Tail Makeover!

It's an awesome themepark!!!:dance::swoon::yay: When you're ever visiting the Netherlands, go there!
This is my second time going there, last time I was 15, now I'm 18 so it is quite some time ago.

I love the rolloarcoaster wherethe to trains race against eachother! That one has a drop at the beginning which gives you a tickly feeling in your stomach.

I think the scales look amazing too, I wonder if I will get a lot of drag with those on when swimming? :thinks:
and if it does, well, then I know why no one (or a very few) has done this before :lol:

I love the idea of individual fabric scales!

Fabric scales is such a good idea!! I've been trying to think about how to make a fabric tail look more realistic (I don't trust my painting skills lol) I can't wait to see how it turns out!

Thank you!

I hope everthing will go smoothly, as I said before, the combination of me, (a first timer at using a sewing machine), tricky, stretchy lycra fabric and the sewing machine, is something that scares me a bit :biting nails:

Just use a sharp needle and a zig-zag stitch :)

Looks great!

I wanted to do cut-out scales on my first tail, but ditched it after sewing a test patch on. It took ages (think sequin tail) and made the fabric too unstretchable.
But I cut out tiny scales and I always sew by hand.

Good luck!

When my mom was trying to sew a little piece, she/we actually found that a straight double stitch worked best.
We found that the fabric slowly slipped away from the needle and with zig-zag that only became worse :confused:

Maybe we just have a weird sewingmachine...

I was so disenchanted with our ancient sewing machine I sew everything by hand now.

It doesn't take that much longer and is far more accurate, also one can use double thread or materials which never tear apart.

We began with poor quality thread on the machine which broke every 30 seconds, then I went out and bought high quality thread since we use that it hasn't broken once. I think I'm gonna try sewing them on with the macine and if it doesn;t work out how I want or it goes wrong, I can always switch to hand sewing.

I've been watching the progress on this thread. I can't wait to see how it turns out!

When sewing stretchy fabric, a zigzag stitch gives with the stretch of the fabric. Straight stitches will break and cause your fabric to pucker where it won't allow it to stretch.

And a sharp needle sounds like a good idea, but a ball-point needle is best for stretch knits. It doesn't tear the knit and cause runs.

Thanks for all the advice!
I keep them in mind for the next time i'm working on my tail. :)

This will be very handy for me too :P

Making the scales is taking longer than expected, but there is some slow progress :)
From the 400 I need to have, I only have to cut 114 scales, and since I cut them in an oval shape, with one oval I make 2 scales at the time.
So I only need to draw 57 oval and then I'm done! :D
When I say it like taht it feels like I'm so close to finishing, but it will probably take a day or 3 to finish it... :(
I'm already terrified for the part where I have to start sewing them on the tail:biting nails:

Here you see how I make the scales, and how small a pile of 286 fabric scales is.
It seems even more less when I dump them in the box I keep them...
Attachment 29440 Attachment 29441

Your attachments don't work

Are they fixed now?
I can see them (but when I posted them the first time I could see them too)

Nice to see the progress you've made on your tail :D Good luck with the last scales!

Thank you!
I hope it won't be taking too long making the last scales. Tough is it fun, i really want to finish my tail and be able to swim in it, scaled and all.

Yep, they're fixed now :)

I really love this! I've never seen a neoprene tail like this!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JamesGunnels

I really love this! I've never seen a neoprene tail like this!

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Thanks! But it is not neoprene, it's made of lycra :)

I'm done making my scales, just cut the last 53 + 10 extra to be sure I have enough! :yay::dance::yay::dance:
Going to try sewing them omn the tail with the machine first, but if that doesn't work,
I'm going to take everyting with me to my room in Wageningen to handsew everthing in the eveninghours.
Wish me luck!

Tell us when it's done :D

Exciting! :cheerleader:

First scale is sewed on!!
Attachment 29803Attachment 29804
It was quite simple and fast to do. It surprised me how fast and easy I could do this.

