Hi everyone! @CafeDeDuy here back with another costume!
Earlier this summer, a new book came out called “An Infinite Pull” by Taylor Simonds, and one of the main characters is a space-jellyfish-mermaid named Nym. I’m still reading the book as my summer read, but the world building in the book is so beautiful that I simply have to make her. Remember there’s no wrong or right way of making this, I just did mine in under a week because sewing should be fun!
The progress for this dress is split into two sections: the upper half and the lower half, starting with the lower half first. We will be using any Janome sewing machine: I am using my Janome Skyline S9 AND Janome HD9BE for simple straight stitching, but the machine usage varies on thickness levels. The HD9BE is great for thicker layers as it is a heavy duty machine
Janome Supplies Required
Instructions
LOWER HALF:
This portion of the costume is the part where it should resemble the jellyfish the most.
Starting at the most bottom layer, you want to make the jellyfish arms. These the big ornate pieces of the jellyfish, usually there’s about 3. For these you want to make extremely long flounces from the waist to the floor (or longer if you want). If you don’t know how to make flounces, that’s okay, another option is making a really long and narrow “circle skirt” pattern, except only sew the side seams together. After making your arms, sew the upper corners onto a waistband.
Next comes the jellyfish tentacles. First make a circle skirt layer, it can be short as it won’t be seen; think of it as a petticoat. On the edge of this layer, I sewn on long pearl trims. I chose this because there’s a nice weight to the trim to contrast the jellyfish arms.
Now comes the visually seen layers. You will need to construct two layers of a full circle skirt. The first layer is a solid lavender satin. I did eventually change my simple skirt into a 2000’s balloon-styled skirt, but a simple flat layer will work just the same.
The second layer, made of organza, should be about 2+ inches longer than the solid color layer. This is also a reminder that sometimes your hems/edges might be uneven, in this case that is completely okay. We’re doing a space jellyfish mermaid; there are no rules!
Finally for the entire lower half, bedazzle as you please. Make constellations, make galaxies because this character is a nebula being.
UPPER HALF:
This part is also easy, but slightly complicated.
The general idea is that you are making a corset top; no shoulder straps.
First make your base corset layer; all the panels sewn together.
For the top, my inspiration was the movement of galaxies, sea shells, and ocean waves. All in different shades of purple, lavender, and white. I was also inspired by the recent Met exhibit that was inspired by fashion falling apart due to time, so I wanted the edges to be unfinished so the fraying would also create a texture (that will eventually come undone).
This is where it can get tedious. Gather all the materials you want to use to decorate the top. I used all of my scrap fabrics (waste not, want not) and ribbons. It’s a lot of pinning and sewing, but your strips of fabric anyway you want them. After sewing on your fabric strips, finish the top by properly lining it and whatnot.
Finally, like the lower half, decorate your top with crystals. This is where you can also hide all of your stitching with sparkles.
And there you have it, a space jellyfish mermaid to go with your summer reading! I also got to show this dress to the author, which is pretty awesome. And now you can too, thanks to Janome machines because I’m not sure how I can make this without them.
