Calah's first tail!

[Mermaid Calah]

I'm currently working on my very first tail, and I can't explain how excited I am!
I originally ordered all my fabric online, and unknowingly ordered the wrong color for my original design, so now rather than being black and blue, I'm going to be silver and blue. I'm honestly very scared of looking silly at this point, especially considering I accidentally cut my fabric wrong and am sewing it all by hand (my sewing machine keeps birdnesting and I can't get it to stop!)

I'm not gonna let myself be bogged down with the small stuff though; it's my first tail, I love it already, and I'm working hard to finish it today! >:3

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Please ignore my lovely cat's bum; he's very interested in my project thus far. But this is my fluke! Fitted with a finis Rapid (the only one that would fit my gigantic feet xD ) and covered in blue, with silver ruffled ribbons on the bottom. The bottom edge is held together with velcro, which lets me take the fin in and out for washing. The whole thing is stitched around the inside with a backstitch, which I read was a good way to keep spandex together without a sewing machine! The body of the tail will be that same silver material, covering the feet-area of the fluke and (hopefully!) looking at least a little cute! It's my very first tail and I had some pretty grand designs for it, but unfortunately it doesn't look like I'll be able to pull them off. I forgot I was a complete amateur! Still though, I'm doing my best, and for my first tail, I'm already really proud of myself <3

[Mermaid Adriel]

It looks very awesome!! :D I'm sure it will come out well!

[Mermaid Wesley]

Looks great so far!


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[MermaidBrandie]

Cool! I sewed my tail by hand too, I'm still working on it. Covering it in sequins now...slow going. :)

[Mermaid Calah]

@Coyote: Wow, that sounds like a LOT of work! I guess I'm lucky I don't like the look of sequins, or I'd be doing the same thing!

@Hopefully and Claudia: Thank you both so much! I've run into a snag with my tail body, though; I cut it wrong and have already spent 4 hours sewing thee whole thing together, only to try it on and realize it doesn't fit at all! I guess that's what I get for having odd proportions for my hips :c I'm trying to to think of a way to fix it right now, but without the funds to order more fabric and try again, I don't actually know how to fix it.

[ShyMer]

Oh no! I'm sorry to hear you sewed your tail by hand only to discover it doesn't fit right... I've done that with other projects before :(

Out of curiosity, does your sewing machine act up only for this fabric? If you post details, someone might be able to help out with troubleshooting.
You know, if you're having trouble figuring out how to salvage your tail, I bet people could give you ideas for that, too.

It sounds lovely though, I hope you can come up with something!

[Kishiko]

Mine is blue and silver spandex too! Well turuoise and silver... but the silver is fluke so we are opposites lol!

[Mermaid Calah]

It sounds lovely though, I hope you can come up with something!

Thank you so much! Honestly this is my first sewing machine; I inherited it from someone recently and this was the first time I attempted to use it! I'll just continue by hand until I can figure out how to even use the darn thing :p
As for the tail, I managed to salvage it! I re-pinned my pattern and then sewed it twice, and except for just a small bit of bagginess hear the hips, it fits just great now! I'll sew fins at the baggy parts so that they're going to flutter and make more sense <3

@Kishiko: Oh wow, how pretty! I love your tail; I hope mine comes out as lovely as yours! <3

[Ilyena]

Oh that looks lovely ^_^. Everyone starts as a amateur so you may not be able to accomplish your grand designs now but each tail and each experimentation you do brings you one step closer. Everything is a learning experience, just go for it and remember to try things on small scale scraps before an actual tail :)

As for the birds nesting with the thread, i found sewing with strips of paper underneath the sewing line helped the machine grip and pull better and stopped the constant annoyance of thread build up. And afterwards with a little water along the stitch/paper it cam of easily.

[Mermaid Calah]

Oh my gosh it's been almost a week since I've been able to get on the mernetwork! Work, why do you have to keep me so busy! D:

I stayed up until 5am last night finishing my tail, and took it to the lake today for a swim, where I had an experience I don't think I'll ever forget <3 First, pics of the tail!
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Please ignore my chubby boyfriend <3 My tail is.... obviously amateurish. It doesn't fit quite right and it slips when I swim, even with the elastic waistband. It's a bit of a hassle to pull it up every few minutes and it's a little cumbersome. But I learned so much from the experience and I know next time I make a tail I'm going to do things even better! <3 To cap off the day, however, my boyfriend and I decided to go to the lake for the day to try the tail out, and oh my gosh, I don't think I could forget the experience if I tried!
There was a little girl in a kayak with her father, and they were paddling along. I went swimming alongside them a bit, a few yards away, and her father suddenly got this big silly grin on his face (he had seen me from the shore when i was putting on my tail). He tapped his daughter on the shoulder, got her attention, and pointed to me, saying “Sweetie, look! It’s a mermaid!”
The look on this little girl’s face lit up like brighter than the sun when she saw me. I didn’t really think about it, and I blew her a kiss, winked, and then dove under the water and swam away.
They may have been tourists, but I think I might have made their trip <3

[Mermaid Adriel]

I love your tail, and I'm glad for your first swim experience <3

[ShyMer]

That's so sweet!