I try to make or customize my daughters costume each year, I love for her to feel special and stand out from the crowd. This year she asked to be Ursula, she loves villains. All in all the costume cost about $50 (thanks Joanns for all the coupons!) and was a massive success at Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. I do have to go in and do some repairs before Halloween night, maybe riding Big Thunder Railroad was a mistake?

Supplies

Dress
Black Fabric Dye (if dress is another color)
Black Fabric (I used 3/4 yard)
Purple Fabric (I used 3/4 yard)
Black & Purple Tulle (1/4 yard)
1/2 yard Blue/Green Fleece or Felt
1/4 yard Navy Fleece or Felt
1 square of White Felt
1 square of Black Felt
Stuffing
Crafting Wire
1 pkg of Plastic Eyes (package of 12 at Dollar tree)
A Seashell
Leather Cording
Rit Synthetic Dye - Yellow
Battery Operated Purple String Lights
Balloon LED White Lights

Step 1: Dress & Tentacles

First, living in Florida it was important to make sure that the costume would be lightweight so she wouldn't have heat stroke. I started with a hand-me-down dress that was not attractive at all. After dying it black and cutting off the shoulder straps I had my base.

For the tentacles, I measured from my daughters waist to the floor and doubled the length since they would be curling around her. To get the width of the tentacles, I measured the circumference and divided it by 8 and got the base width of each tentacle. As for the top width I just eyed it and decided on 2 1/2". I drew a template out and began cutting. I brought the dress to Joanns to match the black material as best as I could and found a wonderful (and expensive) cosplay fabric that was purple and bumpy. It turned out to be a great decision for the underside of the tentacles. Next I had crafting wire that I cut to double the length of each tentacle folded in half and placed in the front 4 tentacles (originally I was going to do all 8 but since we were doing Mickey's Halloween Party at Magic Kingdom I decided to under stuff the back tentacles and tack them up so she could go on rides and sit down). After the wires were in place I stuffed all 8 pieces. The front 4 are fully stuffed and the back 4 are under stuffed to accommodate for sitting. To attach them to the dress I sewed them onto a strip of sturdy black felt and sealed them. Before attaching them to the dress I took a string of battery operated lights and tulle and sewed it to the same strip as the tentacles. I tucked the battery pack into one of the tentacles in the back so it was hidden and secure but still able to turn on and off. Next came sewing them onto the dress itself, probably the most difficult part. I then shaped and twisted the tentacles one by one and tacked them in place, utilizing 2 of the back ones as shoulder straps to keep the dress up.

Step 2: Flotsam & Jetsam / Necklace

For Flotsam and Jetsam I made them from inexpensive fleece and felt. The length was 24" long and 6" tall. I cut the blue/green fleece in a sort of oval shape. I used black felt for the mouth and gills and white felt for the teeth and were sewed on before piecing the two sides together. I then used the navy fleece for the fins by cutting the fleece to about 18" long and sandwiching it between the two body pieces together inside out. Then sewing the three pieces together leaving a part of the bottom open to turn right side out and for stuffing. Once turned the right way I cut the navy fabric to be ragged and short. The eyes came from the dollar tree and I cut them in half. For the 2 yellow eyes I dyed them so they had the proper color ( I used Rit Synthetic dye). The white eyes are sewn on completely and the yellow are only sewed on the bottom half, allowing me to pop it out from under the eyelid and put a light in so it glows. The eels were then under stuffed and sewed onto the tentacles.

The necklace was a challenge. In the end I used a real shell that I carefully drilled a hole in the back of that is large enough to fit the light into and I sealed the hole up with white playdough. The leather cord is simply superglued to the shell. The lights I used in the eyes and necklace are battery powered led white balloon lights.