mermaid skirt tutorial

mermaid-skirt-tutorial

mermaid skirt tutorial

mermaid skirt tutorial

Mermaid skirt time! Perfect for costumes, Disneyland trips, or viewings of The Little Mermaid on Broadway! (which was our reason!)

Here is the fabulous fabric I found to make the skirts-I got all three skirts out of one yard of fabric, so the cost was amazing!

So the size I am making I would call a 4-6 girls size.

My girls ages 4, 7, and 9 are wearing these (the nine year old is in size 6/7 still), and they fit just fine.

First, cut a rectangle of fabric (make sure the scales are going the right way!) 14″x22″

Then use my pattern to cut the “fin” or frilly part!

You’ll also need a 18-20″ piece of elastic-mine is 1.5″ wide sports elastic…love it because it’s so soft!

mermaid skirt tutorial

First, fold in half and sew the short sides right sides together with a 3/8″ seam.

mermaid skirt tutorial

Turn right side out and rotate so the seam is in the back.

To cut out your fin, it is basically a square of fabric folded once in half, and then again in half, then place the pattern on the folds and cut out! Just like you would a circle skirt.

Take your fin and pin to the bottom of the skirt, then sew with a zig zag stitch (The prior step should really be sewn with a zig zag stitch too, and I did do that with the other two skirts.)

Another note-make sure you have the portion of fin at the front with the scales going down, matching the skirt. I did it on the other skirts but not the first! I doubt my girls will notice though! (knock on wood)

mermaid skirt tutorial

This is what you’ll have now!

mermaid skirt tutorial

Overlap your elastic ends by 1/2″ and sew together. Then divide into quarters and mark with a pin on the top of the skirt and the elastic.

mermaid skirt tutorial

Then match the pins and repin into place, on the wrong side of the fabric.

mermaid skirt tutorial

Now sew! Sew right along the top (zig zag stitch), and gently pull the elastic to match the fabric (do not stretch the fabric too much) while you sew.

mermaid skirt tutorial

This is what you’ll have!

mermaid skirt tutorial

Then fold the elastic over like so…

mermaid skirt tutorial

And sew into place with a zz stitch, stretching gently as you sew. If I’d been on top of things I would have put black or green thread in my bobbin, but since their shirts will cover the top, I wasn’t too concerned!

mermaid skirt tutorial

Tada! So cute!! and quick to whip up!

Comments

  1. So cute!!!

  2. These are so cute! My girls both want skirts . . . AND shirts! Did you make the shirts as well?

  3. My granddaughter just said yesterday she wants to be a mermaid so this skirt will be awesome! I do have a question tho How did you cut out the ruffle? My non-clothes sewing mind can’t figure out how to fold the fabric. I tried to make a complete template of the ruffle pattern but and it’s me I can’t figure it out Help!

  4. What a great idea! On the shirts, what does the littlest shirt say?

  5. these are so cute! I need to make my daughters mermaid costumes for a musical theatre performance – do you think these provide enough ease of movement that they’d work?

    • They’re pretty tight on the legs-I designed that to look more like a fin but if they were to be dancing in them I’d probably give a lot more ease. ๐Ÿ™‚

  6. Help, please! I’m trying to make this for a bigger girl, but I don’t see your sweet one’s measurements anywhere. If it’s a 14″ x 22″ rectangle your girls have 20″ waists and you added 2 inches for seam and stretch?
    And how do I adjust the fin pattern to fit a bigger skirt? Was the circumference of the bottom of the skirt 20″?. I can’t get the folds to fit into a corner of a page to figure out the radius and extrapolate from there. Thank you!

  7. Thanks so much for this! I am whipping up a batch of 9 for my daughter’s Mermaid birthday party. So quick and easy!

  8. Hi, is the ruffle pattern still available? link doesnt seem to be working

  9. I’m sorry, but I just don’t get the fins. The link goes to a candy corn pattern and I’m not sure how to place it on the folds. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

  10. Do you have an updated link to the Finn pattern? The link you have in here takes me to a corn piece not the right piece.

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