Mermaid Costume

Ok, so now it’s really close to Halloween and this year I have sewn my first costume. It was for my daughter who loves mermaids so much she wanted to be one. I had a look at the costumes available at retail and while they didn’t look too bad, the fabric was terribly thin and tight fitting. There was no way we were going to get snow pants under those costumes. Something our Canadian winter often demands.

I went online and found this amazing tutorial from Marisa on her blog HERE. I showed the pictures to my daughter and she was sold! Off we went to the fabric store where my daughter very decisively picked her selection of fabrics that I had given her. As luck would have it, both fabrics were 60% off.  So in total her whole costume, including some jewels from my stash and a shirt she already owned, cost me a little over $6.00.

Now that is worth it to me! I am not the type of mom to slave away to make a costume when they are pretty cheap to buy, but this was going to be easy to make and and cheaper. Bonus!

Here is the skirt I made from the tutorial,  This was actually the first skirt and first waist band I have ever sewn!

And a close up of my daughters favorite part, the sparkly jewel.

The tutorial did not include any suggestions for the top, and I wasn’t about to put a little bikini top on my daughter for many reasons. I had to come up with something, so I raided her closet and found an almost too small black, long sleeved top. Lucky for me I had extra material, so I just basted it onto the shirt, shaping as I went. I added another jewel in the middle and just tied the fabric ends at the back. It looks pretty good and took me very little time. Knowing this only has to be around for 2 Halloween parties and 1 night of trick-or-treating I didn’t even try to do my best work and the stitches can be removed so she can wear the shirt until she truly grows out of it.

I also made a matching hair clip which you can see at the neckline of the shirt. It’s all about the details right? ha ha

My daughter loves her costume and wore it for a whole day, which makes a mom feel great! I even had a few comments about how it looked store bought and people couldn’t believe I had made it. This took me about 2.5 hours, that’s it! It was fun and I learned a few things along the way.

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