It’s been a while since I’ve done a tutorial, but with Halloween right around the corner I thought it would be a great time to show you how to make a cute child’s tutu. These are super trendy and great to use for costumes and photo shoots, but they can be expensive! I’ve always been of the “why buy what you can make” mentality, and with these babies running anywhere from $30-$50 a pop not everyone can afford one. So what’s a mamma to do? Just follow this simple no sew tutorial and make one yourself!
How To Make A Tutu:
- Tulle: You can buy this at almost any craft store, I got mine at Hobby Lobby for $3.99 per 10 yard spool. You can make around three child’s tutus per spool.
- Scissors or Rotary Cutter
- Ribbon or elastic: I’ll be using ribbon in this tutorial, but elastic works just as well.
- Paper towel roll: This comes in handy if you’re going to take a break. Just hang your tutu and go.
Okay, so now that you’ve got all your supplies let’s start making out tutus! The first thing you need to do is cut your tulle. I wanted an 8 inch tutu so I cut mine into 16 inch strips. You can do different lengths, just make sure your strips are twice as long as you want the finished product. *Note: longer strips = a flatter tutu. The most efficient way to cut is to wrap the tulle around something like a piece of cardboard, but I used a DVD case because it was 8 inches. Here’s a visual:
You want to wrap it around MANY times. Cut one end across to get your strips. If you don’t make enough you can always go back and do more. You should end up with a big stack of strips.
Next measure and lay our your ribbon or elastic. You want to make sure it’s long enough to fit around your child and still have about six inches free, so make a mark at each spot. Tie a knot at one end.
Now you’re ready to start making the tutu itself. Lay out your ribbon (or elastic). Grab a strip of tulle and fold it in half. Make sure it’s even and slide the folded part under your ribbon. Then take the ends and loop it through. Sorry if that doesn’t make sense, here’s a picture in case I’ve lost you:
Slide it to the end where your knot is and pull tight. Make sure the knot you are creating is free of bumps and isn’t loose. Point the ends of the tulle away from you. Repeat this all the way around. With each knot check for tightness, smoothness and make sure it’s even with the other knots. Here are a few close up progress shots. Note that my knots are all very uniform:
If you want a super fluffy tutu like mine, make sure your knots are as close together as possible. The fluff will take care of itself. Also, the looser they are the limper it will be. Keep checking knots and sliding them close together the entire way around. If you need to take a break just tie it around your paper towel roll and leave it for later. Once you get to your first marking you’re almost done!
There are a few ways you can finish your tutu. I usually just untie my original ribbon knot and leave the ends free so I can tie them together and it makes a pretty bow, but you can also add a snap or button if you want. If you do it my way add a few drops of fabric glue to the two end tulle knots to seal them in place.
Ta-da! Now you’ve made an awesome tutu!
I’m in love with this. Total assembly time was around three hours with breaks. These are so simple and inexpensive to make that you could really make one for every occasion! They would also be a great party craft for girls or a moms group. Thanks for reading, and if you have any questions feel free to leave me a comment below. I’ll try to answer as best I can!
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