Kidnapped Mermaid Costume

Why choose between dressing as a sexy mermaid or a scary pirate when you could be both!

For Halloween this year my friend wanted a costume with the same kind of wow factor as the Headless Bride costume I wore last year.

We settled on a design that has everything: sex appeal, impressive size, an optical illusion and built in drink holders!

By buying a lot of the pieces pre-made we were able to save a lot of time and put together the costume in about 15 hours spread over two weekends of working in my messy kitchen.



*for more info on me, my costumes and my other crafts, check out my blog, http://modmischief.blogspot.com/

You might have a lot of these materials at home already.

From the thrift store:
-shimmery dress suitable for mermaid tail (alternatively, you could just buy the fabric from a fabric store)
-2 long sleeved men's turtlenecks
-long men's trousers
-trenchcoat
-backpack
-belt

From a costume shop:
-long wig (red for an Ariel look)
-sea shell bra
-pirate mask
-pirate hat
-eye patch
-pirate hook
-fake hand
-scarf
-mardi gras beads and assorted bling
-Styrofoam head (the kind used for wigs)

From a specialty shop or online:
-platform boots (the shorter your mermaid in real life, the taller they'll need to be)

From Walmart or somewhere similar:
-Styrofoam cooler
-gold spray paint
-duct tape
-masking tape
-craft paint
-2 plastic cups
-batting / stuffing
-small pieces of velcro (we took ours off of the thrift store backpack)
-straight pins
-rope or straps
-thin bamboo poles (wood dowels would work too)
-epoxy glue
-white glue
-skin coloured fabric to cover backpack straps (a pair of thick tights would do)

From your recycling bin:
-newspaper
-cardboard

Tools:
-glue gun
-sewing machine
-scissors
-paint brushes
-markers

From your social circle:
-Large male friend to wrap in duct tape

Much like with my Headless Bride, we started by making a duct tape dummy.

Have your male volunteer put on one of the turtlenecks and wrap his torso and arms in duct tape. Cut through the duct tape and shirt to remove it. You'll need to cut up the spine and cut down each arm.

Once it's off, tape the torso back together. Attach the Styrofoam head with more duct tape. Stick two bamboo poles into the bottom of the head. Cut the poles a little longer than the torso. The poles will help give the pirate some rigidity and give you something to help attach him to the backpack.

Attach the fake hand and pirate hook with more duct tape. You might also want to help secure it with a glue gun.

Stuff the torso with batting. Don't make it too full or he won't sit close enough to the mermaid. When it's well stuffed, tape up the bottom.

Carefully put the other large turtleneck shirt on your dummy. You can use straight pins to keep it tight around your pirate's neck and cover up all the duct tape. Tie the shirt in a knot at the bottom to keep it from sliding up.

Put the mask on the Styrofoam head and secure it with pins. You can fill out the mask with batting but first tape up the holes in the mask.

We covered the eye holes with masking tape from the inside then added an eye patch on one and drew the other eye with markers.

Hold up the dummy behind the person who will be wearing the costume to figure out where the backpack should sit.

Cut out the part of the shirt where the backpack will connect to the dummy and secure the edges to the dummy with a glue gun.

Glue the backpack to the duct tape with a glue gun.

Tie the backpack to the torso with rope or straps. We used one strap under the armpits and two lengths of rope over the shoulders, down the back and around the ends of the bamboo poles.

To help hide backpack's straps you can cover them in skin coloured material so they won't show as much under the wig.

Sew a mermaid tail!

There are several great tutorials online for making mermaid tails.

Sasha's step by step video on youtube is very helpful.

Instead of using fabric from a fabric store, we used a dress from the thrift store. Since you won't need to put your real legs inside, you won't need stretchy fabric and you can make the tail slightly smaller than you would if you were making it to wear.

We turned the dress inside out and drew the tail shape. We then pinned it , cut it out and with the sewing machine, sewed along the lines. This is a very easy sewing project. Even my friend who had never used a sewing machine before managed to sew the tail with only a little guidance!

With the tail right side out, we sewed the fin closed at the bottom and left the top open in order to stuff it with batting.

To finish off the mermaid you'll just need a sea shell bra and a long wig. It's important to have a lot of hair as this will help cover the backpack straps that hold up the pirate.

Remove the lid of from your cooler.

We started with a huge cooler because we needed one that was deep enough for a mermaid to realistically sit it. To make the costume more manageable, the finished chest should be narrow enough to fit through a doorway.

Cut the Styrofoam cooler to size. Using a bread knife, cut the cooler in half. Determine how much of the Styrofoam you need to remove and cut equal amounts off either half. It helps to have a long straight edge and a marker to keep your lines straight.

Measure your mermaid's hips. Cut out a section of the cooler large enough for her to fit in. Be sure to leave enough room for her to walk but keep it fairly snug at the waist as this will help to hold up the finished costume.

Glue the cooler back  together with epoxy adhesive. Use masking tape to hold it together while the epoxy sets.

Add a lock and rim with cardboard and masking tape. Build a shelf for the loot to sit in and secure it with tape. Add drink holders by taping plastic beer cups to the chest.

Cover the entire chest with papier mache. We used newspaper strips dipped in white glue diluted with warm water.

Spray paint the edge and inside of the chest. We used two different colours of gold spray paint: "hammered metal"  for the rim and "gold leaf" for the inside.

Paint the rest of the chest with craft paint. We first painted it white and then brown before adding a faux bois effect with acrylic paints and details with markers.

Add some bling! Using a hot glue gun, glue down some mari gras beads and anything else you can find that sparkles. We also added some sea shells and glass beads.

Make belt loops. We used duct tape to connect the chest to the costume wearer's belt and hold it up.

Add a skirt. Using the lining from the mermaid tail dress, we added a piece of fabric to the underside of the chest's shelf. This can be tucked into the costume wearer's pants to keep loose treasure from falling out of the chest.

To keep the pirate's hand and hook on the treasure chest, attach a small piece of velcro to his hand. As glue wouln't hold the velcro to the fake hand, we sewed it on with a large curved upholstery needle and thick thread.

Glue the opposite piece of velcro onto the side of the treasure chest.

To keep the hook in place make a small incision in the side of the chest that it can slip into.

The pirate's hat can be glue to his head if pins won't keep it in place.

If necessary, cut the bottom of the pirate pants. Our mermaid is only 5'6" so she wore 6" platform boots to give the pirate a more credible height. To help cover the boots we cut slits in the bottom of the pants and then trimmed them so she wouldn't trip on them.

Fill the treasure chest with chocolate coins, Hershey's Kisses and gold wrapped condoms and go have a great time!