Tutu-torial

You may perhaps have a small child in your house who has a hankering for a tutu. If you are the sort of person who likes a little DIY project, or you (like me) cannot stand the nasty feel of the cheap cheap cheap fabric that passes for Disney Princess wear these days, then here are some directions for you. Supplies will cost you under $10. The project will take a little over an hour. The finished product will satisfy the most frilly of girly hearts, and will fit a child roughly ages 2.5-7. (Oh, yes, we are all about the long-wearing costumes here at the Time household.)

Supplies: 4 yards of 54" wide tulle, one spool of matching thread, 1 yard of 4" wide satin ribbon OR one package of satin blanket binding in a coordinating color, 1" wide elastic, the size of your child's waist plus 2". (Buy the blanket binding if you are going to follow the additional directions to make a top half of the dress to match the tutu. Just buy the ribbon if you only want to make a tutu.)

The tutu will look prettiest if you choose two shades of your desired color @ 2 yards each. Daughter, who has a hankering to be a "pink fairy princess" for Halloween, helped me choose a light pink and a dark pink.

First, fold one piece of tulle in half down its length, and smooth it flat on your cutting board, aligning the fold along a straight line on the board.

Next, measure the width of folded piece. Mine was 27". Then carefully cut down the entire length of the fabric, in a line that is 1/3 of this width (in my case, 9") away from the fold. This will produce three equal strips of tulle, 18" wide.

Do the same for the other piece of tulle.

Sew the short sides of each piece of tulle together, being sure to back tack at the beginning and ends of the seam (you won't be hemming these). You should now have six tubes of tulle.

Layer the tubes, one inside the other, in alternating colors, with the seamed side in. Important: the innermost tube should have the seam facing out, so that the tube is smooth against your little fairy's legs, since the raw seam can be prickly.

Pin through all six layers around the top of the tube, in enough places that the tulle won't slide away from you as you sew.

Sew a gathering stitch (a simple running stich on your machine, using the largest stich length) through all six layers around the top of the tube.

Cut a piece of satin seam binding 30" long. (This will depend a little on your child's measurements. You want it long enough to be too big for her hips. Something like 1.5 times the size of her waist should be about right.) Sew cut ends right sides together into a tube. Press seam open, then fold ribbon in half down its length and press.

Put four pins into the tutu top and the satin ribbon, marking each into quarters.


Gather tutu by pulling the bobbin thread of your gathering stitch. Tuck the gathered top of the tutu inside the folded satin ribbon, and adjust the gathers on the tutu so that they are evenly distributed around the satin ribbon. Pin in place. Stitch down.

Fold the top of the satin ribbon over the gathers, and sew 1/4" from the open edge to close waistband. Leave a 3" opening. Thread the elastic through the satin casing, keeping one end sticking out of the seam opening. Stitch together ends of elastic, overlapping one inch. Then stitch casing closed.

Voila! Tutu.


And it's really fun to wear -- for everything, including feeding the Dog!



Notes: For an older child, you could easily add two more layers of tulle to make the tutu fuller. You can make any kind of fanciful top you like to attach to this (or none at all). I spent about $4 on additional fabric to make the top part of the dress. Details of what I did, and a photo, coming sometime between now and Halloween. For now, it's my bedtime.