Last year, my daughter wanted a mermaid costume. Creating a
mermaid costume for a 6 year old came with a couple of quandaries.
First, I wanted to make sure she was comfortable and could walk easily when wearing the costume. Secondly, the midriff needed to be covered. As much as my daughter would have loved a shell bra top, I needed to create something that was more age appropriate- she is 6!
First, I wanted to make sure she was comfortable and could walk easily when wearing the costume. Secondly, the midriff needed to be covered. As much as my daughter would have loved a shell bra top, I needed to create something that was more age appropriate- she is 6!
When she is twenty and
wants to rock an awesome costume like Lauren Conrad’s mermaid costume, I would
be more than happy to make it happen.
Until then, the bra tops are not an option. Dug through my stash of patterns, and luckily
found this match, Simplicity 4033.
 |
| Simplictiy 4043 |
The
beauty of this pattern, is that there is still full gorgeous tail, but the
costume is still comfortable and the tail is not a tripping hazard since it has
a built in strap to prevent the tail from dragging on the ground.
Finding the shimmery scale fabric in the seasonal fabric
section of Joann’s, was the inspiration I needed to jump forward with the
project. The green sequins and the green
satin used for the lining and the tail were also on sale at Joann’s. At home I dug out my satin stash and found
the perfect lavender remnant for the halter top.
I started with the tail, which was so fun and came together rather fast despite the scale fabric being kind of a pill to work with. Please note that the scale fabric is stretchy knit but because of the metallic print, if stretches too far, it will become distorted. The satin lining, darts and zipper, allow for a tailored fit without the risk of stretching out the scales.
The halter top was next.
I continued the scales up the bottom half of the halter top and for the
“bra” portion of the halter I utilized the lavender satin.
After the top was sewn, I felt like it need
some extra detail. Hand sewing the two trims (the purple pleated ribbon and the
green sequins), created another pop of color.
The next project was creating the starfish pin and hair clips. I found a package of small starfish in the
floral section of Michael's.
When I took
them out of the package, I noticed that they were very delicate and could
easily crumble. In order to make them
more durable, I coated the starfish with mod podge, using many thin coats on
the front and back. When the starfish
were completely dry, I traced each starfish on to brown felt to create a
backing. Went back to my trim stash and the
thin pearl strings and purple sequin.
Using these trims along with the remaining green sequins used for the
tail, I cut long pieces and hand sewed them to the backing. Next I attached the pin or the hair clip to
the backing. Lastly I glued the backing
on to the back of the starfish using E6000 glue.
I could not resist the last piece of the costume--- the
shell purse. I pulled out some
interesting lavender ribbed fabric from my stash and used the lavender satin to
line the bag and purple sequins to accent. I am not sure what my original intention was for this fabric. It is a shiny and stiff
almost like a home dec weight, it worked out perfectly for this application. Don't you love it when you can bus into the stash!!!
It
all came together relatively easily but it was the topping on the Halloween
costume cake for my daughter. She used
it to collect candy for trick or treating, and continues to use it as a purse
or book bag today.
I would love to see any new mermaid costume creations. Please share!
XOXO
City Girl
No comments:
Post a Comment