DIY Mermaid Costume

We all want to dress up as a mermaid at least once, right? Re-sharing this post from last year as it’s my favorite costume yet!Typically I borrow costumes or put together something easy for Halloween, but last year I decided to make my own mermaid costume with the help of my crafty grandmother. We had a lot of fun making this together and I loved wearing it out with friends – even if I was a little cold!

What you’ll need:

If you don’t have a sewing machine, check out this no-sew wrap skirt tutorial or try using no-sew tape.

a sewing machine

a plain bra that will hold heavy shells (I used a bra with gel lining)

a hot glue gun

scissors

1 yard of tulle fabric

1 bag of sea shells

3 packages of different size pearls

2 yards of green stretchy fabric

2 yards of green sequin fabric (stretchy if possible)

elastic

pins

green thread

Skirt:

Lay the green stretch fabric on top of the backside of the sequined fabric.

Depending on where you want your skirt to sit (mine was high waisted), measure the stretchy and sequined fabric around your waist and legs. Make sure the fabric is turned inside out.

Pin the back of the skirt from the waist, all the way to mid-shin where you will want the tulle to start. This will be where you sew your seam.

Inserting elastic waistband (optional):

Cut a long piece of elastic off and lay it an inch from the top (waist) on the inside of the skirt.

Fold both fabrics over the elastic and pin on the inside. Sew the elastic inside the skirt along the bottom of the folded fabric. This will give your waistband some stretch.

Sew down the rest of the skirt where the pins align, then cut off the remaining fabric.

As the skirt still remains inside out, pin where you would like the tulle fabric to start on the skirt (without actually pinning the tulle). I pinned mine at mid-shin. Cut the fabric at the pins around the skirt.

Turn your skirt right side out, as you’ll wear it. Pin three layers of tulle to the bottom of the skirt leaving a 5/8 inch seam. Sew around the bottom of the skirt.

This is how your skirt should look after you sew the tulle fabric.

Cut the tulle to size. Make sure you try the skirt on before cutting the tulle. You’ll want to make sure its cut above the top of the foot; Otherwise, you’ll be tripping and stepping on the tulle which will cause it to rip.

Top: 

My favorite part of the costume! The top can be done however you want, depending on if you want more shells or pearls. I wanted more pearls on mine, so I started out with placing 10-12 shells in random areas on the top. From there, I started hot gluing different size pearls on the outside of each shell and branched out from there with more pearls.

A few other fun tutorials that are good for this costume are this one, this one, and this one.

Happy Halloween!

Xo