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Thursday, October 10, 2013

Long & Lovely DIY Tutus

DIY Tulle Tutu Tutorial

Get a catalog look for a bargain price

While this tutorial is originally meant to accompany a witch costume, the materials and process can be used to make a tutu for any occasion: princess, ballerina, or fairy parties... or just regular ol' dress-up! Just choose your favorite colors and follow the directions below!


My girls decided they wanted to be witches (specifically, scary witches) this year for Halloween, and I had a lot of fun putting together these costumes. This tutorial shows how I made their tutus, which ended up costing less than $10/each. I wanted them to be long and full, so if you shorten the length and spread out the strips, you could easily make one for even less! I let the girls pick out their colors for the skirts, and they were thrilled with how they all came together. Their vision came to fruition... because really, what's scarier than a witch in a tutu? ;)



And here's how I did them (p.s. everything is NO-SEW except for the elastic. If you don't want to sew that either, I would get a thin elastic and tie a double knot to close it):

Materials for DIY Witch Tutu Skirt 

  • Rolls of tulle (anywhere from 50-75 yards total; probably 3-4 rolls depending on how many colors you want. I got some at Hobby Lobby and some at Joanns. The sparkly tulle is more expensive and you get less yardage, FYI. So of course, that's what the girls wanted. I told them they could pick one sparkly each, but I compromised with B2 so she got two sparklies.)
  •  Black 1" Elastic (I needed about 18" for my 4 year old and 19" for my 5 year old so I got one package and had plenty leftover.)

 

Instructions for DIY Witch Tutu Skirt


  • Cut your elastic according to size. To get the right size, measure your little one's waist and then subtract roughly 2 inches. This allows for some stretch and ensures the tutu won't fall down when she's wearing it.
  • Sew your elastic closed. The best method I have found to do this is to basically sew a rectangle over the part where the two ends overlap. That give you a really strong closure.
  • Cut your tulle to length. The easiest way to do this it to wrap your roll around a scrap of cardboard that is cut to your desired length (pics are below). Wrap-wrap-wrap until you're done, and then it's easy to cut across so that all your pieces are the same length. Make sure you only cut one side!!! I made the mistake of cutting from both sides the first time, and I wasted a bunch of material :( Repeat this wrapping and cutting step for each of your colors. Then lay each pile of tulle so it is accessible

    FYI: {Sizes I Used: I wanted an 18" skirt for my 4 year old and a 22" skirt for my 5 year old. In total, I cut 54 36" strips for my 4 year old-pink/orange skirt; I cut a total of 62 44" strips for my 5 year old-purple/black skirt}
  • Place your elastic band on a steady, round object. I used vases for mine because it was the only thing I could find that was roughly the right circumference. This helps hold it in place for the next steps.
  • Determine your color pattern, and start adding the strips! The pics below show the method I used. Continue until you reach the desired fullness of your tutu.


  •  

    And that's it! It's amazing how truly simple this project is.







    As you can see from the pics, I also spruced the costumes up with some inexpensive accessories that you can read about here. Also, here's my tutorial on the black fleece DIY Witch Capes.


    Happy Halloween season!
    Featured by:



    Made in a Day
    craftionary
    Savvy Southern Style
    nap-time creations

11 comments:

  1. How fabulous and cute is this. The girls are adorable. I would love for you to link up to Inspire Me this afternoon. Party goes live at 2:30 PT. www.astrollthrulife.net Hope to see you there. Hugs, Marty

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  2. Absolutely adorable!! I'm hosting a pillow covers giveaway that you should enter! http://homecomingmn.blogspot.com/2013/10/pillow-covers-giveaway.html

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  3. SOOOOO cute! They look really professional and I love all the colors you used. thanks so much for linking up to Tasteful Tuesdays. You were featured today! I spread the word around the web, feel free to re-share one or more of my social medial posts :o grab a featured button from my sidebar too! Emily@nap-timecreations

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    1. Thanks Emily! Very excited! Can't wait to grab a button :) Have a great weekend!

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  4. These are adorable, shared on Facebook. I'm visiting from Kim Savvy Southern Style!

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  5. Stopping by to let you know I featured you today in my Spooktacular Linky Features! Have a great weekend!
    Kim

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    1. Thanks so much, Kim! I love checking out your Spooktacular Features this month and am psyched to be one of them this week!!!

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