Planning on making a small alteration to my top, because when I'm swimming it slides down.
So I 'destroyed' a sponge I have, and cut of a piece of the netting material and I'm going to sew it to the top to keep it from sliding down.
Attachment 29805

And I made a pair of earrings, because I want to try and make some mer-jewelry
Attachment 29806

So excited to see your progress :D
And I really love those earrings! *^*

Top is done! :D
Though the netting is twisted behind my neck because I didn't pay attention whil sewing it...
Attachment 29861

And this is my scale sewing progress after about three hours work...
not much, just eleven, just 393 left to sew...:rolleyes::crazy:
Attachment 29862

I really love the effect of those scales :D
And wow to that top :jawdrop:

Interesting technique! But have you tested if the scales will fray overtime due to it being fabric? I think that would be my only concern...

lycra (spandex) doesn't fray ;)

Yes, it doesn't fray, I've cut the fluke to, and that's still in the exact shape I made it a few weeks back, without any frays or weird thing.
Although the ends on the fluke do curl upwards a little. I taped them down for now and I hope that will slightly fix the problem.

How cool! I love the individual scales on the tail and the top is so stylish. It looks really cool, great job! :D

Thanks MerEmma!

Meet-up was awesome!!! :D;)
My fluke still doesn't stay around my monofin though... :(
I sewed 2 pieces of non-stretch fabric on each side of the monofin to my fluke, but it didn't work.
It actually got loose way quicker and easier than without the straps.
Attachment 30063

So, lately I've been thinking about a starting a fundraiser for slowly trying to save money for a sillicone tail.
I've thought about what I could give as rewards and the highest reward would be a tail like this, with individual fabric scales sewed on to it. (Waterway monovin included)

I still have to try and see if it doesn't create to much drag and all
But if this tail works, would anyone be interested in a tail like this as a fundraiser reward? :confused:

I also have thought about some other things I would be able to make as rewards:
- Earrings
- Necklaces
- Bracelets
- Jewelry set
- Tops
- Shell Mirrors
- Tail without sewed on scales

(Fundraiser won't be anytime soon, but since I thought about it I can't get it out of my head...)

Okay! Update!

Had a rough few month, in August the father of my boyfriend passed away.
Two weeks ago that boyfriend broke up with me. :(
At first I was heartbroken, I had to leave my room in another city to come back and live with my parents again.
Because my boyfriend is still doing his studies there and I had no study and no job.
And now that i'm living at home again, I have finally found the time to get back to work on my scales! :D
Made a small duct-tapedummy(?)of just my calves to stretch the fabric while sewing, and it sews like a charm!
Attachment 32971

I sewed 7 scales today and got started on the first row of the back!
If I do ten scales a day I should be finished within two months.
Love to think that, but it'll probably take longer...:(
Front:
Attachment 32972

And the back:
Attachment 32973

Jeez! So sorry about your crummy end of summer :( hopefully everything will be okay for you!!! <3

Actually I feel fine now! :)
When one person in a relationship thinks I doens't work anymore. You can't do much except accepting it.
And now that I'm home, with a clear mind, I can see things that were wrong, or more specificly, things he did wrong.
My ex never really cried about his dad (never really understood that, but they knew it was coming for over a year and had he time to accept it) and I was not really affected by it. :$

But now while looking for a job I have the time to try and finish this tail! :D
The last time I sewed scales it was a pain to do. But with that dummy it goes so fast an easy I enjoy it now!
And I found some white fabric to use to cover my monofin a sew to the rest of the fluke in an attempt to keep the fluke around my monofin.
We'll see how and if that works ;)

Wow, it's been while since I updated...
But, I have made quite some progress!
There are no oficially 78 scales on my tail!
:yay:

I kinda lost motivation back in September, only sew 3 scales on the 22nd of November and finally made some actual progress again yesterday.
So I stole the couch and TV, turned on 'How to Train Your Dragon' and started sewing again!

I still got a long way to go, but slowly I'm getting there!
Attachment 35201Attachment 35202
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Oooo


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Sew sew sew!!!