Help needed! Change of Plans

[Mermaid Jewel]

FINALLY This is in the right section! I don't know what happened, but I apparently posted this in the wrong section and I cannot figure out for the life of me how to delete it...hence that "Mod please delete this!" thread up there xD

So I absolutely love the look of sequin tails. I was planning to do my silicone caulk tail (which I prob will still finish but much later, details below) but I have like tons and tons of neoprin left so I decided to go ahead and start a sequin tail since it's summer, I'm home, and I have a lot of time. I am hoping to finish it by vacation but as I only have 6 weeks left, I'm not sure!

I was originally planning to just cover the base I made for my silicone caulk tail, but it's all purple and black and there isn't the right colors I want on Ccartwright where I plan to order my sequins, so I'm just keeping it and if all else fails, finishing it before vacation :D

Anyways here's my problem. I don't know what color scheme to use! I want to kind of have the different colors and such that Hannah Mermaid uses. I was thinking something like the colors in this photo shoot here
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I thought the gold with blue and green accents looked pretty good on me, but that's just me! And now you see a picture of me so...does anyone have any other color scheme ideas? Please please help! I want to get started as soon as possible!

[New York Mermaid]

omg you in a gold tail would look beautiful :)

[Ayla of Duluth]

Gold and silver! :D eventually I want to get a white raven tail with silver and gold accents, I think gold especially is a color that goes well on prettymuch everyone! :)

[Mermaid Jewel]

omg you in a gold tail would look beautiful :)

Thanks! Guess gold is a good choice then!


Gold and silver! :D eventually I want to get a white raven tail with silver and gold accents, I think gold especially is a color that goes well on prettymuch everyone! :)

I have this thing where I can't combine gold and silver for some reason...haha but I bet it would look amazing! It's just clashes for me! I think it would look gorgeous though

[Mermaid Jewel]

Concept sketch! Side fins and fluke are made of shiny mesh spandex so it's less sequins and has more of a fins feel. They're blue and copper-gold layered! The zipper will be hidden in the side and I might have a fluke zipper hidden too.
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[Mermaid Caidence]

Really cool looking!

[Ilonka]

Sounds good! Everyone all of a sudden wants sequin tails, funny how trends are born and die everywhere in society.

[Mermaid Caidence]

I think that many people want to start sequin tails, but never actually start and finish them. I've only seen a few pictures of people who actually have sequin tails.

[Ilonka]

I guess it applies for all tails cuz not allot of people have them anyways. I just thought it was funny on how all of a sudden all the threads are about sequin tails.

[Mermaid Caidence]

Yea, there are a lot of sequin tail threads.

[Mermaid Jewel]

Haha well I've been wanting one for a really long time. In fact, if you look at an old thread, I even said I wanted to make it after I had finished my silicone tail since I had so much neoprin left. But now I'm looking at my tail and thinking I would love a sequin one more and other people doing it lets me ask a bunch of questions! :D

[Mermaid Caidence]

If your getting sequins from cartwright, don't get the hologram ones.

[Mermaid Jewel]

Yeah I heard. I actually have the list of what I'm ordering on the other side! They're all Iris, iridescent, and satin. I'm still unsure of how many to order. I figure if I order too much, I can save them for repairs and for like loose scales but I don't want to order like 3,000 extra or something!

[Cordelia]

This is so true! I just finished my tail (vinyl) and now I'm like, Hmmm, what is the next one going to be? Sequins? Okay!
I'm curious to know how many sequins to get, too. But I think, for now, I'll just wear the tail that I finished.

Also, Jewel, the tail you drew is amazing. It looks like you could even put highlights of pink in with the gold scales, too. When I thought of the color scheme, I thought about the waist to the knees in all gold, then incorporating the blue and green/turquois scales in the calves until they shade the entire fluke. Light top/dark bottom. Wouldn't be very fish-like, but pretty nonetheless. :D

[Mermaid Jewel]

Yeah I'm ordering some peach colored scales to put in with the gold :D And I thought about that too but I've always shaded my tails this way, and I wanted it predominantly to be gold. About 2/3 of the tail will be gold so this way was easier ^.^ I'm also cutting down the number of sequins by not doing the fluke :D

[Mermaid Jewel]

I'm like having that panic moment where I'm not completely sure I want to do this...I mean, that's a lot of repair work in addition to initial sewing O.e

[Mermaid Jewel]

Sewed the body of the tail today and found out we left a larger seam allowance than we'd thought (I just traced and cut out the purple pieces I have) so we have to take most of it in by nearly an inch and the hips area by 2 inches! It was pretty insane.

We did manage to sew the dorsal zipper in and the fluke zipper (so I can take the monofin in and out), and as soon as we take it in, I'm going to be adding the fluke and fin pieces. Sequins are set to be ordered tomorrow, and I have a crazy month of sewing ahead! Wish me luck!

progress pics as soon as possible!

[Bellasea]

Mermaid Parties asked how many 20mm sequins she would need for a tail and Malinghi did the math "
Wait, isn't the area you came up with just the area of one side of the tail? I think you should double it for the other side.

Also, I think you need more sequins per square inch. You can find the area that each sequin can cover.

Convert to inches to make it easier:
20 mm = .78 inches

Find the area of a circle: Area equals pi times the radius squared.
radius is .78/2 = .39
3.14 * .39^2 = .48 square inches

Since there's overlap between the sequins, I'd consider each sequin to cover half as much area, or .24 square inches.

