Quick and Simple Tutu

bella and i worked on a little project last week that we thought you might be interested in!

(well…i worked…and Bella just emptied out my sewing kit!)

here’s what we made:

A Quick and Simple Tutu

my niece, Emma Grace, (you might remember her from here and here) turned 1 this past weekend. we were super sad that we couldn’t make the trip up to Chicago to celebrate with her, but we wanted to make something special to send her way. Being that they are die-hard Steelers fans, we created a black and yellow tutu, so she could sport her team’s colors!

want the “How-to?” i’m thinking that this could make for a quick and inexpensive Halloween costume too!

for the record…once again, this is certainly not an original idea. google away, and you’ll find about 164,000 results for homemade tutus. but i learned some things along the way, so here’s my quick tutorial!

i used two (6 in wide) spools of tulle and about 18 inches of elastic.

NOTE: i was making a tutu for a 1 year old, so the length of each piece ended up at 15 inches once i cut them on both sides (keep reading to see what i mean.) but when i attached them via slip knot, that length was cut in half (cause with a slip knot, you double the tulle over itself…keep reading to see how to do a slip knot)…making the length of the finished tutu more like 7 inches (taking into consideration also the slip knot) anyway, if i were to make another tutu, for an older child, i would need my length to be longer. so say i wanted my tutu length to be around 15 inches once done. it’d be easier to make my board 15 inches long and cut only one side (leaving me with 30 inch pieces) so once i doubled it and tied them on, it’d be more like 15 inches in length. make sense?? i think i just confused myself. anyway…just figure out what end length you want your tutu to be, and make sure your tulle pieces are double that, however you end up cutting them.
on my second color of tulle, i figured out a much easier way to wrap it:

(or at just one end…depending on how you decide to do it!)

here’s a step by step of how to do a slip knot.

for step 1, fold your piece of tulle in half, then drape over elastic. steps 2-4 are self explanatory.

when pulling your knot tight (step 4), make sure that your elastic isn’t twisting around (like mine did in the pic). if you keep it straight, the finished tutu will lay better and not twist all over the place.

keep knotting on your tulle pieces and scooching them together until you have your tutu as full as you’d like. i used over 2/3 of my tulle, but i wanted my tutu to be really full, since it was so short. if i were making it longer, i probably wouldn’t knot on that many (although if its longer pieces, i would probably be using more tulle overall. keep that in mind when purchasing supplies…you might need a 3rd roll if its a long tutu)

we made a onesie to match, using the felt monogramming technique.

Bella graciously modeled for me, even though the outfit was multiple sizes too small! (well…i might’ve bribed her with cookies, but still…)

i feel like there are so many more tips that i’m supposed to tell you, but my brain is fried, and a few minutes ago when i finally finished this post and tried to post it on blogger, my entire computer shut down, not saving all of my work. so needless to say, i’m really ready to get this thing done! so if i’ve confused you a whole lot, and if you have questions, leave them in the comments section and i’ll get back to ya!

and, because i just have to get it off my chest, and i don’t want you all thinking that i am living in denial…i need to just say that i am well aware that my Beloved Florida Gators are struggling big time this year. although we had a blast this past weekend back in G-ville, i still am reeling over our homecoming loss. did you know…the last time that the Gators lost 3 games in a row was in 1988?? we’re talking 13 years, people!! its a sad year for my team!

missin’ Tebow,