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The cape:
I bought feather trim at Hobby Lobby, and it was perfect. It was $5.99 a yard, and I bought four
yards. Then I sewed it onto a piece of black satin in overlapping strips and bound the top edge with
more satin. It looks great. And it was nearly as high quality as the black feather trim I had found at
Hancock's a couple months before that was $12 a yard, so I was pretty happy with it. The feathers
aren't pure black, they have an iridescent green shimmer to them, which is lovely.
Of course, the prettiest things are the worst to work with. The thread kept breaking because it was
getting stuck to the needle which was all gummy from the glue on the feathers, and the dye on the
feathers got all over my hands, which were full of pin pricks and scratches so even after I washed my
hands there were dark green dots and stripes. Not pretty. But after several washings it finally came
out.
The corset:
I experimented with the corset because I hate using boning, and my mom had been making oodles of
purses out of this plastic mesh-type stuff. I think it's called Pet Mesh or Pet Screen or something like
that. Anyway, she got it at a quilt store. And I thought it would work to make the corset in three layers
with the black satin I used instead of leather on the outside, the lining on the inside, and between the
two layers an entire corset made out of this mesh stuff. And it worked! It made the corset stiff
enough, but more even than boning would have done. At least, better than I would have done with
boning!
The skirt:
I used this pattern for the skirt, which isn't as "mermaidish" as I would like so I'm probably going to
redo it eventually. I used two yards of silver satin (45" wide) and a yard and a half of my black
overlay, (60" wide) which is a stiff sheer fabric I think is called organza or something like that, with a
random all-over pattern of thick textured black lines. I think the pattern is actually some type of plastic
fused onto the surface. It's very hard to explain, but you can see a picture here. You can see that it's
not as heavy a pattern as the original, but I thought it was a close enough approximation.
It's also a pain to work with. I didn't use my good fabric scissors to cut it because of the plastic, which
was probably a very good idea. Then sewing it was a beast as well. Especially the darts! The seams
weren't so bad, but the darts were hideous. It's because the fabric doesn't like to be folded, and the
darts were rather small and there were eight of them. But they turned out nice. Hemming was fun, too.
Oh, but I had virtually no problems with the zipper! If you know anything about me at all you should
know that I hate sewing zippers. Unless they're invisible zippers, which I find quite easy. But this one
wasn't invisible, and I actually did it right, on the first try! I was happy.
The necklace:
I bought an assortment of loose black beads for this; round, faceted, oval, and also a broken tassel that
I found at Hobby Lobby (and consequently got a discount on) that seemed to be interlocking strings of
bugle beads, already at the perfect length for the necklace strands. So I used that as a guide for how
long to make the other strands. I originally threaded all the beads for my necklace on black thread, but
I was always afraid of one or more of the strands breaking and scattering beads all over the floor! So I
recently restrung the beads on ribbon, not thread. But I still haven't reattached the hanging strands to
the choker.
I made the choker from black satin in two parts; a rectangular base to wrap around the neck, and a
centerpiece that the strands would hang from. I attached the centerpiece to the base on one side and
sewed skirt hooks on the underside of the open end of the centerpiece to attach it to the other side of
the base. You can see the design of the choker and the different strands of beads in these close-ups I
took of the necklace while it was in the restringing process:
The gloves:
I used more black satin to make the gloves, which were done in a hurry so they are just tapered tubes
hemmed on both ends and with a slit in the seam for my thumb to come through. I plan on redoing
these also.
The headband:
My original headband was thrown together last-minute and broke at CIII, not surprisingly. I haven't
made a new one yet, but I have a necklace that I think will work for it. It's a wide silver chain, and I
just need to figure out how to cut it apart and then attach it to some hair combs or something. More on
that later.
I bought feather trim at Hobby Lobby, and it was perfect. It was $5.99 a yard, and I bought four
yards. Then I sewed it onto a piece of black satin in overlapping strips and bound the top edge with
more satin. It looks great. And it was nearly as high quality as the black feather trim I had found at
Hancock's a couple months before that was $12 a yard, so I was pretty happy with it. The feathers
aren't pure black, they have an iridescent green shimmer to them, which is lovely.
Of course, the prettiest things are the worst to work with. The thread kept breaking because it was
getting stuck to the needle which was all gummy from the glue on the feathers, and the dye on the
feathers got all over my hands, which were full of pin pricks and scratches so even after I washed my
hands there were dark green dots and stripes. Not pretty. But after several washings it finally came
out.
The corset:
I experimented with the corset because I hate using boning, and my mom had been making oodles of
purses out of this plastic mesh-type stuff. I think it's called Pet Mesh or Pet Screen or something like
that. Anyway, she got it at a quilt store. And I thought it would work to make the corset in three layers
with the black satin I used instead of leather on the outside, the lining on the inside, and between the
two layers an entire corset made out of this mesh stuff. And it worked! It made the corset stiff
enough, but more even than boning would have done. At least, better than I would have done with
boning!
The skirt:
I used this pattern for the skirt, which isn't as "mermaidish" as I would like so I'm probably going to
redo it eventually. I used two yards of silver satin (45" wide) and a yard and a half of my black
overlay, (60" wide) which is a stiff sheer fabric I think is called organza or something like that, with a
random all-over pattern of thick textured black lines. I think the pattern is actually some type of plastic
fused onto the surface. It's very hard to explain, but you can see a picture here. You can see that it's
not as heavy a pattern as the original, but I thought it was a close enough approximation.
It's also a pain to work with. I didn't use my good fabric scissors to cut it because of the plastic, which
was probably a very good idea. Then sewing it was a beast as well. Especially the darts! The seams
weren't so bad, but the darts were hideous. It's because the fabric doesn't like to be folded, and the
darts were rather small and there were eight of them. But they turned out nice. Hemming was fun, too.
Oh, but I had virtually no problems with the zipper! If you know anything about me at all you should
know that I hate sewing zippers. Unless they're invisible zippers, which I find quite easy. But this one
wasn't invisible, and I actually did it right, on the first try! I was happy.
The necklace:
I bought an assortment of loose black beads for this; round, faceted, oval, and also a broken tassel that
I found at Hobby Lobby (and consequently got a discount on) that seemed to be interlocking strings of
bugle beads, already at the perfect length for the necklace strands. So I used that as a guide for how
long to make the other strands. I originally threaded all the beads for my necklace on black thread, but
I was always afraid of one or more of the strands breaking and scattering beads all over the floor! So I
recently restrung the beads on ribbon, not thread. But I still haven't reattached the hanging strands to
the choker.
I made the choker from black satin in two parts; a rectangular base to wrap around the neck, and a
centerpiece that the strands would hang from. I attached the centerpiece to the base on one side and
sewed skirt hooks on the underside of the open end of the centerpiece to attach it to the other side of
the base. You can see the design of the choker and the different strands of beads in these close-ups I
took of the necklace while it was in the restringing process:
The gloves:
I used more black satin to make the gloves, which were done in a hurry so they are just tapered tubes
hemmed on both ends and with a slit in the seam for my thumb to come through. I plan on redoing
these also.
The headband:
My original headband was thrown together last-minute and broke at CIII, not surprisingly. I haven't
made a new one yet, but I have a necklace that I think will work for it. It's a wide silver chain, and I
just need to figure out how to cut it apart and then attach it to some hair combs or something. More on
that later.
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