If each side of the tail is 985 square inches, then the total surface you're trying to cover is 1970 square inches.

Each sequin covers .24 inches, so now you just find the number of sequins you would need to cover 1970 square inches.

.24 * number of sequins = 1970

Solve for "number of sequins:

number of sequins = 1970/.24 = 8209

So I think you'd need around 8200 sequins. Depends on how much overlap there is between the sequins though."

And that was what he came up with. Just search sequin tail and the thread by Mermaid Parties should pop up.

[Mermaid Jewel]

Haha yes I've done the math, like multiple times and gotten slightly different answers. I'm not covering the fluke, however, so it's less. But my sequins are smaller! I'm ordering about 7,000-7,500 sequins. If I run out, I'll order more. I'd normally rather more than less, but yeah :/

[Bellasea]

How are you attaching the sequins?

[Winged Mermaid]

Just putting it out there that you could probably sew the sequins on with a sewing machine using the button sewing function/foot. Just be sure to start at the bottom and layer upwards.

[Mermaid Jewel]

How are you attaching the sequins?
I was planning to hand sew them, bottom to top. Yeah, lots of work! O.e


Just putting it out there that you could probably sew the sequins on with a sewing machine using the button sewing function/foot. Just be sure to start at the bottom and layer upwards.
Really? I hadn't thought about that. Well, we just got a new sewing machine so I should probably figure out WHERE the function is first lol. Thanks for the tip! :D

[lasserine]

Wow that is a lot of sequins and sewing to do. Bet it will look great.

[Mermaid Jewel]

Well I'm willing to do it :) And I officially just ordered my sequins :3 Super excited!

[Winged Mermaid]

Really? I hadn't thought about that. Well, we just got a new sewing machine so I should probably figure out WHERE the function is first lol. Thanks for the tip! :D

Just check in the manual! It's always good to read the manual on a sewing machine before you use it, so you know where everything is. It will tell you what stretch stitches it has too, which is the best for sewing the seams!

[Mermaid Jewel]

So we got the body sewn. Major adjustments needed (an inch in all around and 2 inches in at the hips) but this is what it looks like. We also need to sew flat the zipper part near the fluke cause it's popping up


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Zipper on the fluke so I can get the monofin in and out
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Zipper on the back...will be covered with a dorsal fin though :)
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As soon as we take it in, I'm gonna sew all the fluke and dorsal fin stuff in so I can be ready for when my sequins arrive!

[Mermaid Saphira]

Looking good so far! The zipper on the side of the fluke is a good idea ;)

[Mermaid Caidence]

It's going great!

[lasserine]

Wow looking great so far.

[Mermaid Cascada]

Looks awesome! :D Good job

[Mermaid Jewel]

So I swam in my basic skin tail today, just to try it out. Wow, that's a lot of drag! It's way heavier than I'm used to, and the waist wasn't completely fitted so it billowed out and dragged me back. We're gonna fix the waist and hopefully all will be okay :)

Another problem though, we have PebbleTec in our pool (which is basically lots of teeny little rocks embedded in concrete instead of just concrete). When I would sit on the step or just floating and the fin would drag on the bottom (I sink...floating tails does not work for me lol) it pulls little strings everywhere and makes these little divots and such...ugh I'm hoping the sequins will protect it :/

[Mermaid Jewel]

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My sequin box!

I've finished my fluke (or most of it) and I'm trying to finish that and the side fins so I can get the sequins started tomorrow. I don't have much time to finish it before vacation! If all else fails, I'm gonna start doing patches near the top!

[Arella]

Your tail is going to look amazing!

[Mermaid Jewel]

I've spent like 2 hours sewing only like 50 sequins >.> Oh dear, this is gonna take forever!

[Mermaid Jewel]

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What I have done (it's about the same or a little less on the other side). I can't wait to have a tail fully covered, but boy that's gonna be a ton of work!

[Mermaid Dottie]

My compliments, Jewely-chan, and best of luck!

[Mermaid Jewel]

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This is definitely a labor of love! I am absolutely in love with it and I think it's gorgeous but I warn EVERYONE who's trying it, this is definitely labor intensive. And way more than you think! That up there took me about 2 hours, but I'm going faster now that I've gotten the hang of it!

Right now I'm shaping the bottom of the scales before the fluke so it's a bit slow, once I just start covering it fully I think it'll be faster too! ^.^

And I never said, but when ccartwright sent the sequins, they accidentally sent white satin instead of another golden color. I know they probably would've fixed it but I actually liked the white better...so I kept them ^.^

Oh there's kinda a peek at my fluke. It's an idea I'm not going to share fully prob till I finish, because I love the look and you know all the issues lately but, it's mostly blue with a touch of gold. It'll set off all the gold and white nicely :D

[Thalassa]

Woohoo! Looking great! Keep going!

[Mermaid Jewel]

Thanks everyone! Here's a pic of what it looks like on the inside...yikes! Might have to wear leggings while wearing this!
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[Mermaid Jewel]

Sorry for all the picture updates! I'm so excited haha. I'm very very happy with it! Unfortunately, I know I won't make it for my vacation. So I'll probably be taking a break from sequining to paint my second skin (we used that one to make a template for this one right here...) so I have something to take with me!
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[Mermaid Saphira]

lovely Jewel! Just lovely :)

[Merman_Shawn]

Good Job! Stick with it, it looks fab!

[Mermaid Lira]

Wow ! Continue ! Great job !

[Mermaid Aurora]

wow that looks hard! mad respect, girl! you go! I believe in you! :3