One piece top and tail

[mermanofdaveyjones]

So I know Pearlie Mae has a silicone tail that is a one piece but I'm looking to make a favourite one and though I am a good sewer I am so so bad with choosing fabrics.

What does everybody recommend I use? I want to use a mix of sheer and opaque fabrics so I know that the thick swimsuit material will not work for my vision.

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[mermanofdaveyjones]

Fabric not favourite, sorry, I'm on my phone and I type really fast and don't read.

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[Mermaid Jaffa]

Swimwear fabric is also called, lycra in Australia. In USA, its called spandex. Make sure it is made for swimwear, otherwise the colors fade easily and the fabric breaks down too fast.

You'd want thick swimsuit fabric and a lining to go with it. What I normally use is two layers of swimsuit lycra, a dark colored one for the inner lining, and another one for the outer layer.

Unless you like having your intimates on display when wet, otherwise go for medium to thick lycra.

I buy my swimwear fabrics from here. They're heavily discounted and the printed ones come from designer places like Jets and Sea Folly.
https://theremnantwarehouse.com/fabrics/buy-swimwear-fabric-lycra-online.html

[mermanofdaveyjones]

Swimwear fabric is also called, lycra in Australia. In USA, its called spandex. Make sure it is made for swimwear, otherwise the colors fade easily and the fabric breaks down too fast.

You'd want thick swimsuit fabric and a lining to go with it. What I normally use is two layers of swimsuit lycra, a dark colored one for the inner lining, and another one for the outer layer.

Unless you like having your intimates on display when wet, otherwise go for medium to thick lycra.

I buy my swimwear fabrics from here. They're heavily discounted and the printed ones come from designer places like Jets and Sea Folly.
https://theremnantwarehouse.com/fabrics/buy-swimwear-fabric-lycra-online.htmlI had a look and they don't appear to ship to my place. Their website mentions nothing about world wide shipping...

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[Mermoviemedic]

Swimwear fabric is also called, lycra in Australia. In USA, its called spandex. Make sure it is made for swimwear, otherwise the colors fade easily and the fabric breaks down too fast.

You'd want thick swimsuit fabric and a lining to go with it. What I normally use is two layers of swimsuit lycra, a dark colored one for the inner lining, and another one for the outer layer.

Unless you like having your intimates on display when wet, otherwise go for medium to thick lycra.

I buy my swimwear fabrics from here. They're heavily discounted and the printed ones come from designer places like Jets and Sea Folly.
https://theremnantwarehouse.com/fabrics/buy-swimwear-fabric-lycra-online.html

We interchange the names (lycra / spandex) over here in the USA ("Lycra" is a trademark name for spandex that was held by Dupont). I have another link where you can design your own print for fabric (Neoprene and it does cost quite a bit so not sure if you would want to go with it.)
https://www.contrado.com/custom-neoprene-fabric-printing

[Mermoviemedic]

As for sheer/opaque. you're wanting a top? or top/tail combo cloth of that kind of material? sorry I'm a little confused.

[mermanofdaveyjones]

As for sheer/opaque. you're wanting a top? or top/tail combo cloth of that kind of material? sorry I'm a little confused.Kind of both, mermaids tails are banned here so I'm doing kind of a body suite thing and I want "skin" patches on the legs.

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[Mermaid Jaffa]

"skin" patches on the legs.

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Oh I know the type you want. There are skin colored stockings and socks with scales on them. I've seen them on ebay and other places like it.

Oops! Sorry, when I saw you are in Pod of Oceania tribe, I thought you were in Australia or surrounding countries, that's why I linked you that shop.

[mermanofdaveyjones]

Oh I know the type you want. There are skin colored stockings and socks with scales on them. I've seen them on ebay and other places like it.

Oops! Sorry, when I saw you are in Pod of Oceania tribe, I thought you were in Australia or surrounding countries, that's why I linked you that shop.....I'm in New Zealand.

I don't really want socks, I want it to be part of the whole thing, I just don't know where to find semi sheer fabric that comes in skin tones since a lot of the websites I found don't ship here.

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[Kwilena]

I had a look and they don't appear to ship to my place. Their website mentions nothing about world wide shipping...

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No, no they do ship to New Zealand. Down the bottom of their webpage "Order online by the metre with BULK SAVINGS on orders 10m+ We ship to Australia, New Zealand & the whole world!"

