I have been dreaming of making a mermaid tail since I was a little girl. When I was young I used to stand beside my mother as she sewed on her old singer, waiting with excited anticipation to see what she was making. To me, a sewing machine was the ticket to the freedom of creation. If only I could use a sewing machine, I could make anything I wanted! My eyes would bulge at the possibilities.

I used to day dream during my “nap time” (in which I never actually took a nap, just ask my mom) about all the things I would sew when I grew up and was allowed to have my own sewing machine. I could sew a stuffed choo choo train with cotton batting for it’s smoke. It would have real wheels attached by buttons and my brother and I could ride on it!! I could sew a whole forrest of green calico christmas trees that we could decorate with ribbon and pin cushion balls..It used to frustrate me to no end that all my mother ever made on her sewing machine were clothes. Boring clothes. I used to dream up whole worlds of stuffed fabric things.

Then I finally grew up and took sewing in high school. I quickly realized sewing wasn’t so much fun after all. A sewing machine was a machine like any other machine and it was not an extension of my imagination after all. What a disappointment. I paid my dues and worked at it to became a marginally decent seamstress but sewing had lost it’s magic for me. It was just too much work for such a measly result. Why work all month on a dress, ripping out seam after seam to get it perfect, and then when it was done find out it wouldn’t fit right. What a colossal waste of time! Why bother when you can just go to the store and buy something for half the effort and cost?!!!

But somewhere deep inside me that little girl who dreamed of sewing things out of her imagination never died. I just learned to con other people into sewing the things for me. Mostly my mom.

So when Baby Bug and I were invited to a Mermaid Birthday party a few weeks ago, I longed to finally sew the mermaid costume I’ve dreamed of for years. YEARS!!!! It seemed simple enough. I drew out my idea and then I wrote that blog post and guess what… somebody emailed me and offered to come to my home and help me sew it!!! The wonder of the internet never ceases to amaze me!

Dreams do come true!

A blog reader, named Tammy, came over last night and she sewed me the most beautiful mermaid tail for Baby Bug that you’ve ever seen. It even has multicolored iridescent thread for the quilted scales. She also sewed some little puffy sea shell pillows for me to embroider and attach to Baby Bug’s onesie as the “bikini top”. It’s so perfect. I am beside myself with glee. Who cares about the birthday party. I’m just in it for the costume.

Baby Bug loves it too. She thinks it’s a cozy sleeping bag. And when she kicks her legs it makes her tail flip! It’s so cute I think I could die.

Getting a picture of it was another story. Today Baby Bug had FOUR poopy blow outs. I was so afraid she’d squirt orange guava poop all over her new costume, that is probably dry clean only…. But I couldn’t wait to tell you about it. I had to take a picture even at risk of ruining it. I also had trouble with my lighting and it’s so long it’s hard to fit everything in the frame, but you get the idea. It’s lovely.

I love my little guppie.