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/

Step 1 What you'll need

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

Comments

[kwmermaid]

Thank you for the great idea!!! I made this a few weeks ago for Fantasy Fest here in Key West, FL. It was a HUGE hit!!! I must have had my picture taken 1000 times! Had so many guessing about the costume and how it was done. Your instructions were very detailed and made it easy to construct. A few alterations worked well for me...I used a cooler with handles and ran a swim noodle through the arms and across the neck. I secured the head into the noodle with wooden dowel pins which made the head very stable. I also cut a bungie cord in half and attached each half to the ends of the swim noodle. I could then hook the bungies into the handles of the cooler. This made carrying the 'treasure chest' a breeze and made it easier to remove for sitting or bathroom breaks! I stiched gloves to the costume sleeves and secured the bungie hooks to the palm of the gloves so the 'hands' stayed on the handles. This costume was a BLAST!!!!

[jmoniz1]

Everyone loved it. Thanks!

[ModMischief]

Fantastic! Your pirate looks very convincing.

[jmoniz1]

Thanks! The only thing is that I didn't have my hair covering the straps for this picture.

[atate5]

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for this.
Here's how mine turned out ... I won the costume contest at my neighborhood pub. If you were anywhere near Phoenix, I'd buy you a drink! :)

[ModMischief]

Congrats! Great job on the costume!

[irishpete5]

This was the best ever! It took a little bit of doing to get it all worked out well but in the end we won the costume contest at the annual Columbia Gorge Hotel Halloween party in Hood River Oregon. It was awesome how people on the dance floor would sneak up and touch the pirate to see if it was real. A tip on the top: We used a nude bandeau bra from Target and sewed a set of cheap foam seashells on that we dressed up with some sequins.

[ModMischief]

Well done! I love the green mermaid hair!

[aossai]

HAD SO MUCH FUN WITH IT

[Angntrav]

I'm looking for the pic's of how you cut out the shirt to the backpack, do you have any that you could submit? or give more step by step instructions of how you did this part? I'm to this step of making the costume but, I'm not for sure how to do this.

[ModMischief]

I don't have any photos of this step other than what is already posted.

Basically you want to make sure that you can glue the backpack to the dummy's body and not just the shirt because the shirt could stretch and not hold the weight.

When you know where you're placing the backpack, just cut out a hole in the shirt, glue the cut edges down so the hole doesn't get any bigger or shift and then load up the backpack with glue and stick it down.

Even with the backpack glued to the dummy, we still tied it together to make sure it didn't come apart or sag.

[Angntrav]

does the back pack need to be full size? i forgot to ask. i was just wondering because it seems very heavy without the dummy being attached.

[ModMischief]

As long as the backpack fits comfortably it shouldn't really matter. We used a fairly small backpack, there's no need for a really big camping pack.

[Angntrav]

okay thank you

[Daniel Deacon]

just seen this on the daily instructable and I must say it looks amazing, well done!

[D_mon]

THATS AMAZING! WOW. seriously well done!

[kenchato]

JAJA! It's Sooo COOOL! Great Instructable!

[ClaudiaRN]

loved making the costume, got much of it at a thrift store for a few bucks. Spray paint was the most costly item, and the coin candy. The rest I had in house...For the tail I used a fan of pool cover ( hard blue bubble wrap-like) and attached it to a necklace, so I could move it around for extra fun. I used knitted chains for effect too, one of which sent through the loops on the raincoat of the pirate, I pulled on them to keep him upright and also did a few little humping sessions for entertainment LOLOLOL by pulling on it a bit..

. Loved having such fun making and wearing.., wowed em! THANKS MODMISCHIEF, for giving me the base instructable to take off from!

[ModMischief]

Great job! It looks fantastic!
I'm sure the humping pirate was hilarious

[Wo0kiE]

I have to say, this is one of the more original and creative ideas for a costume I have seen...
well done!

[wonderrat2000]

Great instructions! Thanks for sharing.

