This year for Halloween, my fiance and I decided to go as Sharkboy and Lavagirl from the 2005 film The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl. Okay, okay - I was the one who decided our costumes. Sorry Randy, but I am the Creative Director of this relationship. It’s who I am!
This is not the first (or last!) time I would be making our costumes for my favorite holiday. As always, I knew I wanted to thrift, upcycle, and DIY as much of this costume as possible. I knew I would need to buy a few things to complete these looks, but turned to our closets first for a starting point. Luckily, I had just done a closet purge and had a whole rack of things to donate or sell on Poshmark. One of them happened to be a now-too-big hot pink knit dress I thrifted in college. I didn’t love the texture of the knit fabric, but found both the lining and the reverse side of the fabric to be a great starting point. When it comes to upcycling, don’t be afraid to look at things from a different perspective!
Looking into my fiance Randy’s closet, I noticed he had a black faux-leather quilted sweatshirt I bought him years back that he had never worn. The texture reminded me of scales, and using it as a base for his outfit would give it a purpose. A simple black base using items he already owned would be best, and I decided to put my creativity into making a vest top and accessories for him.
Going into my fabric stash, I pulled out all of the materials I had that might be useful. This is always a great starting point when creating something new, as it allows me to think about the potential of things I already have. I had some scraps of flame fabric, random pieces of hot pink cotton, about a yard of a black and grey knit jacquard, stretchy pink sequin trim, and plenty of pink thread. I decided the only materials I really needed would be some felt sheets to create the details on the Sharkboy vest, and some more black thread.
I started with my Lavagirl costume by cutting the old dress apart at the waist. This made it easy for me to separate the lining layer, which is what I wanted for the bodice. I decided a two-piece set would be the best way to create the outfit without needing to install additional closures. I draped the bodice on my dress form, and created room for an asymmetrical panel at the front. I ultimately decided that the flame-printed fabric scrap would make a great base for the center panel, to create the recognizable lava-flow streak Lavagirl is known for. I sewed the panel in to the front of the bodice, sewed up the center back, and fit it to myself. Thankfully the knit fabric was forgiving, and there were already shaping seams along the bust from the original garment.
For the skirt, I traced the outline of a skirt I recently tailored to fit me well. On the thick knit fabric, I knew I wouldn’t need additional seams or darts. The skirt base was relatively straight forward, with two side seams and a center back seam. I wanted to use the fabric from the dress in the most efficient way possible without having to add other materials. I serged the skirt panels together, and made adjustments to fit my body perfectly. It had been a while since I wore a fitted bodycon skirt, but I thought it looked really clean and was happy with the fit after minimal tweaks.
I wanted to add depth to this costume, as the solid hot pink lacked character to me. Taking inspiration from stage and movie costumes, I decided to add surface shading to the garments. This would help the outfit look even more dimensional, as well as giving it more of a “scorched from lava” appearance. I happened to have black sprayable fabric dye from a tie dye phase I went through last year. After wrapping my mannequin in a protective layer and mustering up the strength to irreversibly paint the garments I spent so much time creating, I went outside and began the process. In the fleeting golden hour light after an 8-hour work day, the deed was done. The black looked a little harsh while wet, but dried quickly and became lighter. After a few hours, I was beaming with pride and pleasantly surprised that my idea had worked. The shading added so much dimension to the outfit, and made it look more like a costume - as intended.
I shifted focus away from Lavagirl - who was shaping up nicely - to work on Sharkboy. He was the main character, after all! I layed out the black and grey knit jacquard fabric I found in my stash. It had potential, but the black was too harsh. The angular pattern reminded me of scales, but looked too modern and graphic for this application. Taking a note from what I had created this far, I flipped the fabric over, et voila! A textural grey base suitable for Sharkboy’s iconic shark tooth vest. I used one of Randy’s shirts as a pattern, and cut the vest to have the curved high-low hem of the original character. The jacquard fabric cut nicely with no need to finish the edges. The base for both costumes were complete, and now only the details remained.
I had to run a few errands to get the remaining pieces for our looks. On the list were grey and white felt sheets, something to use as arm cuffs, pink hair extensions, and a pink turtleneck shirt. Thanks to Hobby Lobby, Goodwill, the Halloween store, and Out of the Closet respectively, I found all the missing pieces. I cut shark teeth and other details from the felt sheets, hot glued them together as needed, and sewed them on to the grey vest. I made shark fins from the scraps, being careful to create as little waste as possible. The arm cuffs for both outfits were easy - Sharkboy’s being made from more grey felt and the knit jacuard, and Lavagirl’s being made from thrifted elbow-length gloves with the hand portion cut off. I created smaller details as I went along from more felt scraps and hot glue. Things were shaping up nicely, but there was still one thing to finish.
Up until this point, I had not finished the cut edges on my hot pink Lavagirl set. I was hoping I wouldn’t need to, but the fabric was starting to unravel and look messy. Thankfully, I had an entire spool of hot pink stretch sequin trim I got at a yard sale many years ago. I actually had this trim in several colors, as the person having the sale formerly owned a dancewear company. The stretchiness of the trim worked in my favor and made it easy to zig-zag stitch to the two-piece knit outfit. I used the trim around the neckline, armhole, and waist of the bodice, as well as the hem of the skirt, and openings on the arm cuffs. I left the waist of the skirt unfinished, as I knew I would be wearing a pink belt of some variety, and didn’t want to create additional bulk or irritation points underneath of it. The trim was definitely a little costume-y, but that’s okay! I liked this sparkly Lavagirl update, it felt very on-brand for my maximalist self.
With the addition of a pink belt bag, thrifted hot pink tights and turtleneck, pink hair extensions, and metallic pink boots, Lavagirl was ready for her debut. Sharkboy was lucky to be wearing a more covered look, as it was quite cold here in Ohio on Halloween. I opted to add a pink hat and gloves set I had on-hand when we left the house for additional warmth. The night was only average, mostly spent waiting in long lines for overpriced drinks and to use the bathroom. But the company and the costumes were fantastic, and the creative outlet for me is ALWAYS worth it. I am so proud of the work I put into every project I tackle, and these costumes were no exception. And as always, I am thankful to have someone so willing to be the Sharkboy to my Lavagirl <3
I even made my first TikTok while making these costumes! Check it out!
