It’s no question that Halloween is one of my favourite holidays. As a little girl I always loved to get dressed in my costumes that my mom made, and so my story continues.
As you may have seen from my previous posts on my past DIY costumes, you will see I picked up my mom’s knack for creating handmade Halloween costumes. It is so rewarding when you get to put on the final creation and know it is uniquely yours.
For my costume last year I decided to create a mermaid. Countless Pinterest pins and scrolling through Instagram later I morphed all these ideas into one and made it my own.
First things first, the shell bra, because no mermaid costume is complete without one! Now I knew I wanted the shells, but didn’t want to wear just that. So, after finding some at the dollarstore I bedazzled the crap out of them, took them off their string and quick-stitched them onto a white tube-top.
Now the skirt (or mermaid tail) of my costume had me thinking for a bit. I wanted something that I could easily move around in and wasn’t about to go buy one at the costume store. After all, that would defeat the purpose of my homemade halloween costumes! So, off to Value Village I went to try and find any sparkly or mermaid-like skirts to pull my costume together. While I wasn’t able to find a skirt that didn’t stop me from finding the most hideous dress with huge puffy sleeves (wish I had a before picture) and transforming it into a beautiful flowing skirt fit for mermaid. The colours of the fabric are what grabbed my attention. The sea green and blues in iridescent shades instantly had me sold.
What’s a mermaid without a crown? I found a silver tiara at the dollarstore and transformed it into a crown fit for a queen of the sea! I cut pieces of silver branches that I also added to the seashell bra and built it up around the crown and topping it off with a giant starfish.
I didn’t stop there. I wanted a prop and thought a trident would be the perfect finishing touch. I spray painted an old devil’s pitchfork and added some more seashells and sparkles (the more the better)
For my makeup and hair I went with purples and blues and ran with those same colours for the tips of my hair. Using just coloured eyeshadow I was able to create this look and added some gems and small starfish with eyelash glue.
No mermaid costume is complete without freshwater pearls!
Stay tuned for this year’s costume, I cannot wait to share it with you! Follow along on my Instagram (staffordable_blog) if you want to catch a glimpse!