This year I was having the hardest time figuring out what to buy Ella for her want present. That is until I saw my friend Alicia post about a mermaid tail blanket she made her daughter. Ella isn't the type of kid that needs a lot of toys really. She is happy to have simple things like a play phone, a purse, dress up clothes, a pad of papers and markers. She loves to make herself a pallet to lay on and draw or color. I knew this would be perfect for her.
Joann's has amazing deals during Black Friday weekend so I scored the fleece for her blanket at 70% off! Instead of paying $30 for her blanket I only paid $9!!!
When I decided this was what I was making her I of course went to Pinterest to find a pattern to use. I found one where a lady had a nice video and she even had a downloadable fin pattern that you could print and cut out. After printing that out I had to use wrapping paper to make the rest of the pattern.
Here is the patter all cut out.
Then I had to lay the patter on the fleece, pin it and cut it out.
Here's the tail all cut out and ready to be sewed.
Since fleece is heavy and soft you don't really have to do a lining, but I know my daughter and if she feels anything strange she will not like it. I know that she would not like the feeling of the seams so doing a lining would help her not feel those. From the second color of fleece I cut out another tail, the waist and the fin.
Cut, pinned and ready to sew!
Fleece can be tricky to sew...it likes to move. I don't have a walking foot for my sewing machine, but I made it work. It's just a lot of tugging and your hands get tired, but it's doable.
The outer tail all sewed up!
Now for the lining!
With the outer tail you turn it right side out, but with the inner lining you leave it inside out that way the nice side is what you feel when you put the blanket on. Not sure if that makes sense! The only thing I was worried about was the fact that the outer tail and the inner lining were made to be the same size. I needed to tuck the inner lining in, but I thought it would be too big to fit nicely.
After that I was able to put the inner lining inside the outer tail and it fit perfectly!
Next up was sewing the waist.
I hemmed it on both sides and then sewed it into a big loop.
Then I pinned it onto the top portion of the tail.
Then I sewed the waist pieces to the two pieces of the tail.
Next up was sewing the fin pieces together.
All sewed and ready to attached the fin to the tail piece. This was the most difficult part mainly because you are sewing through 6 layers of fleece. I did end up breaking a needle and getting a bit frustrated.
I also missed some of the fabric and ended up having to resew it and the lines looked all gross. Enter in some decorative lace to cover up the yucky looking lines.
This was so delicate I had to hand sew it on!
Lace covered up my blunder! I also sewed lines up the fin a little to give it a bit more detail.
There it is....5 hours later!
As well as giving her a mermaid tale blanket I also got her a mermaid coloring book and new markers. So excited to see her all snuggled down in it!
Here she is all snuggled in it! She loves it!!!
I had a few people inquire about having me make them for their daughters and then paying me. At first I was against it, but now I'm thinking I might. But I would want to wait until Black Friday to get the best possible deal on the fleece so I wouldn't have to charge a ton of money. $9 for the fleece, $2 for thread and then the cost of labor I was thinking I would charge $35 - $45 per mermaid tail. I do need to make it worth my time. The first one took me 5 hours, but now it shouldn't take that long. I most definitely would not be able to punch out a dozen of these in one day though. So if you are interested in having me make one for a special girl in your life let me know.
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