Happy (observed) Juneteenth everyone. I cannot even imagine what it would feel like to be told as an enslaved person that I am now free. Elation? Or perhaps suspicion and tempered optimism?
I need to add some more optimism to my daily regiment. Lately my glass has been overwhelmingly half empty. Or even three quarters empty. It’s pretty clear I need to start getting back into my mindfulness practice! Today I lugged stones around for 2 hours and that felt pretty close to yoga… okay I’m kidding. But I did feel accomplished despite the fact that I have to move another 110 stones at least…who thought it was a good idea to redo my garden wall?!
I’m going through old posts I haven’t put up yet and I just realized that I never posted how to make the mermaid tail that I made for Patricia’s birthday! It still gets some use every now and again when they see it in the closet. Looking back at these pictures though she is so BIG compared to when she first wore the tail! Actually we’ve been working on potty training and now Patricia says “big girl” when she goes in the potty. She really is such a big girl – she is talking in some sentences now and we’ve ditched diapers (for better or worse). I feel like it is going by too fast, especially since we don’t plan to have any more. At the beginning of the pandemic I felt like things slowed down a bit. I told Will the other day that it seems weird, but I look back at that time fondly. Now that we’ve all gotten used to working from home, it seems that things have accelerated again, and for me it’s at an even worse pace. I’m back to the race-around routine of packing lunches, getting kids fed, dressed and out the door, then work for way too many hours, maybe have dinner with the kids (usually not) and then perhaps if I don’t have a meeting, read a book or two before bed. Wow! When I lay it all out like that I think it’s clear something needs to change!
Mermaid Tail
- 2 yards mesh sequin material*
- 2 yards fleece*
- 1 yard shiny stretch material to match sequin material
- batting
- Pel-tex ultra firm stabilizer
*2 yards should cover the large majority of children
- Measure your child from waist to floor, call this measurement x.
- Measure your child around the waist, call this measurement y.
- Draft a pattern, by dividing the waist measurement in half (y/2) and using that as your waist measurement. Draw a half hourglass-like shape the flares outwards at x/3, and then back down gradually to the y/2 width at the bottom of the tail. Leave the remainder x/3 of the tail y/2 wide. Length should be x.
- Cut out two pieces of fleece, and two pieces of sequin mesh material an inch larger than the pattern you drew.
- Draw a mermaid fin shape to use as a pattern, fin should flare out and be 6-12 inches wider than the y/2 measurement. Cut interfacing and batting to match this shape. Cut 2 pieces of shiny material 1/2″ wider than the pattern.
- Cut another piece of shiny stretch material y long x 7″ wide.
- Cut sequins away from the sides of the tail pieces, an inch away from each edge.
- Place two sequin pieces of material together, sequins in, and sandwich these with two pieces of fleece. Sew down the two sides of the tail. (I then serged this.)
- Sew the shiny stretch piece of material in half, right side together so the two 7″ sides match. Stitch the two 7″ sides together.
(Sorry the color is yellow, this is from my son’s tail)
- Turn right side out then fold in half lengthwise to form a double layer ring. Place this ring inside the inside out tail along the waist line, and line up the two unfinished edges. Stitch. (I also serged this).
- Turn the tail right side out.
- Serge around the bottom edge of the tail.
- Pin the two pieces of shiny fin material together, then stitch 1/2″ from edges, leaving the top portion opened. Turn right side out and stuff with batting and interfacing.
- Place fin on top of the tail, pointing the tail part towards the top of the tail. Stitch the serged front edge of tail to the unfinished edge of the fin. (I also serged this).
Here you can see the tail end is serged, then the fin is attached.
- Voila! You have a tail for your little one (or not so little one) to wear!
