Date Night February: Made For Mermaids

True story, this is the 3rd revision of this blog post.

When I planned out this post, I had BIG plans. We were going to go to the Downtown Aquarium in Denver, Colorado. If you've never been, or never heard of it, they have MERMAIDS! Ok, not real mermaids. But there are ladies, wearing tails swimming in the tanks. Mermaids, Made for Mermaids, they're made for each other!

Cue trip to Denver. I wore my cute outfit. We even went to the aquarium AND saw mermaids. What we didn't do was bring the memory card for the camera. 😱

Tragic. But it all worked out. You see several of my co-bloggers have already used Made For Mermaids Patterns. And they all looked SO cute. So I wanted something at least a little different from what they all did. So, February 13th, I started over.

Its a good thing I did too! You see Striped Swallow Designs released a new dolman pattern with a super sexy scooped back. It took nearly all my self control to not buy that pattern. Which is why I wrote my "5 Steps to Deciding to Buy a Pattern" post. Whew. My husband's wallet will thank me later.

So there I was with my Made For Mermaids Mama Claire and a plan for a scoop backed dolman. If you're a collector of M4M patterns, you could easily copy over the back from the Mama Ella OR the Mama Lea. That would save you a ton of guess work. I don't have those, so instead I took my best guess.

I had my daughter measure from the middle of my neck to my bra band. I knew that was the lowest I wanted it to go. I then subtracted out 1" to try to accommodate the drape of my fabric. That worked out to a point 7 1/2" below the original neckline. For a more practical version, I'd probably opt for 6". But for a special date night top, this was perfect.

I made a nice "scoop" using my french curve to the new lowered neckline point. To finish the necklines, I first banded the entire scooped back. Then I attached the shoulder seams. To get the cross back neckline, I made knit bias tape and then bound the front neckline and topstitched the open back section.

To finalize my look, I added 2" to the length of the tunic length band. I felt that would make a super short, mini skirt length that would be perfect for a date night.

It wouldn't be a super cute date night top without something fun. And that fun thing this time is my Rad Patterns Lucky Lingerie peeking out of the back. You see, I WAY overdid the scoop on the back. So bralette to the rescue! Now I can show off the entire back without having to worry a single bit about my bra showing.

😚 And of course everything is sexier with fish net pantyhose. 😚

When I think of February, I think of Valentine's Day. And I don't know about you, but that means date night in my head. Of course date night means "Time to make something to wear!" If you're looking for fabric for your date night sew, I've got great news! Simply By Ti is offering 10% off to all the Date Night February readers! Use coupon code DATENIGHT through February 28th.

If you're like me, you're going to love all of the inspiration my fellow bloggers have for you. Be sure to check back all February long to see what patterns work for us!

Wednesday, February 1st: Sewing By Ti
February 2nd: Crafty Like a Rox
February 3rd: Sewing By Ti

Sunday, February 5th: Embrace Everyday
February 6th: Tenille's Thread
February 7th: Robynne and the Bobbin
February 9th: Sewingly, Michelle
February 10th: Sewing By Ti

Sunday, February 12th: Embrace Every Day
February 13th: A Phoenix Risen
February 14th: Creative Counselor
February 15th: Creamer and Chaos
February 16th: Everything Your Mama Made and More
February 17th: Sewing By Ti
February 18th: Sew Like a Sloth

Sunday, February 19th: Very Blissful
February 20th: Tenille's Thread
February 21st: Mamoose Handmade
February 22nd: Rebel and Malice
February 23rd: Margarita on the Ross
February 24th: Sewing By Ti
February 25th: On Wednesday We Sew

Sunday, February 26th: The Fairy Dust Bin
February 27th: Sewing By Ti
February 28th: Sew Haute

Ti

Hi, I'm Ti and I'm so happy you're here. I'm a self taught seamstress that loves to focus on good fit, well drafted patterns and of course, FABRIC! As a self proclaimed fabric-aholic, it only made sense to open a fabric store, thus, Simply by Ti was born. Here on my blog, you'll mainly find work that I've done for myself and my family. I am always looking to expand my sewing abilities and spend a lot of time learning new fitting and sewing techniques. I aim to provide objective, honest, creative content that will keep you actively engaged and wanting to read more.