Homemade Mermaid Costume

My concept was based on a mermaids surroundings and how she might incorporate some of those items in her day to day wardrobe. In my mind, I would imagine mermaids are not only mystical creatures but quite resourceful.

I didn't want to look like the typical Little Mermaid so I tried to stray as far away from Ariel as possible. The seashell bra is all handmade by me. Basically, what I did was spray paint a nude bra with silver then gold glitter spray to give it a metallic mystical look. I then threaded some pearls and preceded to hot glue them in the shape of seashell pattern to give the appearance that the bra was actually a seashell itself. Then I hot glued some rhinestone gems in between the pearls to add some sparkle and some fake plants along the edges and straps to appear as seaweed.

I found this net and seashells in AC Moore and just went a little crazy with the hot glue gun. I downloaded the pattern for diy seashell purse online for free, followed instructions, sewed up the pieces, added a zipper, tied a rope, embellished it with pearls and voila! Well it wasn't as easy as I just said it but it came out just how I expected! It came out great and was the perfect accessory to add to my costume and was big enough to hold my belongings.

This sequin fabric I found on Etsy.com was perfect and the sea green turquoise color was exactly the color I pictured a mermaids tail to be. With the help of my talented sewing inclined mother we were able to trace the lower half of my body onto newspaper to make the pattern for the tail. As for the fin, I found this beautiful turquoise embellished fabric in my local fabric store and we constructed a fin pattern to match the tail. My mother then preceded to sew the outside lines of the fin to a layering fabric to give it a more structured look. We then added some tulle on the bottom lining to not only act as "water" but to also hide my feet from peeking out. With a few minor adjustments, added leg room and adjustable waistband we were able to achieve a mermaid tail! Fortunately, I was still able to walk with my costume, a little restricted, but still capable of getting places just verrrry slowly. lol