Hey, do you know of any merfolk in Wellington? We might be visiting next year for Worldcon. In winter brrrrrr so I'm not sure how practical contemplating a swim will be.

[Mermaid Jaffa]

....I'm in New Zealand.

I don't really want socks, I want it to be part of the whole thing, I just don't know where to find semi sheer fabric that comes in skin tones since a lot of the websites I found don't ship here.

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Ok. My bad.

What I linked is the cheapest place in Australia, to get spandex by the metre. Because they sell out of season and old stock, from designer places. If you were to go to another fabric online shop, they sell the fabric for around $28 a metre. You can try ebay but the quality in ebay is not guaranteed.

I think due to safety there are no fabric tails that are just one piece. If it happened that you needed to get the tail off quickly, you'd have to take the whole thing off and it would take a while, assuming you went for a dip, and you know how hard it is to remove a wet swimsuit.

I also like the one piece whole tail look. What I did was to make a one piece swimsuit in the same fabric as the tail. So when worn, it does look like its one big tail.

[mermanofdaveyjones]

Hey, do you know of any merfolk in Wellington? We might be visiting next year for Worldcon. In winter brrrrrr so I'm not sure how practical contemplating a swim will be.

Only been the Wellington once and don't know anybody there, I don't even know anybody in the north island.

Also it never really gets cold here, I'm by ski fields and it was 10 degrees this morning so, yeah, you'll be fine

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[Kwilena]

Only been the Wellington once and don't know anybody there, I don't even know anybody in the north island.

Also it never really gets cold here, I'm by ski fields and it was 10 degrees this morning so, yeah, you'll be fine

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Hmm. You Aotearoa types are inured to cold. In Perth most people start whinging when it gets below 20C! I start whinging when it gets below 13. :-)

[mermanofdaveyjones]

Hmm. You Aotearoa types are inured to cold. In Perth most people start whinging when it gets below 20C! I start whinging when it gets below 13. :-)Little do you know I am in fact an Australian living in New Zealand.
It's really not that bad, you'll hate the rain more than anything and it stays about 13-15 during the day.

Also back to the tail, I'll try and find my art stuff tomorrow (I just moved) and will draw a quick thing up of what I am thinking.
I also had a look on the spotlight website and they have some of the types of fabric I'm looking for which is good because rural shipping is like $10+ for most places and I'll just have to convince my sister to drive me.

The joys of not being able to drive, I can't go anywhere by myself

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[Kwilena]

Little do you know I am in fact an Australian living in New Zealand.
It's really not that bad, you'll hate the rain more than anything and it stays about 13-15 during the day.

Also back to the tail, I'll try and find my art stuff tomorrow (I just moved) and will draw a quick thing up of what I am thinking.
I also had a look on the spotlight website and they have some of the types of fabric I'm looking for which is good because rural shipping is like $10+ for most places and I'll just have to convince my sister to drive me.

The joys of not being able to drive, I can't go anywhere by myself

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You've clearly acclimated well. :-) I quite like rain, I dunno why people don't want to go swimming in the rain, it's not like they're going to be staying dry anyway.

Good luck with the tail hunt and looking forward to seeing how you go. I've had trouble finding the sort of fabric, I guess it's what they call scuba fabric like what mermaid inc and Swimtails use, the thicker lycra-ish stuff. That's what I'd like to try and work with.

[Mermaid Jaffa]

I've seen scuba knit at Spotlight.

[mermanofdaveyjones]

I'm actually not looking for scuba knit, just thinner swimmers type stuff.

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[Mermaid Jaffa]

I'm actually not looking for scuba knit, just thinner swimmers type stuff.

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I use medium to heavy weight spandex. But that's just my preference. There are lighter weight spandex but its not as durable as the thicker ones.

[Kwilena]

I've seen scuba knit at Spotlight.

Hmm. Thank you. Perhaps it's not getting to my local Spotlight over here in oh-so-isolated Perth. I see that it is available there online.

[Mermaid Jaffa]

Hmm. Thank you. Perhaps it's not getting to my local Spotlight over here in oh-so-isolated Perth. I see that it is available there online.

Yea, its not something that they stock all the time like the other fabrics. They only have it in Spotlight if someone has asked for it.