuit (came to a standstill since I'm packing) I'll be making the same person some leather armor for a cosplay, and I need to finish my own cosplay for a Comic Con, but after all that is done I'll actually start working on it. I bought the Mahina monofin, I'll take pictures when it arrives!

[Vela]

Oh wow this is going to look awesome!! I love your color choices! :)

[Ayame]

Got my monofin!! It's massive XD
I'm going to try and see if it fits over my water shoes, my feet are really wide and its tight around them, but there's a lot of wiggle room legth-wise. But it's the largest size they had, so I'll make do <3
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[Delphinus]

Lookin' neato. Try swim/dive socks too? They wouldn't be as thick as water shoes, so if they are too big with the shoes, you could try that. :)

Also, that shape is nice. It'll compliment the trailing you want well!

[Ayame]

Yeah, I got some dive socks <3 The padding is underfoot though, I'll need to sew something on the top of the sock so my feet dont rub off.
And recorded some of my swimming in it! (and made a youtube channel for my mer-stuffs)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmdW-2vcg7s

[LeeniusUnicorn]

Looking forward to seeing how it turns out!


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[Ayame]

Eyyyy long time to post XD
Haven't made any progress yet, but I'm hoping by the time I move out with my own space I can get some wetsuit fabric and get to work! I'm thinking of using the neoprene (not sure if that's all wetsuit fabric is but close enough :P) over the entire tail, and having a zipper go down the back as well as at the end of the tail so I can take the monofin out witout worrying about the fin itself getting damaged.

I'm still depating what to do about the fins, not sure if I should make something out of silicone and make a sleeve for it with the neoprene and scales (since silicone won't stick to the tail being what I'm making it out of) or have a few layers of neoprene and call it good.

[mollythemermaid]

Hello Ayame,

Did you ever finish your tail? I have been researching mermaid sequin fabric and think it would be really hard to make a tail out of because most sequin fabric isn't stretchy. It can also be heavy which I worry about in the water.

If you already bought mermaid sequin fabric there is some awesome stuff you can do with it.

Check out MERMAID SEQUIN FABRIC (http://www.everythingmermaid.com/mermaid-sequin-fabric/) for some fun ideas. There was more than I thought going into it. Enjoy!

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[Ayame]

Hey there! (sorry, was offline for quite a while XD)
I haven't started yet (tied up with moving and commissions)! I was going to sew individual sequins to neoprene, not using actual sequin fabric. I appreciate the info though!!!