My daughter wanted to be Ariel from The Little Mermaid this year.  I made the hair by knitting a stretchy hat and then weaving in strands of sparkly yarn.  The t-shirt was purchased, but I sewed purple seashells for the swimsuit top (it’s going to be cold here on Halloween so she needs plenty of warmth).  I downloaded an image of seashells and cut them from felt.

The mermaid tail was mostly hand-sewn from a sequined fabric. I had planned to use my sewing machine but the fabric contained a sticky substance that gummed up the needle and made the thread break.  I made a simple skirt with a knit fabric lining as the sequin material was quite thin.  I took measurements of her waist, hips and from waist-to-knee to determine the size of the skirt.  There is a stretch sequin black iridescent belt.  The tail itself is a straight apron that is tacked to the inside of the skirt but is longer so it drapes down in front.  The tail fins were attached the bottom edges of the apron.  I then stuffed a bit of polyester filling into the fins and bottom of the tail and sewed up ribs to make it more 3-dimensional.