Mermaids & Pirates, Part II

The best part of Isia's mermaid costume was her contribution. In years past, we would go to the fabric store & I would just pick out a few options for her to choose from. Not so this time. She loved looking through the fabric (just like her Mama) and found this pink one all by herself. I wasn't sure how well it would sew, but it ended up doing nicely. And it made her so happy that she was the one who found it!

To make her seashells, and Esther's seashells too, I ended up doubling the fabric over itself and sewing around a seashell template that I created. I then pinned the seashells onto their shirts, sewing them on around the outline, then sewing the seashell's "ridges" directly onto the shirt to keep them firmly in place so they wouldn't pucker. (Please ignore the lone seashell ridge above, I hadn't formalized my plan yet.)

The end product looked like this! The shirt was a long-sleeve cream one we bought at Target to keep her comfortable & warm. It's also made a great addition to our dress-up basket because she can put it on all by herself. Billy's pirate hathas been a fun addition to our dress up basket too. He's all about "bad guys" these days (which means any character, not just the villains) so he loved his pirate get-up.

Returning to mermaids, I was inspired by this tutorial for Isia's skirt & found this perfect fabric when we were shopping:

Aren't those ruffles perfect? I was so excited, and it was easy to work with too. Since it's stretchy I only made a folded-over waistband at the top & didn't worry about any additional elastic. I also made it pretty snug, which helped it to stay up. For the bottom I trimmed the fabric directly under the bottom ruffle, and no other hem was needed. Since I wanted her to be able to walk, I did cut out a triangular portion in back (not pictured) starting at her knees and ending at the bottom of the skirt. The pink fin pleats (see above) can be found in the tutorial, very simple! The only modification I did was to sew the sides on- to make them sturdier- while leaving the bottom pleats open. 

And what do you get when you cross a mermaid and a pirate?

A little girl who's ready for adventures!