Bamboletta Ltd., a wonderful company in Vancouver, Canada, makes beautiful handmade dolls. Recently they have had some Mermaids dolls! (Like all Mermaids, they are a bit elusive, and are not always available, but if you look at the available Cuddle Dolls on their site, sometimes you'll find one)! Here's my Bamboletta Mermaid--Sandy! Isn't she fun?

Seeing the Mermaid dolls got me wondering what it would be like to find a pod* of Mermaids swimming together in the ocean! So I decided to make that happen!

I designed a panel, printed by Spoonflower.com, that makes a cut-and-sew child's skirt with a coordinating skirt for her doll (or Mermaid doll)! The doll's skirt only has fish on it since initially I imagined the skirt would only be worn by a Mermaid! (She might need one if she were ever invited to a tea party)!

Here's a link to the Mermaid Skirt Panel available for purchase at Spoonflower.com. The panel will make a skirt that can be sized for a child wearing size 3T to child's size 12 but is ideal for girls between ages 4 and 10. The cutting and sewing instructions are printed on the panel. The skirt shown above is a 3T. In skirt made for an older child, the Mermaids will be more a border print, with more blue ocean at near the waist line.

The doll's skirt can be made to fit a doll between 9 and 18 inches. Here are photos of Sandy and Tulip, a Bamboletta Cuddle Doll, wearing the doll skirt. (The pattern for Tulip's crop top is not included with the skirt panel).

To make one child skirt and one doll skirt, you need to purchase 1 yard, choosing a fabric that is 43 inches wide. (The design isn't designed to repeat in wider fabrics). I recommend Kona® Cotton Ultra or Poplin Cotton Ultra, two of the fabric options offered by Spoonflower.com. (I used Kona® Cotton Ultra for the skirts in these photos).

I'll post a tutorial with detailed instructions for making these skirts next Thursday!

If you haven't done so already, click on over to Bamboletta website and take a look at their amazing dolls! Each doll is unique and very special! (Disclaimer: I have no financial/business affiliation with Bamboletta Ltd. However, I am a customer and I love the dolls they make)!

*There is no "official" term for a group of mermaids! "Pod" makes sense to me and an on-line search agrees it's a good option! Other suggestions I found are a "gossip of mermaids", and "splash of mermaids." Do you know of another collective name for a group of mermaids? Please share by leaving a comment! Thanks!