I used four colors of tulle cut into three inch strips. I took a length of elastic measured to fit snug on my own two-year-old’s waist and then sewn into a circle with a simple zigzag stitch. (This could be done by hand or someone could use ribbon instead for a true no-sew tutu) I started at one spot and slipped the tulle over the elastic until it was equal lengths on both sides and then double knotted it just below the waist band. I continued around alternating colors to achieve a striped effect. For this 18 inch waist I used approx 6 yards of tulle.
I really loved how the waist band turned out………right up until I put it on an actual two year old and the elastic immediately started rolling inside the tulle. I had to go back and hand work it back into laying straight which was a pain. Maybe I knotted the tulle too tightly or not tight enough…….I don’t know. I knew that I couldn’t leave it the way it was or it would just become a nightmare. The tulle needed the tension of the elastic to maintain a shape. So I decided to go around the top of the waist band and do a decorative stitch to hold everything in place. But then I got to thinking that she is a growing girl and that a solid line of stitching would take away the elasticity that I wanted in the first place…….so I got the brilliant idea (total sarcasm) to embroidery her name every couple of inches around the top of the waist with this really pretty multi colored thread I have. I figured that there would be stretch in between letters and in between each name but it would hold everything together. It was all going great until I realized that the feed dogs had gotten hung up in a couple of critical places and some of the letters were either missing or on top of each other. Seriously, WTF?!? I knew that I didn’t have the time or patience to undo the mess (it had to go in the mail ASAP and I was afraid that I would destroy the tulle trying to unpick the stitching.) so it went as is. ( BTW, I know I should have lowered the feed dogs………but it was something like 7am and I hadn’t had my coffee and I suck. Leave me alone.) Thankfully this particular tutu was heading to a friend……..hopefully a very forgiving friend after the way I massacred her poor daughter’s name…So even though it was sad to send it that way, I at least got to try something new…..and hopefully her daughter will like it anyway.
These pics were taken after it was knotted but before it was trimmed down to a nice even length. I didn't manage to get pics of it after it was cut down but I took about 8 inches off the length all around and it really helped it look a little less wild. I didn't take pics of the horrible name snafu. It was just too shameful to document.
So next on the agenda is Halloween costumes. I have both of my boys to do - plus mine. It's going to be a busy week. After Halloween I plan on finishing the third tutu and then not sew another tutu for a very long time.
