401The Mermaid Costume Is A Splash With Many Young Girls

posted by julia on September 18th, 2007

There is no sweeter mermaid than Ariel and many little girls look forward to Halloween so that they can dress up like their favorite Disney heroine.  For the littlest mermaid in your house, creating a quick homemade mermaid costume is an easy way to make a dream come true.  The pattern for the tail is very easy to accomplish and the top can be done with a bikini top and some shell colored fabric. 

Creativity Is The Key To A Successful Homemade Mermaid Costume

Using newspaper, taped at least two to three sheets together lengthwise, have your child lay down upon the newspaper, tracing from the waist to the toes and back to the waist.  This is the pattern for your tail.  After your child has gotten up from the newspaper, draw free-hand a wider bottom, with a look of fins on both sides, this will allow her feet the ability to move while still appearing to be a tail. 

When you cut your mermaid costume pattern out, allow about two inches on each side to cut the fabric, I prefer the more fabric the better theory as I can always take away but it is pretty difficult to reattach fabric once it has been cut.  When fabric has been cut, pin around your child to determine how much excess fabric, it would be best to sew a side seam using Velcro, as this will make for easy entry and exit from the costume and is much simpler to sew into the costume than a zipper and is much more user friendly for costume creation.  Not to mention those urgent bathroom visits children so often have to make while trick-or-treating.

When buying the fabric for the tail, a bright shiny green with an imprinted texture similar to fish scales would be ideal but nearly anything will do.  If you are determine to embellish the mermaid costume with glitter, hand sewing or hot gluing sequins is an option to add sparkle and shine to the finished skirt.

For the top of the mermaid costume, it is possible to buy a flesh toned long sleeve t-shirt and have our daughter wear a swimsuit top over the t-shirt.  If you have the time and resources, purchasing shell colored material and cutting out shellfish to attach to the top of the bikini will make an extra zip to an already lovely mermaid costume.  If you do not have the time, just have your daughter wear her bikini top over the t-shirt and she is ready to go. 

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