Over the weekend, my friends and I threw a pre-Halloween party.

We made delicious homemade pizza…

 …sewed our mermaid fins (don’t mind my messy sewing desk!)…

  and watched the movie Casper … one of my all-time favorite Halloween movies from my childhood!!

 I just love the end of the movie, when Casper is allowed to get his body back, for only a few hours. Awww!! If you want a sweet/scary/sad/happy halloween movie for this year’s party…watch it!

(don’t mind my blank walls…still decorating!)

Now, here’s the tutorial for those fins we made…. 

My friend Ali asked if I would help him sew these mermaid fins. While that video was helpful, I thought if I broke down the steps for you (we did some things slightly different) through pictures, it would expedite the fin-making process :).

 Supplies:

1. At least 4 different colors of tulle, in various shades of green/aqua/blue. Choose one color to be a silvery-shimmery scale that we’ll put on top (See step #10). You’ll need approximately 1.5-2 yards of tulle per color.
2. Elastic, enough to loosely wrap around each ankles, plus 1 inch just in case.

 Directions:

1. measure elastic to loosely fit around ankles, overlapping .5 inches
2. sew a few short lines on the overlapped area
3. depending on what shoe you use, you might need to trim the tulle shorter, but his can be done after you’ve sewn it on.
4. on one end of the tulle, grab a square of fabric and pinch it together so it bunches
5. sew onto elastic. ** It’s important to sew each piece on individually, instead of just sewing a straight line around the elastic, as doing so will not allow the elastic to stretch.**
6. don’t worry about being perfect. You just want it to have volume so it flairs out (see picture above) instead of lying flat
7. repeat, leaving a small gap between bunches on the elastic, for other colors to be sewn on
8. repeat steps 4-6 until all the tulle is sewn on, and looks like this (see pic below)
9. trim off any excess thread

      10.  measure the length of your silvery tulle to match the length your fin, cut the silver tulle into various “tear-drop” sizes (these will be your “scales”), and sew as a top layer to your fins, spacing them slightly so you can see the shades of the other colors peeking through:

There you go! Shimmery, scale-y fins for your mermaid costume. More pictures to come, after we wear our costumes to a friends haunting Halloween party next weekend …!

hugs, hanalei.