Sewing tutorial and pattern: Mermaid dress up tail for kids

We love dress ups at our house. Little by little I've been adding to the kids' collection of costumes for play.

I wanted to make Miss 4.5 a mermaid tail that would grow with her and not be too tight at the ankles that she wouldn't be able to walk or play in it. 

You can download and print the pattern for the fin here.

First, choose your main fabric. I wanted something shiny, so I went for this sequined fabric. You'll need a rectangle - it should reach from your child's waist to the floor (length) and wrap around their body with a 15cm overlap (width). You can allow a little extra for hemming. Hem around the rectangle - I rolled approx 0.5cm over, then rolled over again and sewed along.

Cut two mermaid fins on the fold. Optional is to also cut iron on interfacing to iron onto one of the fin pieces to make the fin a little firmer.

Place right sides together and starting at the top right, sew around the edges, finishing at the top left. The fin can be sewn to the skirt along the bottom.

For fastening the waist, sew velcro along the waistline.

I trimmed the edging of the fin with some of the left over sequin fabric, but it is totally optional.

Works in progress: soft toys and quiet books

How I love Pinterest - I am so addicted!

I've been slowly collecting ideas for making kids' toys and after spending the last few weeks making some additions to my kids' spring wardrobes, I'm all set to start working on these:

1. Dinosaur soft toy. http://littleblackteapot.blogspot.com.au/2011/05/stuffed-dinosaur-with-sewing-pattern.html. I found this free pattern and have cut out my dinosaur in a blue quilting fabric with red and white striped scales. It's turned out quite small, so next time I would adjust it to make it a bit bigger.

2. Dinosaur/dragon tails. Sensing a dinosaur theme? http://tatertotsandjello.com/2011/03/guest-project-dragon-tails-sewing.html. These are cute! And my almost 3 year-old will love running around the house with this strapped to her.

3. Matryoshka doll. http://www.ithinksew.com/ForumsView.aspx?pgPostID_int=135. Very sweet. Another one for my almost 3 year-old.

I'm also putting together some ideas for new quiet books. My quiet books have by far been the most popular items in my Etsy and madeit shops and they are something I really enjoy making. I'm looking at making them around a theme, and have started out with four possible themes: numbers, colors, shapes, and alphabet. Stay tuned!

Here's a link to post I did about the first ever Quiet Book that I made:

http://richesandroses.blogspot.com.au/2012_02_01_archive.html

And here's a link to my boards on Pinterest:

http://pinterest.com/RichesandRoses/boards/

Lesley :)