Little Mermaid Costume - Updated

It's finally here. An updated version of my little mermaid costume (with proper math this time).

Unfortunately, no adorable baby model this time.

Little Mermaid Costume Pattern and Photographs

© Courtney Wiggers September 2015

Materials:

Worsted weight yarn (coral(A), multi-coloured(B), mint(C))

                I used Loops & Threads Wool to Wash 12 Pink for the top and Red Heart Comfort 4050 Teal for the tail

4.25mm crochet hook

5mm crochet hook

Tapestry needle (for sewing and weaving in ends)

Finished Size:

6-9 months

Abbreviations:

sc - single crochet

dc - double crochet

tr - triple crochet

MC - magic circle

2sc/2dc - worked in the same stitch; increase

sc #/dc # - amount of sc or dc to be worked in following individual stitches

slst - slip stitch

Starfish Top (x2):

NOTE: You can also use worsted weight yarn and a 5mm crochet hook for the top

With A yarn and 4.25 hook

MC

R1: sc 5 in circle, slst to join (5)

R2: ch-1, *2sc* around, slst to join (10)

R3: ch-1, *sc 1, (dc, tr, dc) in next st* around, slst to join

R4: ch-1, *sc 1, hdc 1, (hdc, dc, tr, dc, hdc) in next st, hdc 1* around, slst to join

                Fasten off

Assembly:

Crochet a chain 5-6 to attach the starfishes together, then make four ties approximately 40 chains in length and attach them to your preference

Mermaid Tail:

With B yarn and 5 hook

MC, ch-2

R1: dc 12 in circle, join (12)

R2: BLO, dc 12 around (12)

R3-5: dc around (12)

R6: *2dc, dc 5* twice (14)

R7-8: dc around (14)

R9: dc 4, *2dc, dc 4* twice (16)

R10: dc around (16)

R11: *2dc, dc 3* around (20)

R12: dc around (20)

R13: *2dc, dc 4* around (24)

R14: dc around (24)

R15: *2dc, dc 3* around (30)

R16: dc around (30)

R17: *2dc, dc 2* around (40)

R18: dc around (40)

R19: 2dc, *dc 2, 2dc* around (54)

R20-40: dc around (54)

R41-42: sc around (54)

R43: *sc 2, ch-1, skip a sts, sc in next 2 sts* around (you’ll end with a ch-1)

R44-45: sc around (54)

                Fasten off

I’ve included two patterns to make the fins (they turn out looking very similar but one requires more sewing in the end and the other is maybe a higher difficulty level)

Fins (x2):

With C yarn and 5 hook

ch-23

R1: in 2^nd ch from hook, dc across (22)

R2: ch-2, dc2tog, dc across

R3: ch-2, dc across (21)

R4: ch-2, dc2tog, dc across

Fins V.1

R5: ch-2, dc across (20)

R6: ch-2, dc2tog, dc across

R7: ch-2, dc across (19)

                Fasten off

This is the original pattern for the fins (there is more sewing involved in making it this way)

Assembly:

Sew together approximately ¾ of the way down the shorter sides so that the angle of the fins create a ‘V’ shape

OR

Fins (V.2):

With C yarn and 5 hook

ch-23

R1: in 2^nd ch from hook, dc across (22)

R2: ch-2, dc2tog, dc across

R3: ch-2, dc across (21)

R4: ch-2, dc2tog, dc across

Fins V.2

R5: ch-2, dc across (20)

R6: ch-2, dc2tog, dc across

R7: ch-2, dc across (19)

R8: slst 5, sc across (14)

R9: ch-1, sc 14, ch-6 (14)

R10: in 2^nd ch from hook, dc across (19)

R11: ch-2, dc across, 2dc in last st

R12: ch-2, dc across (20)

R13: ch-2, dc across, 2dc in last st

R14: ch-2, dc across (21)

R15: ch-2, dc across, 2dc in last st

R16: ch-2, dc across (22)

                Fasten off

While there is less sewing involved in this version of the fins, they may be a little more difficult to get right (the advantage is that these fins are one-piece)

Assembly:

Make a chain long enough to form a drawstring around the waist or alternatively you can use ribbon to weave through the spaces in R43

To sew the fins onto the tail, place the bottom end of the tail in the center of the fins. Then, fold the two square corners of the fins over the end of the tail so that they form a ‘V’ shape along the front of the tail. Sew around to secure onto the tail

NOTES:

To adjust the size of the tail, there’s two main places to add or lose length. You can add or take away rows R3-5. Also, to make the tail bigger, you can add increases by repeating R16-17 after you complete R19.

