Plus Size Costume: Ursula - Cheap & Easy DIY

Plus-Size Halloween

Halloween choices for us plus-size ladies are still a little meagre but slowly seem to be getting better. We still have to put a little more effort into finding our perfect plus size costume but at least options do exist.

There are some great bloggers who have for years already shown some amazing costumes on their blogs and also have this year put together some great resources.

Betty Pamper has recently writen a great article giving you 5 tips how you can ace your costume – including how and where you can obtain some awesome options.
Georgina from She Might Be Loved is always a great place to find awesome make-up ideas and also some great costumes.

One of Georgina’s awesome costumes this year was a great take on Ursula from Disney’s Little Mermaid. The costume was available at website based in the USA, that also does some other great plus size costumes. The Ursula costume, unfortunately, has now sold out.

Halloween Is Almost Here

If you are like me, you keep putting finding your Halloween costume off and off, and before you know it is almost Halloween. By that time you are either too broke to order a great costume and/or the ones you do find are either sold out or do take too long to arrive.

So, if you are in need a last minute solution, but still would like to channel your inner Ursula , fret not, I have a great alternative for you.

Last Minute Plus Size Costume – But Not Less Awesome

This Ursula costume is super easy to make and mainly using cheap items and or items you might already own.

All the items can be ordered with next day delivery by following the links should you really be under time pressure.

All you need is:

a black peplum dress – get it here (or any other black peplum dress)
a belt
some black fabric – get it here
some purple fabric – get it here
an Albert Einstein Wig – get it here
a snail shell (Aquarium decoration) – get it here
Pillow/Toy Stuffing
- kitchen roll, toilet paper, cotton balls or whatever other stuffing materials you can find her
a bit of string
optionial: some stiff but bendable wire, if you want to be super-cool.
optional: leggings/bolero if you like and want to save on the purple body paint

Step 1 – Mark The Shape Of Your Tentacles

Sewing the tentacles is really easy, although I would recommend using a sewing machine if you have access to one.

Pick a marker that you will be able to see on your fabric and mark on the inside of your fabric the shape of your tentacles as large triangles. I personally found it the easiest to decide how wide I wanted the tentacles to be at the top and then to start marking said width on one side of the fabric with always with 3cm space in between. Then do the same on the other side, making the first mark in the middle of the first tentacle marking of the other side and then keep going on this side (see image below).

Once you are done you can simply start connecting the marks across the fabric and there you have the shape of your tentacles.

Step 2 – Sew Your Tentacles

Secure both fabrics and make sure you have the side you want to show on the outside, on the inside and sew along the markings you have just made. Once you are done just cut the tentacles apart by cutting along the 2-3 cm space you have left between them and *boom* there you have are your (limp) tentacles.

Step 3 – Filling The Tentacles

Now you only need to turn the tentacles inside out and fill them, using the toy filler you have bought or any other filling material. I actually used kitchen roll as I was a little desperate when I made it and that was all I had, but it worked fine. So you can use kitchen roll, toilet paper, cotton balls or whatever else you have around and think works best for you. Make sure you leave about 10-15 cm for fixing them on the belt.

If you want to make the supercool you can add some bendable wire along the tentacle and then you can bend them in shape when you were them, but they also look awesome without this.

Step 3 – Finishing Off The Tentacle Belt

You are almost done with the tentacles. Just take the top of the tentacle that you have left unfilled and roll/fold it over and either sew it in place or fix it with safety needles. As I had filled it with kitchen roll I wanted to keep the option open to maybe reopen them one day and fill them with the proper filling material.

Once you have created the loop, slide the belt through the loops of the tentacles then space them out and you have your tentacle belt. When you hold the belt they will all bunch together but you can space them out once you wear it.

Step 4 – Put Your Tentacles On

Here it becomes obvious why you need a peplum dress, next to them looking awesome at any time, the peplum bit is perfect for hiding the tentacle belt. So grab your tentacle belt and fasten it tight enough to stay in place and to keep the tentacles in place but also loose enough so that you can adjust the position of the tentacles.

Once you have made this far, the largest part is done.

Step 5 – The Snail Shell Necklace

At the time I made this costume I ordered a big snail shell from the aquarium decoration section on Amazon. This specifc large shell does unfortunately not seem to be available anymore, but there are multiple sea shell selections available and I am sure there are going to be some nice snail shells in there.

Carefully drill a hole into the shell. I did it by hand, using a drill bit. Slowly but surely I drilled through it by turning the drill bit manually. I was a bit worried, using a power drill might break the snail shell, especially as I only had the one shell available.

You will need two holes – one on either side. Feed the string through the hole and knot the end of the string until it is bigger than the holes. Et voilà – you have your necklace holding Arielle’s voice!

If you happen to have the right shells and the time you could get even another step closer to perfection and look and consider making some seashell earrings. All you need is glue, some old drop earrings, which you are happy to recycle. Select suitable shells (see image below) and just glue the seashells onto the old drop earrings or attach via a hole you drill through the shells similar to what you will have done to create the necklace. It won’t last forever but will look great for an evening.

Ursula - Makeup & Earrings - Close Up for Halloween Ursula Makeup — Source

Step 6 – Ursula Makeup

With the make-up is where the real transformation begins. The Ursula makeup is easier than one would expect. Tutorial & Products Used DIY Ursula Makeup - Disney Villain Costume - Ursula

What I used:

Purple Base – Snazaroo Body Paint
Dramatic Blue Eyeshadow – Barry M Dazzle Dust Electric Blue
Dramatic Grey Eyeshadow – Barry M Dazzle Dust Petrol Black
Draw Eyebrows & Beauty Mark – Black Kajal
Red Lips – No7 Stay Perfect Pillarbox
Dramatic Eyelashes – Dramatic Falsies

The most important points are, the eyebrows are very very high, so use the charcoal dazzle dust to conceal your eyebrows (if you do not want to go so far as to use the glue trick). A strong electric blue for the eyeshadow is key as much as the dramatic red lip.

And most importantly don’t forget the beauty spot – and don’t mix up the sides like I did the first time! The spot is on Ursula’s right.

There are some great YouTube tutorials. Simply search for Ursula make-up and you will be spoilt for choice.

Step 6 – The Nails

The longer the nails the better. Ultimately your want to create proper witch nails, seawitch nails to be specific. Therefore I got some Long Red Nails from Amazon to simply glue on. But if you don’t want to be limited in your movements by having insanely long nails you can obviously just use some red nail polish instead.

Step 6 – The Hair

The final and easiest step – take the Albert Einstein wig and comb all the hair upwards. Put the wig on, hide your own hair under it and give the wig a last comb upwards.

Hello Ursula

The great thing about this costume is that it can also be dressed up or down for the occassion. Wear an officewear peplum dress for day occassion or use a mini or low cut dress if you want to turn it into a sexy costume. Depending on your personal taste you can also add leggings or a cardigan and wear it wither with ballerinas or high heels. It is completely up to you.