In my last post, I showed a child's Mermaid skirt and a Doll's coordinating fish skirt made from the Mermaid Skirt Cut-and-Sew Panel I designed that is for sale at Spoonflower.com.

Instructions for sewing the skirts are printed on the panel. Here is a short tutorial to show the steps of making the skirt.

NOTE: This design works best for children ages 4 to 10. It can be made as small as a 3T size (maybe a 2T if you cut off the sandy bottom) and as large as a Child's size 12. The smaller sizes will have quite full skirts and the larger sizes will less full.

Supplies:
Scissors, sewing machine, matching blue thread (you might think you need tan thread for the hem, but once it's folded, you'll be stitching in the blue fabric), 3/4 inch elastic for the child's skirt and 1/2 inch elastic if you plan to make the coordinating doll's skirt.

Decide how long you want the child's skirt to be. Here's a helpful skirt length link from Craftershours if you don't have a skirt you can measure. (I looked at the original source for these charts but this information is no longer available there).

Cut the child's skirt the desired finished length PLUS 4 1/2 inches to allow for the elastic casing at the waist and the hem at the bottom of the skirt. Measure from the BOTTOM edge of the "sand" on the ocean flower. Mark this length several places along the skirt panel, draw a straight line across the panel and cut out the skirt. Trim off the un-printed white margins on the fabric.

2. Fold the fabric in half, right sides together to make the back seam of the skirt. Pin. Stitch 1/2 inch seam.

3. At the top edge of the skirt, fold down the fabric, wrong sides together, 1/4 inch. Press. Then fold over again 1 1/4 inches to make the casing for the waist elastic. Stitch close to edge of the fold, leaving a couple inches open at the back seam to insert the elastic in the casing.

4. At the bottom edge of the skirt, fold down the fabric, wrong sides together, 1/4 inch. Press. Then fold over again 1 inch to make the hem. Stitch close to the folded edge to hem the skirt.

5. Cut a piece of 3/4 inch elastic for the waist. Use with waist measurement PLUS to 2 inches. (If you don't have the child available to measure, waist sizes can be found on line at mail order stores that sell children's clothes--for example Lands End will have this information). Using a safety pin as a guide, run the elastic through the channel at the waist of the skirt. Make sure not to lose the far end of the elastic in the channel)!

6. Overlap the 2 ends of the elastic, taking care not to twist them. Stitch them together using a zig-zag stitch. Now stitch down the opening in the casing.

7. Great job! Iron the skirt and have the child try it on!

For the doll's skirt: Use the same directions to make the doll's skirt with these changes

Cut the fish doll skirt panel the desired skirt length PLUS 2 inches.
Since the doll's skirt uses 1/2 inch elastic, make the elastic channel at the waist 3/4 inches, rather than the 1 1/4 used for the child's skirt.
Cut the length of the elastic for the doll the measurement of the doll's waist. Don't add any extra. Dolls need a tight fit so the skirt doesn't slide off!
The hem in the doll's skirt is made by making the first fold 1/4 inch as with the child's skirt and then folded again 1/2 inch.

The doll pictured here is a Bamboletta Cuddle Doll. Bamboletta sometimes has very cute Mermaid dolls for sale too! Their Mermaid dolls were my inspiration for this Mermaid skirt design!

Hope the little girl in your life enjoys these coordinating skirts!