How to Make a Mermaid Skirt Part 2: Fabric, Cut & Sew

Update – Since I published this post, I received many questions, so I’ve updated the post. If you came back to this post, have a read again below. If you are new… welcome! 🙂

First, I’d like to say THANK YOU for such positive responses to How to Make a Mermaid Skirt Part 1. It was so touching to see emails and comments from many of you showing your enthusiasm and support!

Alright, so this is Part 2 of How to Make a Mermaid Skirt. In this video, you will see the right type of fabric for this pattern and how to put the skirt together. By the end of the video, you’ll know how to make a 5-panel mermaid skirt that fits you. So let’s get started!

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Want to make other belly dance costume bits to go with the mermaid skirt? Sign up for my free course, Belly Dance Costume Making 101!

 

Choose the right fabric

Because we want this skirt to be snug around the hips but comfortable enough to move around and sturdy, I suggest the fabric you use has these 3 elements.    

1. The fabric has good stretch.    

Go to the dancewear section of your fabric store or ask people there for dancewear fabric. The fabric should have nice stretch, and it has spandex in it. This type of fabric usually has a smooth finish, unless it is velvet.    

Take a measuring tape or download the stretch check tape from here. Make sure the fabric stretches at least 1.2 times longer for your pattern to work. So for example, hold 10 cm of fabric and stretch comfortably, not too hard. If it stretches to 12 cm without being pulled too hard, it is good material for this mermaid skirt pattern.

If you are making this skirt for daily wear or practice wear, you can just use any knit fabric, like stretch cotton for t-shirts. 🙂 By the way, if you are making this to wear everyday, you can make with fewer panels. So when you calculate for pattern making in Part 1, change “5” to the number of panels.

2. When you stretch the fabric, it doesn’t become see-through.

Some lighter stretch fabric loses opacity when it’s stretched. Try stretching the fabric a little, not too hard, but enough to make sure the fabric stays in tact when stretched.

3. After you stretch the fabric, it comes back to the same length.

We need sturdy fabric for dancing, so I recommend you pick good, sturdy fabric that recovers from the stretch well.

How Much Fabric to Buy

How much fabric you will need for this project depends on the fabric you pick.

If you are using fabric that is smooth on the surface and has no pattern or fabric that has pattern but it doesn’t matter which way the pattern goes (like polka dots), then buy your skirt length x 3 plus 25cm (10in). You should be able to lay the pattern twice within the width of the fabric.

If you are using fabric with nap (ie the fabric has fuzzy surface like velvet) or fabric with patterns with directional requirements, then buy your skirt length x 5 plus 38cm (15in).

The above guide is based on the assumption that the fabric stretches from selvage to selvage, which is mostly the case.

Materials

So now that you have the right type of fabric, you will also need:

Your panel pattern from Part 1

And your sewing tools (see my favourites on the Resources page 🙂 )

How to Make a Mermaid Skirt

Okay, now that you have your pattern and fabric, lay the fabric on the floor or a large table.

Check which way the fabric stretches. We want the skirt to stretch wide, not long, so place the pattern so that the belt line is parallel to the direction of the stretch.

Then trace the pattern, or place weights on the pattern, then cut. Repeat this 5 times so you have 5 identical panels.

I use a rotary cutter and a self-healing mat when cutting fabric, and my mat is not large enough, so I put a couple of cardboard boxes underneath the fabric. You can use scissors to cut fabric, but I like using my rotary cutter, because it saves time and creates a smooth edge. If you are curious, check out the resource page to see which ones I’m using 🙂

What I like about this pattern is that sewing them together is relatively easy 🙂

Just place 2 panels right sides together, place pins inside the seam allowance and sew along the side. The seam allowance is 1.5 cm or ⅝ in, and you can cut it down if you like, but this will allow for adjustment in case the skirt is too tight or becomes too tight in the future.

I would go back and sew the hip section one more time, because this part goes through a lot of stress, and I want to make sure the seam does not rip.

Repeat this to connect all 5 panels.

If you want a slit in the front, you can just sew down from the belt line as much or as little as you like. And fold the rest of the edge by 1.5 cm or ⅝ inch and just do a basic straight stitch.

If you don’t want any slit, just sew all panels together from the belt line to the bottom.

Then put it on and fold over the belt line for hemming. You may have noticed, we made the pattern according to the measurements of your back. The front part of your body doesn’t have as many curves, so the front part of your skirt would appear too long. So we have to adjust the length here. Make sure the front part of the skirt touches the floor because there is still 1 cm or ½ in seam allowance at the bottom, and just tuck in the excess fabric at the top.

Place a pin right in the front centre, and take it to a table. Lay the skirt flat, and fold the back centre by 1cm or ½ in, and place a pin. Then connect the folds in the front and back to create a smooth line and place pins. Then take it to your sewing machine.

Make sure to hem using a zigzag stitch or other stitches that allow stretch. No straight stitching here. Then just trim any excess fabric.

What I love about stretch fabric is that it doesn’t fray 😀 So if you want a professional finish, you can hem the bottom line with 1cm or ½ in seam allowance, but if you just can’t wait to start wearing it (which often happens for me 🙂 ), skip the hemming, and chances are, no one in the audience will notice 😉

And your mermaid skirt is done! Once you have a pattern, you can make lots of skirts with different fabric, you can use different colours for the panels, and best of all, they will fit you perfectly.

Got more questions?

You’re not the only one 🙂 Here are a couple of other questions that are asked often.

Don’t you need to add a waistband?

I didn’t add a waistband to this pattern for 2 reasons.

1. We made the pattern based on our belt line & hip measurements in Part 1. So the skirt should be snug around the belt line and hips and it should not fall off.
2. Waistbands tend to be the cause of muffin tops….! Waistbands tend to be tighter than your actual belt line measurement, so they stay up, but your flesh above the waistband comes out, creating a muffin top. I wanted to create smooth lines from your waist to hip to the skirt, so no waistband in this pattern.

If you feel that the skirt may fall, I have a technique to add elastic without creating a muffin top. You can check it out here.

Can I make this skirt out of non-stretch fabric?

If you are making this skirt as a dance costume, I don’t recommend using non-stretch fabric. It will be too tight and uncomfortable to dance in.

If you are making this skirt as a prom/wedding dress, I think you can. I haven’t tried it myself, so what I lay out here is how I would approach it if I were to make it with non-stretch fabric.

First, go back to the measurement section of Part 1, and add 3.5cm (1.5in) ease to your hip and thigh measurements. This will help you sit in your skirt.

Then when you get to the calculation section of Part 1, and take out “1.2” from the formulas. It counts for the stretch of the fabric, so taking it out makes the pattern true to your measurements.

Follow the rest of the instructions, and finally, when you sew together the skirt panels, add a zipper at the back centre seam.

You may have to play around with the amount of ease added to the pattern, because as you can imagine, it will not be very fitted around the hips and it can distort the overall look of the skirt. Let me know if you give it a go, and I’d love to learn from your experience 🙂

Do you love mermaid skirts?

And if you love mermaid skirt, up your game and try these designs next!

Click here to learn and make these mermaid skirts!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, and if you make your own, please share a photo on Sparkly Belly’s Facebook page, and also sign up for the Sparkly Belly newsletter below to get updates and free resources only available to newsletter subscribers.

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Thanks for reading, and keep sparkling!

P.S. Now are you ready to complete a whole belly dance costume that goes with this mermaid skirt? Check out my free course, Belly Dance Costume Making 101!

P.P.S. Pin this picture to work on it later 😉

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