I'd never made a ruffle before, but I liked the idea of making a skirt that my daughter could wear beyond Halloween. I bought a ruffler foot off of Amazon to play with (what a headache that turned out to be), and eventually learned how to make a ruffle by hand (pretty easy!). Once you get the hang of things, it really is a 30-minute skirt. I even made a 2nd!
Unfortunately, she decided that the best way to wear this skirt was to hike it up around her waist and show the world that she is potty trained. So... I added a panel of fabric in front (between her legs and the skirt) and also attempted to make a pair of "finned" leggings that she could have as a backup/supplement to the skirt. I was really proud of myself for sewing my first skirt AND pants, but the pants turned out to be more like something you might pair with a flower costume and didn't get used.
I was Flounder: Yellow shirt with blue felt spikes sewn down the back and stripes hot-glued on, with a felt & hotglue headband. My husband was Prince Eric: white shirt, blue jeans, work boots & red fabric tied around waist... and a short wig because, like Disney princesses, Disney princes always have full, flowing manes of hair. My mother-in-law also participated, dressing as another mermaid with a 2nd skirt that I pulled together.
Of course, by the time Halloween came around (a week after her costume party birthday), she was over Ariel. Here's some of what she cycled through on Halloween:
