DIY Mermaid Tail Towels

These DIY mermaid tail towels are part of a sponsored post for Collective Bias® #cbias.

It’s still really hot in Texas and our pool will be open for another month or two so I planned a fun under the sea sister’s evening for my two younger girls.  To add to the fun, I sewed mermaid tail towels for Lila and Tate to wear.

 Tate and I took a Disney Walmart trip, checked out all the Disney Princesses, and bought a special treat for our under the sea adventure: an Under the Sea Surprise Ariel doll.  Ariel is probably our favorite Disney Princess {we’re a bit partial to redheads!} and Tate was so excited about getting Ariel home and dipping her mermaid tail in the pool to watch it light up!

 With Ariel and a Flounder toy in hand, Tate and Lila were ready for fun.  My girls can spend hours playing dress-up and imaginary games so this kind of sister time was perfect for them.  And what girl doesn’t want to dress up like a mermaid once in a while?

 Having their own mermaid tail towels to wear made it even more fun.  The towels were so easy to make … even a beginner seamstress can tackle this project!

Here are the simple steps {to ensure you have enough fabric, you’ll probably need two bath-size towels to make one mermaid towel … I used three towels to make two tails}.

 1. Fold a towel in half and cut a shape similar to the one seen in step one, tapering it slightly toward the bottom but giving your child enough room to walk.  The width of the cut area should be as wide as your child plus a few inches on either side.  I also cut it so the finished edges of the towel were at the top and bottom of my piece … that way I could avoid hemming.

2. Make a tail-shaped template and cut two tail pieces from the towel.

3. With right sides together, stitch the main part of the towel together along the side seams.

4. Fold an inch down from the top and stitch it to make a casing.  Leave an inch open, thread the elastic through, stitch it together, then sew the casing closed.

5. Stitch both pieces of the tail together, adding decorative stitching in the middle if desired, then pin it to the bottom back of the towel and stitch it in place.

Easy, right?

 I also made Ariel-style headbands by spray-painting shells {brought home from our beach vacation} and gluing them to a headband along with some pearls.

 My little mermaids posed for some photos …

 … and then played in the water with Ariel and Flounder.  The only thing they were missing was a Sebastian toy.

 I loved watching Lila and Tate use their imaginations and play with each other, enjoying some sweet sister time.

 The mermaid play has continued every day and I think Ariel has even been in the beds with my girls every night.  They even roped Luke into being Flounder in their game!

 And I know they’ll be even more Ariel-crazed when the Collector’s Edition BluRay/DVD of The Little Mermaid becomes available October 1st!  I’m already looking forward to a family movie night.

Do you have Ariel fans in your family?

For mermaid fun, be sure to check out this simple mermaid tail blanket!