Mermaid Doll

So many of our friends-and-relations have birthdays between mid-January and mid-February (including a brand new nephew born Wednesday!) that it's practically a second Christmas around here crafting-wise.

In addition, Ray and I decided that as we are both turning 33 this month, it's time to get serious and see how fit we can become if we work out more consistently.  We are calling this "The Last Hurrah."  So I'm running five times a week and lifting six time a week on top of my time-consuming Pinterest addiction.  And that whole parenting thing.  It's a good busy, full of things that I love.

On to the sewing content, which is probably why you're here.  A little friend of ours just turned four.  I rarely see her without a stuffed animal of some kind -- she has an assortment that she rotates through -- so I wanted something in that vein.  This mermaid doll tutorial quickly became the top contender.  I realized after it was done that I'm not sure I've ever seen her with a doll, usually animals.  Hopefully the tail makes it count! 

Don't you think a mermaid tail calls for sparkle dot material?  I've never sewn with it before, but fortunately thought to Google for tips ahead of time and saw the recommendation to use a leather needle.  It helped tremendously.  It did get gunked up with the glue a bit, but it went much more smoothly than I expected.  I also used the selvage edge for the hem and shirring, which simplified things also.

The other change was to make yarn hair, using this tutorial and this one.  There was some procrastination involved with the hair and face, since I was worried that I'd screw them up and ruin the whole thing, but it went quite well, and much more quickly than I expected.

I left her hair kind of shaggy in the back, thinking that mermaids don't get to the salon too often.

With her tail off

The embroidery was what I was most nervous about, so I decided to go for a Waldorf-style face.  I like their simplicity, plus it was less scary!  I thought she turned out really cute.