Making the Top
Gather your materials. To make Ariel’s top, you’ll need 4 components – 1 strapless purple bathing suit top (or bra or bandeau), 2 large seashells, and a swath of sheer purple fabric about the size and shape of a handkerchief. This is a very basic list and there are multiple ways to approach almost every element on it, so alternate options will be mentioned in each step. You can mix and match whatever works best for you to get your perfect Ariel costume. You’ll also need a sewing machine, purple thread, scissors, super glue, and light purple paint (lavender or lilac is the shade you want).
Sew the sheer purple fabric to the bottom of your purple strapless top. You can use a machine to do this or sew it by hand, whichever you prefer. Since it’s such a minimal amount of sewing, you could easily do it by hand if you wanted to. The sheer fabric is square-shaped, and you want one of the flat sides to be the part that gets sewn into the purple strapless top. After it’s sewn on, the sheer fabric should hang at approximately your waist, covering most of your stomach. Try it on to make sure it looks the way you want it to before proceeding. If everything looks good, set the top aside for now.
Obtain 2 seashells for the top. Ariel has 2 matching seashells on her top, one on each side. They are both approximately the size of your palm. You could do a perfectly fine Ariel costume without this element, but it’s a nice detail from the movie that will really set your costume apart. Skip ahead if you’re omitting the seashell element. To do the seashells, you can use actual seashells or a light purple felt fabric cut into seashell shapes. If you want to use real seashells, check out Amazon (or another similar site). You can order them this way, and the price is relatively low. You want the shells to be about the same size, so when placing your order make sure you note that to the seller. If you live near an ocean, you can always get your shells by making a trip to the beach. If you’re using fabric for the shells, get purple felt (if possible, a shade lighter than the rest of the top is).
Prep your shells. If you’re using real shells, you’ll need to paint them to be a light purple (lavender or lilac is the shade you want). Use acrylic paint, which you can obtain at any art supply store for quite cheap. Paint the front of each shell with the purple acrylic paint and lay them on an old towel to dry. Acrylic paint takes about 20-30 minutes to dry completely. If you are using fabric for shells, simply cut the shell shapes out at the size you want (about the size of your palm). You could also use purple spray paint for the shells. Feel free to add any additional elements you want to the shells. Some great ideas would be glitter, stick on rhinestones, additional painted details – whatever you like!
Affix your shells to the purple top. You’ll use super glue to do this, whether you’re adding real shells or fabric shells. Shells have a flat bottom and a fan-shaped top. Arrange your shells with the fan-shaped tops facing outward, toward each arm, and with the flat bottoms facing each other in the middle of your chest, so that each cup of your bathing suit is covered by a shell. Super glue dries in about 30 seconds and sets in 2 minutes. When you place the shell on the top, hold it down tightly in place for the full 2 minutes before going on to the next shell.
Making the Bottom
Gather your materials. To make Ariel’s tail and fins, you’ll need 1 large piece of green fabric and about a yard of shiny turquoise blue fabric. For the green fabric, you need a fabric that has some stretch to it. Spandex is a good choice. You’ll also need a sewing machine, green and blue thread, scissors, and about 12 inches of elastic.
Prep the green material for the tail. Lay out the green fabric on the ground and have a friend trace a mermaid tail around your body with a sharpie. When tracing around, make sure your friend draws the lines about 1 inch away from your body so that the final piece won’t fit too tightly. Cut the piece out of the fabric after the traced lines are drawn. You need 2 of these. Since you need two of these green pieces, you could save time and ensure the pieces are identical in size by fold the green fabric in half before you start. That way you can trace around your body and cut them both identically at the same time. When you lay down on the green fabric, you want to make sure you’re on top of it from the waist down only. The fabric needs to extend past your feet when you lay down. This is so the fins can be drawn. If you prefer, you can lay down on a large piece of paper and trace your body onto that. You'd then use that as a stencil with which to cut the fabric down to size.
Sew the 2 pieces of green fabric together. You want to sew the two together all the way around the tail, leaving only the top part open and unsewn for your waist. This is so you can slip it on once your costume is ready.
Create the fins. Take your green fabric and lay the end down on top of the shiny turquoise blue fabric. Trace around the bottom of the green fabric, where the fins are, onto the blue fabric. Then cut the fins out of the blue fabric. Sew the blue fabric on to the green.
Cut a split into the fins. Now you need to cut a split into the bottom of the tail so that you’ll be able to walk. Cut the split right up the middle of the fins, starting at the bottom, up to your knees. This creates an opening for your feet and bottom part of your legs, so that you can walk in the costume. You can cut the split just at the bottom of the fins, so it does not show your legs.
Sew the elastic band at the top of the fins. You’ll do this right where the green tail meets the blue fins. Sew it all the way around. This allows you to slip the costume bottom on, and the bottom of the tail will cling at the bottom, resembling Ariel’s tail.
Making The Bottom Option 2
Gather your materials. To make Ariel’s tail you’ll need 1 large piece of green fabric that has some stretch to it. Spandex is a good choice. Check out material intended for dancewear - you can find some really fun material, like a deep green fabric covered in green sequins and other sparkly things that would be great for Ariel. You’ll also need a sewing machine, green thread and scissors.
Wrap the green material around your waist. Adjust it until you have the ideal fit for you. Make sure that, once wrapped around your waist, the material extends beyond your feet by about 6 inches. Pull it close to your legs all the way down, stopping at your heels. You can stop at your calves rather than your heels if you want a costume that's a bit easier to move around in.
Pin the garment in place from the heel to the waist. Before pinning it, make sure it fits you exactly how you want it to. You now have the foundation of the tail there. The green material will drift out in front of your feet about 6 inches, with the material gathered in at the heels in the back, creating a tail fin effect.
Sew the garment together from the heels to the waist. You can keep the material on while you have a friend hand sew it all the way up, or you can take it off and use a sewing machine to stitch it together.
Completing the Costume
Get a wig with long red hair. Ariel’s hair is very long, red and wavy. You’ll want to style the hair to be tousled but pretty. Use bobby pins to secure it to your head. If you have a hard time finding one, you can definitely order one inexpensively on the internet. It would be cute to add some little embellishments in the hair, like small barrettes with starfish on them. You could also spray the hair lightly with the canned glitter made specifically for hair – it would be pretty and look like water droplets.
Do Ariel’s makeup look. You’ll want to use red lipstick in a shade almost identical to the red hair on the wig. That’s the most important element. You could also add glittery aqua eye shadow or face shimmer for a great Ariel vibe.
Add your finishing touches. There are so many things you can do for this – your imagination is the limit! Body glitter would be great for Ariel. Painting your fingernails a nice glittery shade of silver would be a great touch, as well!
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