For her second birthday, I made Grace a tutu. It is one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen.

A Special Birthday Skirt

You know we’re anti-princess around here, but I thought a tutu would be a perfect dress up piece. Tutus are all about imagination and whimsy. Tutus can work for ballerinas or fairies or special birthday girls.

Worn for about three minutes, never to be put on again

It was the perfect project for a momma who was injured and lying on the couch. It’s very simple and most of it can be done while lying down.

Homemade Tutu

Materials

• Tulle – I used about 10 yards of tulle, sold by the yard. You could get rolls of 4″ or 6″ tulle, but I couldn’t find any. I allowed Grace to choose her colors, and she picked purple and yellow. I bought 5 yards white, 3 yards purple, and 3 yards yellow, but if I was starting over, I’d just do half purple and half yellow. The white diluted my colors more than I would have liked.
• A length of 1/2 inch elastic or ribbon
• Spools of matching grosgrain ribbon (I omitted mine at the last minute because Grace hates her tutu, but if she decides to like it some day, I’ll add them.)

Measure Your Child

1. Waist – If you’re going to use elastic, cut a length of 1/2″ elastic that is 2 inches shorter than your child’s waist. If you’re using ribbon, you will need to cut her waist measurement plus 2 feet or so, enough to tie the tutu onto her body.
2. Waist to knee – This one is simple. How long do you want the skirt to be? I think Grace might have hated her tutu less if it was shorter. I’m thinking about cutting it off at the bottom.

Instructions

1. Joe did this part for me. Cut the tulle into strips that are 4″ to 6″ inches wide and twice the finished skirt length. I made my tutu 18″ long, so my strips needed to be 4″ by 36″ wide. I had more strips than I thought I’d ever need. That’s just about the right number.
2. If you’re using elastic, overlap the ends and sew. I couldn’t use my sewing machine, so I did it by hand. I would have preferred my machine. No matter.
   
3. Grab 3 pieces of tulle and stack it nicely.
   
4. Fold it in half. Loop the center point under your waistband
   
   then pull the ends down over the waistband and tuck them into the loop. Pull the ends so that the top makes a loose knot.
   
   
5. If you pull the knot too tight, it will curl and stretch the elastic, be difficult to work with, and need to be loosened later. I’m just saying.
   

   Good. Not too tight and not too loose.

   

   Too tight. I had to pull these all out a bit.

6. Repeat that process another thirty or thirty-five times. I started out with a pattern, but I abandoned it in favor of whatever looked nice. I ended up with 38 knots, and my tutu is sufficiently fluffy.
   
7. If you’re going to use ribbons, you can tie them over top of the tulle in the same way. Alternately, you can tie them in shoelace-type knots over top of the tulle. Either way would look nice and leave long tails hanging down in the tulle.
8. That’s it. Your tutu is finished.
9. I considered a waistband to finish off the top and make the whole thing less scratchy. I also considered gluing some little flowers or some glitter onto some of the pieces. I’m not doing either of these things since Grace hates her tutu, but I might some day.

Alternate uses for a homemade tutu

If your husband spends two hours cutting tulle, and then you spend four or five hours tying knots in tulle, and your child refuses to even put her feet in her tutu, you will find alternate uses.

• Tulle makes nice scrubbies for the shower. I didn’t take it apart. I’m hoping that some day, she’ll change her mind.
• All of those panels would work nicely for dusting knick-knacks.
• You can play peek-a-boo with a tutu around your neck.
  

Project Cost

• I bought tulle at 99 cents a yard.
• I bought two small rolls of ribbon, each for 99 cents.
• I had elastic in my sewing stash already.
• Total cost – Under $13

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