Make a Child's Mermaid Costume

How many of you have a child that likes to pretend they are whimsical creatures? A few months ago, this little girl and I were Facetiming and she asked me to please make her a mermaid costume for her birthday. I can never turn down such a request-- especially from a grandchild. So I whipped out my favorite mermaid pattern and got to work! 

When I was visiting her family in Australia, they took me to the beach for several days and I had a chance to photograph her as Seaena the mermaid. She made-up a story of her life off the coast of Australia and how she and her mermaid baby liked to sit on the rocks and sunbathe.

It's always nice to have a fun story to go along with your costume. Such imaginations! 

To make this mermaid costume, I used the following two patterns: 

Butterick #5597, I liked the top of this mermaid pattern. I used the pattern piece to make the scallop shells-- only my granddaughter wanted orange shells, so these were made out  of an orange taffeta. I also liked the idea of sewing these onto a ready made, nude, long sleeve leotard. 

To make the mermaid skirt, I used the pattern from Simplicity #8198. The spandex fabric I used had wonderful fish looking scales. It was really easy to sew on. I purchased my fabrics and the leotard from Onstage Dancewear. They are a family owned dance store that custom makes dance outfits. They have an amazing assortment of fabrics for costumes.

To make the crown, I used some ivory lace that I already had. I sewed it together to form a circle. Then with hot glue, I added seashells of various sizes. The final touch was to hand sew a few pearl-looking beads onto the lace. 

With the leftover fabric, I surprised my granddaughter and made her a costume for her American Girl doll. I had plenty of fabric leftover to make three more additional doll mermaid costumes. 

Here's a close-up of the doll's mermaid crown, which looks very similar to the child's crown. The only difference was I used the smaller shells on the doll crown.

My favorite part of this costume was walking to the beach with my little mermaid. It was fun to hear the comments she got and to hear my granddaughter exclaim, "Grandma, did you hear how much they like my mermaid costume?!" Yes, I did hear and I'm so happy I could witness her joy at the beach!  

xoxo Grandma