To fasten off when you finish the round, skip a stitch, slip stitch in the next stitch.

This pattern is copyrighted and provided with understanding that you may NOT sell, alter, or share the pattern.

Also, if you intend to sell items made from this pattern, I simply request that you link back to my shop or to this pattern.

That’s it! I’d love to see your finished products and I hope you enjoy this pattern as much as I do!

If you have questions, don’t hesitate to email me:
Courtney17_17@hotmail.com

The End is Nigh

Honestly, I have nothing to post and don't really have any crochet updates. Just figured I'd write to let y'all know I'm not dead or something

I just finished the worst semester of nursing school. Literally. All my grades are in. I passed! I'm thrilled but I'm also so exhausted from this semester that I don't feel I can adequately express my enthusiasm without wanting to take a nap after.

Literally would not have been able to handle this semester without my fellow nursling girls. The one thing better than passing this semester is knowing that we that all passed and we're one semester away from graduation. Hooray! I'm so ready for this program to be over! For anyone taking the RN program, props to you bro. I don't think I'd be able to do it. A year and a half in and I already feel worn out. I can't imagine four years of this.

On a happier note, I'm so excited for graduation! I've already got a pinterest board going and my aunt and mom (both nurses) are expert party planners and have promised me an awesome nursing grad party. So stoked!

Will be updating with new patterns in the new year so look out for those.

~ Courtney

Dino-Fever

Classes have been crazy. Literally between the start of the semester and now, my program group has dropped from 108 students to approximately 95 students. That's an almost 10% decrease in my potential graduating class. And we still haven't gotten to the hardest semester yet! (Apparently, semester 3 is the worst).

On a happier note, I passed all of my midterms! I did really well on both of my practical midterms, Vital Signs and Medical Administration (inc. Inhaler), so I'm feeling pretty happy right now.

All this craziness is why I haven't been updating lately. I had all these ideas for crochet projects and I'm expected to make presents for several baby showers and I have classmates requesting things and it's all just been a little too much. Right before Christmas last year I got really into making patterns for dinosaurs. I made two Plesiosaur prototypes, a baby T-rex pattern, and I have a Parasaurolophus that's finished, but not yet sewn together.

My Plesiosaur is my favourite; they're my fave dinos ever! And it looks so cute with it's little head and little tail and little itty bitty fins, I just love it!

If anyone's interested in the patterns, I've been contemplating putting them in my pattern shops so let me know if that's something that I should do :)

~ Courtney

Christmas and finals and babies, oh my

Between first semester finals and the increase in baby announcements from friends and family, I've been completely swamped. Add to that the fact that I've hardly done any Christmas shopping and I'm a little stressed out right now.

I've been working on a few patterns and I know I promised an updated pattern for my Mermaid costume, but I haven't been able to get any pictures of it yet. It's all written up, just waiting on a baby model for some pictures.

My cousin and his fiancee just recently announced that they are expecting so I was super excited to start working on some new baby stuff (my favourite!).  They're letting the gender be a surprise so they asked for everything to be gender-neutral, and the theme they picked was owls and elephants (not sure how that's gonna work, but I shall deliver).

I decided to use some baby combo yarn I've been saving to make a baby blanket. It's pretty thin yarn and the pattern I'm using makes the rows quite short so it's definitely taken the longest time out of any baby blanket I've ever made.

The way it's working up makes it a pretty dense blanket but it's super soft. I'm excited to see how it turns out. I'm thinking about adding a sc border of yellow once it's done but we'll see.

Since they asked for owls, I figured it would be a perfect opportunity to test out my Hedwig pattern (although I changed the colours). I'm not sure what colour I want to make the blanket part yet (I'm thinking yellow, again, or maybe light green), but so far only the owl is done. I gave it brown wings to make it look more like the owls we have up here.

I've also been commissioned to make baby blankets and such for a few friends and some of my friends family so that will probably be taking up a lot of my Christmas break. Here's hoping that I get everything done on time.

Wish me luck on finals!

Red Riding Hood Inspired Costume, Part 1

The Dress

This year for Halloween I've decided to be Red Riding Hood, with my costume inspired by the movie released in 2011. If you know me, you'll know that my costumes for Halloween are mainly limited to anything I can make from fabric on the clearance shelves, or a witch. Most often than not, I'm a witch. Last year, however, I purchased fabric that would have made for an awesome Rapunzel dress; unfortunately, it was my first time ever trying to make a costume and it really didn't turn out that great (my boyfriends costume was amazing, though). I resolved to do better this year.

