When I asked her what she wanted to be for Halloween, she surprised me and said Ariel. I wasn’t expecting that because she lost interest in her several years ago. So it was a pleasant surprise for me. I started imagining making Ariel’s pink ball gown with layers and layers of skirts. I had all these grand ideas in my head. But she said “no” just the mermaid version. Oh…
I spent a good bit of time sifting through patterns online and searching Pinterest but I wasn’t really inspired by anything. But that’s probably because I knew I already had the perfect pattern, I just needed to use a little imagination to achieve my vision. The Faryn’s Formal Gown from CKC Patterns ( https://ckcpatterns.com/faryns-girls.html ) had all the elements I needed. The extremely low skirt for the tail and a lovely bodice line to represent the seashells while still being a modest one piece dress.
I made a few modifications to the bodice of the dress. To create Ariel’s seashells, I created a colorblock to both the front and back bodices. The pieces are cut on the fold and I drew my cut lines slightly at an angle, creating a v shape when opened up. I added seam allowance to both the top and bottom pieces. Then I sewed them together. The subtleness of the v was easy to navigate when stitching, so no worries there.
After the dress was finished, I wanted to draw the center of the purple together more. I added a very thin strip of elastic vertically in the center on the inside of the bodice, making sure that it was only on the purple part. Using matching thread, I stretched the elastic tight and stitched it down.
At this point I still felt like it was missing something. After digging through my drawers, I found a bag full of pearl beads left over from last year’s genie costume. I strung the beads on a string long enough to go along the front, top edge. Then I hand stitched the bead string to the bodice by slip stitching the thread between each bead to the dress. Since it didn’t have any stretch to it after sewing it on, I only added the beads to the front that way she could still get into it.
To finish the costume, I bought a red wig and tiara (because she says that even the mermaid version of Ariel needs a crown) on Amazon and… One happy girl… I mean mermaid!!
