Tutorial: Cut-and-Sew Mermaid Skirt for a Child and a Doll Skirt

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). 

1.  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!

A Child's Mermaid Skirt, and a coordinating one for her doll!

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?

Sandy--a Mermaid made by Bamboletta

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!