Making a New Fabric Tail (purple and teal)!

[Sea~Phoenix Savannah]

Thank you! I'm actually enjoying documenting the process. It helps to keep me on track and plan out my ideas more. Good luck to you, too!


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Thanks! I would imagine your enjoying documenting the process. Having written/ illustrated plans help keep me focused and on track more too.

[Slim]

My friend will be mailing the tail on her payday which is one week from today. Sorry for the delay ahead of time but when it arrive in over a week, I promise pictures.

[Slim]

My friend posted a picture of the tail with description on her tail making page. I'll post the link below. She added more features to it. I still can't wait to see ya'll finish work using the same fabric.

https://www.facebook.com/SandyTalesM...type=3&theater

[PearlieMae]

So, now that my last big out-of-school project is done, I've got a bit of time to work on my (dream) tail! I'm so excited. Ok, so I was still having a bit of trouble visualizing how I could make the little triangle thingy while still maintaining the single back seam. So, what I've basically done here is I've taken a piece of dummy fabric and cut out the shape as it would look if I were to sew a two-seam tail. Then, I pinned the two halves together and cut them apart where the seam would be in the back to get a better visual of the flat shape that I would have to create.


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THAT'S ingenious! I wish I would have thought of that before I chewed through many yards of fabric before figuring it out!

[Sea~Phoenix Savannah]

THAT'S ingenious! I wish I would have thought of that before I chewed through many yards of fabric before figuring it out!

Dummies/ testing: always a good idea. I made a couple dummies when i was making a cardigan before I sewed the final piece, even though I figured I could just jump to the final fabric; it was a good thing I did as I ended up making several adjustments several times! I'm planning on doing the same thing when I make my tail (after I gather up all the necessary funds).

[MermaidJaiden]

I am actually using the same fabric as you! And im having the same problems with the whole V thing! Also btw, i talked with you on courtneys live stream hehe.

[Mermaid Ankhali]

I am actually using the same fabric as you! And im having the same problems with the whole V thing! Also btw, i talked with you on courtneys live stream hehe.

Oh, HIII!!!


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[Mermaid Ankhali]

Ok, sorry, I know I've been MIA for a while. I've been having some complications with making the tail (specifically, attaching the back of the tail body to the fluke). I got a little discouraged, but I think I'm working it out now. So, here's what happened:
I was having a hard time trying to figure out exactly how to sew the back half of the tail to the fluke while maintaining the same v-shape and continuing the back seam in a way that looked neat. The front actually came out okay. But, anyway, eventually, I figured that I had to just go for it or I would end up going nowhere. So, I put some of the leftover dorsal fabric between the scale fabric and pinched the scale fabric together in a way that mimicked the seam and pushed it under the sewing machine. Lucky me, it ended up coming out very neat. Unlucky me, the ankle area was too small. Instead of a nice, pretty, v-shaped intersection of scales and fluke, it just looked like a bunch of wrinkled, stretched out spandex. Not very pretty!


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[Mermaid Ankhali]

So now I'm on the way to fixing it. I undid the bottom part of the back seam. Also, the tail body was too long, so I'm going to add an elastic waistband that will make it the right length so that the v-shaped section will be just the right amount of stretched out. The problem with that then was the fluke shape, which pulls in dramatically toward the center. Because of that, shortening the tail body exposed the underlying monofin. So, now I'm thinking that I may have to sew the fluke shut.


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[MermaidJaiden]

If you want, i am going to do my mine in a way that looks somewhat realistic but still somewhat easy to do, i could show you

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[Mermaid Ankhali]

Update photos:


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[Mermaid Ankhali]

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[Mermaid Ankhali]

So, I've attached the back of the tail body to the fluke (and covered the slightly unsightly seam with a heel fin. I've also pretty much fixed the fluke problems by sewing the fluke partially closed so that the monofin can remain secure. My tail is now technically swimmable!


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[Mermaid Ankhali]

However, I am far from finished. I still have to paint the fluke and add the side fins as seen in my earlier fluke design pattern sketch. I also plan on adding sequins. Very pretty sequins Also, I will be putting in an elastic waistband. Lastly, I was thinking oh using my new airbrush to add some black spots to the tail body and some pretty fade-out effects to the fluke and maybe the sides of the tail. What are you guys think? I would be using Createx paints.

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[Slim]

It's looking great

[Mermaid Ankhali]

Thank you!


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[Mermaid Ankhali]

I'm actually surprised at how many people are using this fabric, but our tails are all coming out so different!


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[Mermaid Ankhali]

So I fell asleep for about 2 hours, so here's the continuation of what I was doing two hours ago: you can see in this photo how, even with the extra sewing to secure the monofin, the sleeve still shows.
So I'm thinking of covering that by adding a little piece of fabric like this on both sides:

Then there's the other problem that I'm not quite sure how to fix: I stupidly cut out the second half of the fluke backwards, so now they don't match up...Suggestions?


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[Mermaid Ankhali]

Who's ready to get paintin'?

[Mermaid Ankhali]

Progress photo:


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