Little Mermaid (Ariel) Costume from Scratch

I have always had a love for The Little Mermaid. The Little Mermaid, or Ariel, is my favorite from the Disney princesses and last year I knew I really wanted to be her for Halloween. I got a really early start because I knew what I wanted to do was going to take a bit of time and effort. I made her seashell top out of my strapless bra and I made the mermaid tail skirt by hand using sequined fabric and tulle. It was a very simple process but it did take a lot of time and effort.

Once it was finished I could not have been more proud of myself. I am all about making my own costume because I think the ones that you buy in the stores are cheap looking and WAY overpriced, but I had never made a costume completely from fabric before. I usually will buy pieces of it and throw something together, but this time I actually bought the fabric and used a sewing machine to put together my masterpiece.

I got a lot of compliments on my Little Mermaid costume and it is definitely one of my most prized costumes. I loved every piece of it and it turned out exactly how I wanted it to. People really enjoy my costumes because I am one to put all of my effort into it and it always turns out so unique from everyone else. I feel that I need to impress people with the costumes that I choose to put together because they all look forward to seeing what the next year will bring. I look forward to Halloween because I know it is a time where I can put my creative skills to work and make myself and others proud of what I did.

Seashell top

For the seashell top I used one of my strapless bras (from Target) and I got sparkly dark purple fabric and light purple tulle from Joanne’s. I sewed on the dark purple fabric around the entire outside of the bra (this was very difficult, but very worth it!). Once that was finished I hot glued the tulle on by scrunching pieces of it together to give it the look of an actual seashell.

Mermaid Tail

For the tail I got a green sequined fabric and lime green tulle from Joanne’s. I found a tutorial on how to make a mermaid tail on YouTube and used that as my guidelines, but also transformed it a little to the way I wanted it to be. In order for me to walk I made sure to cut a slit in the front up to my knees (you are probably going to need someone to help you with this part).

Hair and Accessories

For my hair I just got red spray hair color which you can find anywhere during Halloween time and I curled my hair and teased the front so it looked like Ariel’s poofed bangs. I also found a starfish from Joanne’s and I painted it a light purple and put dark purple glitter on top of it. I attached an alligator clip to the back of it with hot glue so that I could pin it in my hair. I did my makeup with winged eyeliner because I felt that that was very mermaid-like and I wore red lipstick. For shoes I just wore sandals.

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