I made this costume for Halloween this year, and of course it was a huge hit. I have a few tips for anyone who's thinking of trying it themselves:
1.) This should go without saying, but don't wait until the last minute on this one. From start to finish, it took up every spare minute I had for 10 straight days, plus I pulled an all-nighter the night before Halloween to get it done.
2.) I didn't know how to do the faux bois effect for the chest and wasn't able to find very detailed directions anywhere. I ended up painting the whole chest dark brown and after it dried, using a dish scrubber from the grocery store (not sure what to call it -- it was like a stiff, wiry sponge) to drag lighter brown paint along the sides, always working in the same direction. It took some effort to get it to look right, but I was surprised at how nicely it turned out.
3.) I tried to make two belt loops from duct tape and cardboard and stick them to the side where the styrofoam was cut away, like it shows in the picture. Within about 5 minutes, the duct tape had ripped away from the cooler. To fix it, I made belt loops out of twine that were long enough to reach my belt from various points inside the chest and duct taped them down really well. It worked great. They were all taped below the shelf, so they weren't visible when I was wearing the costume. I made about 6 of the twine belt loops in all.
4.) About 90 minutes before showtime, I discovered that the Velcro was worthless for keeping the pirate's hand on the chest. I guess I didn't get strong enough Velcro. I didn't want to glue the hand directly to the chest because it was easier to transport if I could completely separate the pirate from the chest, so I glued one of the bead necklaces down in just the right position so that I could slip the pirate's hand through the necklace and hold it up that way. The hand didn't sit flush against the side of the chest like I would have liked, but nobody commented on it.

[ModMischief]

Thanks for sharing your tips!
Using a dish scrubber with lighter brown paint sounds like a great way to make it look like wood. When we did it, I just eyeballed it and painted on knots and long strokes in various shades of brown.
I'd love to see photos of your finished costume!

[afridave]

arrr me hearties ,warms me to the very cockles of me art ,i needs a couple of them merry mermaids on this here good ship..Shiver me timbers arrrrr

great costume is what im actually trying to say.

[MrSalvador]

I want this costume, then a random pirate will carry me around.

[sojournerc]

This is a really awesome costume. Thanks for sharing your ideas! I made this for my 8-year-old daughter. She won the costume prize and got lots of compliments. Our version was sorta low-budget. Instead of making a body shell of duct tape, I used her school backpack. It has a handle that telescopes/extends. I taped an old pillow to the backpack handle for the pirate's torso, dressed it in a striped shirt and used a dress that buttons down the front instead of a trench coat (mostly to avoid adding too much extra weight). Originally we used a cardboard box that was cut and pasted into a treasure chest that fit around her waist, but later I discovered a basket we had on hand that worked better and looked nicer. We didn't have to cut it at all. I made the mermaid part of the costume so that she could take off the pirate part (it was kinda heavy and awkward) and play at the party.

All in all it turned out great. It was the best costume we saw all night. I think I spent about $25 or so on the whole deal, including the fabric that I purchased for the mermaid part of the costume. The only problem is, I have NO idea what we'll do for an encore next year!

[tbrunner34]

Any tips/advice on how exactly you did the Beltloops?

[ModMischief]

We folded over some duct tape so it was sticky sides together and then used more duct tape to secure it to the chest.

One of the problems with using duct tape is that it stretches out, so we had to replace the loops a couple of times.

Using a stiffer material might be a good idea, but the duct tape was what we had on hand and easy to fix.

[SweetDragonLady]

I'm using this as my costume this year! I saw it and just had to try it. I changed a few things, but it's still basically the same costume. I stuffed it with carved couch foam, used painted rubber gloves for hands, and changed the pirate into a skeleton biker. Also my mermaid will be waring a sweater-shall as the evenings around here get quite cold. I'll put up pics when I've got it complete. The only thing I have left to do bling my treasure chest and put it together.

[mrblu3]

Nice mermaids :)

[gedion4000]

YAR! now there be booty worthy of the finest pirate! i remember seeing something like this when i was a kid, it was a gorilla with a guy in a cage and i thought it was the most amazing costume. great job!!!!

[kenbob]

I especially love the foresight to include cup holders. Brilliant!

[kenbob]

well done! love it.

[goomy]

This is amazing, I'm totally doing this for next year!

[tbrunner34]

This is amazing!!! How did you end up attaching the tail to the chest??

[Pandy627]

If I remember correctly, it wasn't actually attached to the chest, but rather just was tucked into the pants.

[ModMischief]

Yup, the tail was just tucked in.

If your tail is too heavy or slippery to stay up that way you could tack the bottom to the treasure chest with a bit of hot glue.

[tbrunner34]

Thanks so much :)

[-chase-]

;0) - cool costume and fun to read blog site.

I've got to get to Burning man... definitly on the Lifes To Do List.

Happy Holloween to all,

- chase -

[TorBoy9]

A very creative and fun costume. I'll have to think of this technique for next year.

[pellepeloton]

Looks freaky cool,
after having a secong look I noticed that pirates hand skin colour does not match the face. Easy to fix with a bit of makeup.