Saturday 13 August 2016

KCW: Mermaids on roller skates!

Ah, Kid's Clothes Week. Sometimes I go nuts, sometimes I barely do anything, but I can never resist dedicating some time in that week to sewing for the kids. Actually that's most weeks really, but this week I feel a little bit less alone in my obsession!

I had only one thing I needed to make this week and it was a costume/dress/outfit for A to wear to a Mermaid/Under The Sea themed birthday party. She's there now, swimming and swanning around with her mer-gal-pals so, let's check out how completely carried away I got...


I was out at Eliza fabrics in Sunshine looking for something else entirely when I spied this electric (or ocean?) blue sequined fabric. At $15/m I figured a 1m cut could make something and wouldn't be too expensive a failure. I'd never sewn with sequins before and I tried a little dig for advice (or even good humoured conversation) from the attendant at Eliza fabrics but got nothing - I might make it my mission to crack a smile from that lady.

The choice of pattern, however was easy: The Roller Skate Dress by Oliver + S
It elected itself by virtue of only being two pattern pieces, being a super quick sew (yeah, more on that) and having a lining to keep it from being a scratchy, nasty mess.


The mer-girl was dead keen on an off the shoulder, one sleeved design (oh I have created a monster) but since this fabric had no stretch I had to talk her out of that. We compromised instead by making the skirt asymmetrical and kind of reminiscent of a fish tail or perhaps dolphin shape.

The dress is a straight size 6 with about two inches added to one side and about 8 inches on the other side. That meant tracing the pattern onto the back of the sequin fabric (standard kids chalk works really well for that) and cutting it single layer. As I cut, using the good scissors mind you, it became obvious that sequin sewing is a whole new world of complicated.


So, what was going to be a 2 hour sew turned into a whole week of evenings spent snipping sequins out of the seam allowances and I suspect I will be vacuumming up bits of blue sequins for many months to come.

I was correct in one thing. Once you've prepped your pattern pieces, the Roller Skate dress really is a lovely, quick sew.


But then the elastic casing, which should take moments to stitch had to be stitched by hand from the lining side. Each stitch picking up just the net backing of the sequins to create the channel for the elastic but not interfere with the lay of the sequins. Between that and hemming the outer skirt it was another long evening....


To "mermaid" things up a bit more I decided she needed a seashell headpiece. I went to Feeling Inspired for some shells and a headband. He didn't have any shells but suggested this silver mermaid, which he then bent to shape to fit the headband and cut the hanging loop of her tail fin. Then he went and got some little sea stars to finish the look. I sauntered off to find some other things for myself and in the end I was charged only for the bits I chose. The headband, mermaid and box of stars were free! I can see star embellishments going on everything as there's plenty of them!

The headband was black, but I had a bit of the lining fabric left so covered it and glued the fabric in place. Not a neat as it could have been but I was way past any more handstitching at this point.


After all that extra effort I'm glad it doesn't look too costume-y as should she happen to get an invitation to a disco or evening gala, she's got the frock!

Hopefully it's held up to the rigors of a kids birthday party and won't come home in tatters.

It's already been tested in action against a photobombing big brother!


21 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness, you are such an awesome mom! I have a mermaid about your daughter's age, too. Thanks for the heads up about the sequins -- I'm sure I'll experience it myself one day soon. The headband is especially wonderful. My mermaid has one with shells from a beach vacation stuck on with hot glue, but the mermaid and sea stars really kick your up!

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    1. If only I wasn't a ruthless chucking out mum, as the kids had a bucket of sandy shells in their room for ages. Of course I'd turfed them, otherwise it would have been shells glued on for me too!

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  2. I love this post so much! First her design ideas!!! 😂😂😂 Oh man, that sounds so much like Tia! And how is it possible that you could NOT get a smile out of someone? If you cant crack her, nobody can!
    Well done, Shelley! This will be a dress she will always remember... And so will you !😆

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    1. Not everything is sunshine out in Sunshine! :)
      Now it's P who wants a shiny silver Lycra one sleeved tee. I think he's got figure skating dreams! :)

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  3. Oh woooooow. That is a very lucky girl!! The dress looks fantastic but wowsa that sounds like a lot of work! The headband is such a sweet final touch and I think you've made a friend of that shop keeper

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    1. The bead shop man was awesome. In his own words I "caught him in a good mood".
      I'm glad the dress turned out big as I'm in no hurry to ever sew sequins again!

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  4. Oh, the ocean blue sequin mermaid dress is lovely!!! Totally worth the time clipping off all of those sequins from the seam allowances. And the headband is divine! Bravo!

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    1. Thanks Rachel, and yep, the celebration theme was on my mind!

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  5. I forgot to mention that this totally goes with the celebration theme of KCW, so bonus points to you!

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  6. I have a mermaid that comes to our house on a regular basis and would TOTALLY love the mermaid in the headband. Great idea! On the hunt for one locally now!
    Love, love, love the dress. It was worth a weeks worth of painstaking S/A trimming, hand stitching elastic and hemming.

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    1. Thanks Deb! I'd be happy to post you a little mermaid if you don't find one locally

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  7. Bravo (brava?)!! You are one awesome mom to dedicate all that time and effort to realizing her mer-dream. My girls keep asking for a "shiny" dress and I have managed to put it off so far, but I fear that one day I will have to tackle sequins. When that day comes, I will be sure to turn to you! What a beautiful, beautiful dress!

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    1. To be honest the original plan had been sew a boob tube out of a scrap of shiny sequin printed metallic Lycra that the kids had picked off the floor somewhere - but of course, I'd thrown it out already!
      My only advice will be get printed Lycra and cheat!! :)

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  8. Gorgeous! How cute is that last shot of her kicking up her heels? You did a beautiful mermaid job. I notice you went classy, whilst I went... literal? As long as they love it, it's ok right??

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    1. Oh I loved yours! I still think it would be fun to make the proper stuffed tail one day.
      Big brothers can be pretty annoying and it was probably only the fancy dress that stopped her from fully attacking him! :)

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  9. Goodness you just scored gazillion mum points and perhaps the title of the sewing mum of the year... more like a decade!

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    1. Oh good, cause it's my turn next! :)
      Thanks Jenya!

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  10. I never would have imagined the rollerskate dress in sequins, but it looks great. In fact, it's about as tasteful as a mergirl dress can get. I bet it gets heaps of wear for future dress-ups and fancy occasions (discos, birthdays, Academy Awards...) Love your headband, too - and that photobomb is awesome!

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    1. Thanks Marisa, I was hoping for something that was wearable but vaguely ocean-y! The Roller Skate was the perfect pattern with just the opening at the top centre back but otherwise simple seams.

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  11. Great job, I was think more costume-y but this works!
    I overlooked the Roller Skate as a bit ho-hum and then I sewed it. Lid's fringey Roller Skate is still her most favourite dress.

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  12. You are the best Mum and A looks gorgeous in her mermaid dress. Good to see it has great movement possibilities.

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