I've been wanting to dress as a mermaid for Halloween forever, ever since I saw Kim Kardashian's mermaid look a few years ago. And mentioned in my last Halloween costume post, how I struggled to find a good tutorial to recreate it!
But this year I found some great tutorials and I set aside the time to actually put this together!
I made my own custom bra top, which was pretty cheap and really easy if you know how to do basic sewing and can work a glue gun.
I drew on two YouTube tutorials. The first was Hannah Knight's Mermaid Costume DIY video and the second was Summer Sheeky's Mermaid .. DIY Bra video.
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| kimkardashian.celebuzz.com |
But this year I found some great tutorials and I set aside the time to actually put this together!
I made my own custom bra top, which was pretty cheap and really easy if you know how to do basic sewing and can work a glue gun.
I drew on two YouTube tutorials. The first was Hannah Knight's Mermaid Costume DIY video and the second was Summer Sheeky's Mermaid .. DIY Bra video.
The first video was what inspired me to turn the bra into more of a crop top. I found this bra for $5 at Marshall's.
I bought matching color stretchy fabric from the fabric store and asked for a cut about 6 inches long and a yard wide ( I was left with extras). I don't frequent fabric stores, so to be honest I didn't really know what I was asking for. After I explained to the lady what my project was she basically decided for me how much I'd need. This cut cost me under $1!
When I got home, I measured the fabric around my torso and cut the excess.
I then hand sewed the fabric to the bottom of the bra. In Hannah's tutorial she glued the fabric to the underwire. I found that it was easy enough to sew the fabric to the underwire as long as I didn't dig my needle in too deep, and caught just the smallest bit of fabric.
As in the tutorial by Hannah, I scalloped the ends of the fabric. I used a shot glass and a white fabric pencil to plan the scallops.
After the top was created, I moved to Summer's tutorial as inspiration for the decorating. I picked up the following at the craft store:
A pack of pearls
gold spray paint
Pack of seashells
Pack of craft jewels
I spray painted my seashells and pearls to be gold. The seashells were kind of dusty when I got them, so I rinsed them off first. I would recommend spray painting outside and with cardboard underneath. Let dry in the sun for about an hour.
As the paint was drying, I took out the gems and tried out some various arrangements for the middle piece. In Summer's tutorial, she used a starfish to add interest to the middle, but I was worried of getting stabbed or the points breaking off during the night. I opted to decorate the middle with jewels. It was really helpful that I tried a few arrangements and took pictures of each so I could find what I liked and then be able to recreate it.
I started by hot glueing the middle piece design to the bra, followed by glueing the gold seashells around each side. In any gap spaces, I glued the golden pearls or extra jewels. I was careful when glueing all of this down, to continually work back and forth from one side to the other; if I put a shell on the left I'd put on the the right and so on so that it was symmetrical.
After that my top was done!
My skirt was from Etsy. The shop is called Bling Lighters . I opted for a shorter pencil skirt but they make longer more elaborate mermaid skirts too. All of them are very shimmery and remind me of Kim Kardashian's mermaid look that I love so much.
It was kind of crazy getting the skirt - I paid for a rushed order a week before my Halloween party to be sure I got it on time. With the store being in LA, which is only about a 6 hour drive from me I figured this would be fine. Then a few days into waiting for my skirt to show up, I checked the USPS status and it said it was just scanned in Honolulu! Aside from being really confused, I was so worried it wouldn't arrive on time. The shop owner was so sweet though and sent me a second skirt by FedEx so that I'd absolutely get it in time. Also I'm sad to say it looks like she's done making these at least for the time being.
EDIT 09/09/2016: So excited, the shop added a ton of new mermaid skirts and other costumes! You can check them out here: www.etsy.com/shop/sparklemegorgeous
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| www.etsy.com/shop/BlingLighters |
It was kind of crazy getting the skirt - I paid for a rushed order a week before my Halloween party to be sure I got it on time. With the store being in LA, which is only about a 6 hour drive from me I figured this would be fine. Then a few days into waiting for my skirt to show up, I checked the USPS status and it said it was just scanned in Honolulu! Aside from being really confused, I was so worried it wouldn't arrive on time. The shop owner was so sweet though and sent me a second skirt by FedEx so that I'd absolutely get it in time. Also I'm sad to say it looks like she's done making these at least for the time being.
EDIT 09/09/2016: So excited, the shop added a ton of new mermaid skirts and other costumes! You can check them out here: www.etsy.com/shop/sparklemegorgeous
I wrote this all up while being home sick from work, and now I'm exhausted.
I hope you found this useful! Send me your mermaid looks if that is what you ended up being this year!
For more cute Halloween costume ideas, see my other post here!
For more cute Halloween costume ideas, see my other post here!
Brooke Sandra
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