Thursday, October 23, 2014

Mermaid Tail {Tutorial}

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For Emma's 3rd birthday, I knew I wanted to have mermaid tails for party favors!  


Finding a good tutorial or how-to on how to make them = not happening!


I'm here to fix that!






These sequined tails are full of girlie goodness.  The mermaid in your life will LOVE this tail.




Supplies Needed

  • 1 yard of sequin fabric (I found mine at JoAnn's)
  • 1 yard of coordinating cotton for back (I bought the cheapest cotton they had)
  • 55" of 1 inch wide satin ribbon
  • Scissors
  • Pins
  • Sewing Machine
  • Mermaid Tail pattern (download below!!)




Directions

First up, print your pattern and cut it out!  


It is 4 pages long, and should look like this when printed and taped together.




Fold your fabric in half length wise, and lay your pattern on top.




Should look like this:


Ignore my ugly pattern....I used scrap paper to make it!


MAKE SURE you line up your pattern on the FOLD of the fabric.



Cut out BOTH the sequin fabric and the cotton backing.


The fabric will look like this after cut and unfolded.




After you have cut both fabrics, pin them RIGHT SIDES TOGETHER.



Pin all the way around the tail, leaving a small gap in the top of the tail for turning.



Sew around the entire tail, leaving a small gap to turn.



Turn tail right side out and PRESS.  Don't get your iron too hot, or you will melt the sequins.  A good press will make the tail lay nice and flat!


Now it's time to close up the gap AND add the ribbon.  I'm all about combining steps!



Pin your ribbon across the top of the tail, making sure to close the gap with the pins.



Top stitch the ribbon to the tail on all four sides of the ribbon.




Guess what?  Tie on that tail, and DONE!




Notes: The length of this tail is perfect for the 3-4 year old crowd.  It brushes the bottom of the floor for my tall 7 year old, but doesn't drag.  Lengthen or shorten the pattern as needed!


A few cute girlies enjoying their party favors!






Mermaid Tail Pattern




Sunday, October 5, 2014

Mermaid Birthday Party!

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Little Miss Emma turned 3 in July!

(can you believe I'm just now blogging about it?!)



Her current obsession is all things mermaid.  A mermaid party it was!


We started out with a few simple games.  This is for a 3 year old crowd, after all!



This one was "Feed the shark!"


It was a ball toss game.  They just had to throw the ball in the shark's mouth!


The second was "Pin the tail on the mermaid"
(which I forgot to take a picture of!)





After that, it was time for food and cake!



Emma wanted a "fancy cake".  This was all I was up for making this year, having a brand new baby!





Ombre rosettes, and a glittery number 3,






Here she is, blowing out the candles on big number 3!



The rest of the food followed our under the sea theme.



Ocean "Jelly" was a huge hit.  Kids love jello.  It's a fact!




Rice crispies are a fave of Miss E, so we had to have those.



Layered "mermaid" cakes were fun too.  Just layered cupcake pops.



We had chocolate AND vanilla.  Trying to please everyone!







Love how these "clam" cookies turned out.  So cute!






We also had dipped pretzels (another Miss E request).





For party favors, I made all the girl's sparkly mermaid tails and starfish wands!








The starfish wands are simple to made.  Find large starfish at your craft store, and hot glue on some ribbon and a dowel rod!  Easy.




Almost forgot about the cookies.  What party is complete without AMAZING sugars cookies?



Aren't these beautiful?  So cute.





In all, an awesome birthday for our spunky and fun Miss Emma.