Fish Extender Shaped Like A Disney Cruise Ship

I finished making my very first Fish Extender and it looks like a Disney Cruise Ship!  It ended up taking me OVER A MONTH to design and construct it.  I'm very proud of it.  Doesn't it remind you of the bows of the Disney Cruise ships?

What is a fish extender (FE)?

I had first learned about Fish Extenders in 2011 while walking thru the Disney Dream’s corridors.  I noticed that some guests’ cabins had colorful fabric hanging baskets/wall pockets/organizers hanging off of the metal fish 🐟 located outside each cabin.

Metal fish located outside each cabin

Each of those hanging organizers was decorated in some sort of Disney theme with characters and images.  It turns out that those hanging organizers are called Fish Extenders (FE), and each of those cabins was participating in a fan-organized gift exchange that’s kind of like a secret Santa except it’s not a secret who is going to be exchanging gifts with you.  You can find more info about how to join a FE gift exchange by doing an Internet search or a Facebook search. 

Basically, many years passed and I had forgotten about the FE phenomenon and never participated.  But I was reminded about Fish Extenders while planning for a future cruise.  So I decided to DIY my very first Fish Extender.  

(UPDATE: I’ve created a free pattern that you can use to make a similar Toy Story Aliens FE; the Toy Story Aliens FE is essentially the same pattern as the ship FE but just has a different color scheme and has shorter baskets. If you would like to see how I made a matching FE Pixie Dust Treat Holder to hang on the cruise cabin door, click HERE for a free pattern and tutorial. Or if you want a link to the original free pattern that inspired my FE, keep reading below.)

My design process

I did A LOT of research in order to design my FE.  I discovered that there are 5 main types of FEs on Google, Pinterest, Easy, and Facebook.

1. Flat pleated pockets.  Practically ALL of the ones sold on Etsy (as of the time of writing this blog post) are this type.  PROS: Easy to make or buy.  CONS:  Too small.  Stuff easily falls out.  Open top makes it prey to sticky fingers.
2. Boxed corner baskets (eg. Delta 4-pocket hanging organizer).  PROS:  Holds more stuff than #1.  Easy to buy a pre-made one from Walmart or Amazon and just decorate it. CONS: It's 13" wide so it sticks out into the hallway/blocks your door a little.  Limit to how much stuff it can hold, especially large items like a water bottle.  Open top makes it prey to sticky fingers.  



Delta 4-pocket hanging organizer

3. Tote bags or Christmas stockings sewn on top of each other.  PROS:  Holds more stuff than #2.  Easy to make.  Deeper pockets deter sticky fingers.  CONS:  Open top makes it prey to sticky fingers.
4. Zippered pencil pouches attached to each other.  PROS:  Zipped top is a deterrent to sticky fingers.  Easy to make.  CONS:  Holds as much stuff as #1.
5. Half-round hanging basket organizers.  PROS:  Half-round design maximizes space while preventing it from being too wide/obstructing the hallway.  Can easily be purchased from AliExpress or Amazon.  CONS: A few FE Facebook Group members who used this half-round basket complained that it was too small (Total size about 23" long x 8" wide; pockets about 6" tall).  Open top makes it prey to sticky fingers.



AliExpress and Amazon hanging baskets

Basically, all of the pre-existing designs didn't meet all of my wish list features for a FE.  I wanted something that:  (1) Looks cool.  (2) Has very deep pockets which hold lots of large items AND is harder for sticky fingers to reach into.  (3) Has a zippered lid to deter sticky fingers.

So I had to design one of my own.

• I decided that tall half-round pockets with zippered lids was the way to go.   Wish List Features #2 and 3: Check!
• The half-round pockets reminded me of the ships’ bows, so that inspired me to make the pockets resemble the ship's bow.  I did an internet search and found a image of the bows, then used the Cricut software to manually clean up the image.  It was a labor intensive process but very worth it.  Wish List Feature #1: Check!
• I thought it would be cute to put different characters in each bow image.  Minnie Mouse for me, Mickey for my husband, and Stitch for my son.  Wish List Feature #1: Double Check!
• Since I was making the pockets look like the Cruise Ships as the pockets, I thought that it would be cool to design my last name to resemble the Disney Cruise ships’ name logo.  I searched for many hours for a font without any luck.  So I just free-hand drew my last name using the Disney Ships names as inspiration.  Wish List Feature #1: Triple Check!

Digital mock-up my family Fish Extender design

How did I make it?

I’m a regular reader of the SewCanShe blog, and she 

has a tutorial and free sewing pattern for a DIY Hanging Organizer with half-round baskets.   

Click on the photo above to find her free pattern

I decided to base my design on her pattern, but I made a few modifications:

1. Make the organizer narrower. Her finished design is 12 inches wide. According to all of the FE group guidelines, the FE should be between 8-11 inches wide.
2. Make the pockets much taller than her pattern, but keep the total length of the hanger shorter than 60 inches.  According to all of the FE group guidelines, the total length of the FE including the hanging cord should NOT exceed 5 feet.
3. Add a zippered lid to the top of the pocket to deter sticky fingers.
4. Make the hanging rod part self-enclosed (so that the rod isn't protruding out the sides and so that the rod cannot be removed) in order to minimize the space the FE takes up and to make sure the rod doesn't damage the paint on the cruise ship walls.

Materials used

• Navy fabric.  Upcycled from a men's jacket. 
• Red fabric.  Upcycled from a men’s button down shirt.
• Black fabric.  Upcycled from a flat bed sheet.
• White fabric.  Upcycled from a flat bed sheet.
• Medium-weight iron-on interfacing.  From Joann Fabrics.
• Freezer paper.  From the grocery store.
• Fabric paint.  From Walmart, Michaels, or Joann Fabrics.
• Wooden dowel.  From Walmart.
• Cricut machine to cut out the freezer paper stencils.

First I sewed up the pockets with zippered lids.  I then painted the bow images using the freezer paper stencils.

Before stenciling our first names onto the pockets, I checked to make sure it was getting into ship shape.
Water bottle shown to give a sense of scale.

The pockets are deep enough to hold two water bottles and plenty of room for more stuff

Here is the completed Fish Extender.  I love it!

UPDATE: Here it is in action on the Disney Wonder and on the Disney Wish.