Sequin tails are super high maintenance and super expensive. If you're going to make one, I recommend actually sewing the sequins on instead of gluing them. I did something similar with my tail and sewed sequins on before adding E6000 underneath to help the sequins stay in one place. Once glue is applied to the fabric, it loses all flexibility. This includes being able to bend at most parts of the tail. For example, the knees are a super high-stress point where I often lose sequins and have to repair it by reattaching and sewing sequins.
I only ever use my sequin tail for events and photo shoots because it's not worth the effort of repairing my tail after every swim. If you're going to be using your tail for leisure swimming, I recommend making a fabric tail.
Joann's Fabrics has some great mermaid fabrics for easy to swim in (but still beautiful) leisure tails!
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I've made my own tail out of this fabric and I love it! It's just like mermaid scales and it's as sparkly as sequins! (but I'm not constantly losing them!
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Another great part about this fabric is how much cheaper it is to make a tail! It only cost me about $20 to make my second tail! I'm at the point where I'm seriously considering buying this fabric in other colors just so I can have more tails to choose from!
I'll go ahead and link you to the rest of the fabrics I've found just because they're all so beautiful!
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And if you're looking for some cool accent fabric that aren't covered in scales, Joann's has that too!
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I've seen lots of great tails made out of this fabric before! I know my friend,
Mermaid Shelby, made her tail out of these fabrics and it looks awesome!
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Shelby's tail
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Shelby's tail
I think you should seriously consider a fabric tail over a sequin tail for a number of reasons: It's cheaper, it's lower maintenance, it's just as beautiful, and it's safer. If you're just coming off of your knee surgery, you're gonna need to be careful in the water. (I know because I had knee surgery a few years ago and had to stop swimming with my team for 3 1/2 months because of it.) Even when you're allowed to swim again, it's not going to immediately be like it used to be. Recovery takes time and it took me about 9 months to get back to my old swimming speed. A fabric tail would be much safer and easier to swim in than a sequin tail.
(plus you can make a bunch of different fabric tails for the price of one sequin tail!)
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