For the dress I used the Butterick 4827 pattern (modified slightly) and used a light blue heavy linen fabric that I purchased at Fabricland.

I ended up modifying the pattern to make the end product look more like the blue dress Valerie wears in the movie. Instead of having it lace up in the back, I cut the front and added lacing. I also modified the sleeves to make them 3/4 length instead of full. Before starting, I attempted my first ever fashion design sketch which I think actually turned out pretty nice.

Once I'd decided how I wanted the dress to look, I found a pattern that matched fairly well and picked out the fabric I liked. To be noted: this was the first time I've ever picked out fabric for a Halloween costume that wasn't on the clearance rack. The fabric I bought was 60" wide so I ended up using a lot less than the pattern called for, although I did make the biggest size just in case. I usually have a problem with patterns where the bust and hips are too small and the waist too large. I also didn't use all the pieces the pattern called for. I modified the pieces for the front and back facing so that I could make laces up the front. I just traced the pattern pieces onto paper and cut off the lacing support from the back facing and attached it to the front. I did end up cutting the front facing piece shorter so that it only went down to the waistline.

After I had modified what I need to and pre-washed the fabric, I started pinning and cutting (it was a lot of fabric to work with and it's actually really heavy).

Once I had all the pieces cut out I followed the directions given by the pattern to sew it all together. The below picture is the front of the dress. I ended up cutting a slit down the front center to the waistline for the front lacing.

I don't have any more progress pictures mostly because I hadn't yet bought the eyelets for the lacing and once I cut the slit down the front, it refused to stay on my shoulders. All of the pieces got sewn together, I top stitched around the neckline, and I added eyelets and lacing.

And then it was a dress! A badly fitted dress mind you, but a dress.

I really hated how it was fitting. I saw pictures of dress made from the same pattern and I felt like mine was way too big up top. I do have a smaller waist and this dress made me look much bigger than I actually am. It was really loose so I turned it inside out, pinned it to be a little tighter, and took it in quite a bit. And this is the finished dress!

In my opinion it looks much better now (Shayne agrees although he did suggest I should have made the lacing a little bit looser..... boys.). I say finished but I still have to hem the bottom edge. Doing this project and having to take the dress off after having pinned it does make me realize the need for a dress form. It went on my Christmas list after having been poked by a pin the fifth or sixth time trying to get the dress off.

So that's it! I still have to make my red cloak but I'll make another post for that (I actually already have one made but Shayne disapproved of the fabric and ordered me some new stuff). My friend is a budding photographer and she's been really excited for me to finish the costume so that she can use me in a photoshoot. If she gets some good shots I'll be sure to update with them!

Hogwarts House Loveys

The patterns for these cute Harry Potter Hogwarts house inspired loveys are available on my Etsy and Ravelry shops!

I'm a Gryffindor so I'm really happy with how the Gryffindor lovey turned out, but I'm actually really impressed with the Hufflepuff badger! It's pretty cute, not gonna lie.

I also posted the pattern for my Hedwig lovey.

I've been working on these in my spare time (and by spare time, I mean the time when I'm supposed to be studying or doing homework) and they actually came along fairly quickly. I'm not sure how much I'll be able to do in the next few months as I get into Clinical and midterms but I'll keep you all posted!

UPDATE: More Harry Potter inspired Loveys

That's right. More loveys!

I have to admit that I'm obsessed with making loveys at this point. I think they're adorable and they're relatively simple to make so I've been making it my life's goal that, when not studying, I'm working on creating new loveys.

Seeing as my Golden Snitch lovey is my most popular pattern in my Etsy shop, I figured I'd make more inspired by the HP series!

(Left to right: Hedwig, Raven, Lion, Snake, Badger)

(Left to right: Hufflepuff, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor)

As posted a while ago, I do have a Sorting Hat lovey in the making but I seem to have misplaced him at the moment. Also, I realize that Ravenclaw's animal is not, in fact, a raven, but it bothers me and I decided to change it.

While these are all in the process to being made into loveys, I had the idea to make them into a mobile for a nursery (how cute would that be?!).

All of the patterns are completed and the blankets are made, I just need to find the time to sew each of these little dudes onto their respective blankets and then post the patterns.

Which one is do you guys like the best? Let me know! (Shayne's favourite is Hedwig even though he doesn't like the series)