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Monday, June 22, 2009

Easy No-Sew Tutu Tutorial

I saw this tutorial over at paigeandbrooke and just had to share it with you. I'm seriously considering making this little craft for String Bean.


If you need some quick and easy tutu instructions you're at the right place. These are great gifts and great for the kids to play in! They love pretending to be little ballerinas. Great for pictures too!!

All you need is: 6" wide tulle (2 or 3 rolls) and some No-Roll wide elastic. That's it!!


You can make these tutu's as long as you would like them to be but this one is the average shorter tutu. I cut a bunch of strips of tulle using a 2 foot measuring stick. Each piece will be folded in half later so if you want your tutu to be all the way to the ground you will need to cut extra long pieces. I use about 50 yards of tulle for one tutu. Sometimes more but at least that much. Cutting more strips makes the tutus look fuller.

Make sure you buy the "No-Roll" elastic. This is very important. You can decide how wide you would like for the elastic to be but I think the wider the better.

1. You will need to measure your child's waist and subtract that number by 3. That is how long your elastic needs to be. Then you can zig-zag stitch your elastic together.

2. You are going to tie knots with your tulle all around the elastic so it's easier just to put the elastic around your leg so that it stays in place.

3. Take one piece of tulle and fold it in half. Make sure the folded end is at the bottom and place it under the elastic like the picture above.

4. Now, here is how you are going to tie the knot. It's a little hard to explain but I hope the pictures will help. Take the two ends of the tulle that are at the top and loop them down and under where the hole is from the folded tulle.

5. Continue pulling the tulle down and use your thumb on the other hand to place the knot and tighten as you pull.

Hopefully this picture shows it a little better.

6. When you have pulled it all the way through your know should look like this on your thumb. You can adjust it as needed to make sure its tight.

7. Your first knot is complete!

8. Now you just need to make a bunch more!

49 comments:

caryn said...

Very cute! She would love it!

debi9kids said...

This is FANTASTIC! Thanks so much for showing this off. AWESOME! I am going to make some for Emma ;)

ps Thanks so much for answering my questions today. You did awesome!

Christy said...

cute!

Eva said...

ooo I like this! So simple I can't wait to try it out :)

Anonymous said...
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kerli_love342 said...
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kerli_love342 said...

hey im a 13 yr old girl and i wanto to know if u know how to make it very flat like kerli's in her music video "walking on air" thank you ;)

bec @ smallbirdie.com said...

i just LOVE this...found it on interest...definitely going to go make a few now! thanks for sharing!...yor newest follower!

Growing Up Gardner said...

50 yards of tulle??? that should be 5. right? I only use about 5 for each tutu.

Jane said...

very very good work!..thank you sooo much!!!

The Rosenau's said...

So cute! found you on pinterest i'm going to have to make one of these for my daughter!
thanks for sharing!!

www.sewfantastic.blogspot.com

msnew007 (Crystal) said...

Yes, I was wondering is it 50 yards or 5 yards of tulle?

Anonymous said...

It's 50 yards of the 6 inch tulle. It would be fewer yards of you were buying tulle off the bolt :).

Anonymous said...

what do you subtract? you said to measure their waist and then subtract that number... but it didnt show.
Very neat idea!

Kelli said...

So you cut the strips 2 ft long, but how wide? 1 or 2 inches?

Anonymous said...

Can you clarify how you measure the elastic for the waist? Thank you!

Cat said...

Oh, I 'm SO making a big girl version of this! Long and short!

Tonya said...

My grandtrs will LOVE helping Nana make these! They are adorable and it looks so easy. Can hardly wait to get started. Thanks for sharing! :)

Jasmine said...

The instructions for how to know the right length for the elastic is incomplete. Can you clarify? thanks :)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing this tutorial. My question is how wide to cut the tulle strips? I think I can figure out the rest...I'll be making three tutus for flower girls in a wedding my daughter is the MOH. Thanks again!

melisjl22@yahoo.com

Anonymous said...

I love these I made a multicolored one for my daughters birthday... I found Non slip headbands work great for the waist band..also I used 5in wide Tulle cut about 2 1/2 feet long..when you tie the knot the Tulle is no longer that wide..also they have sparkly Tulle which I think is very pretty however hard to work with and you end up covered in glitter..my daughter just loves these...have fun ladies

Unknown said...

I LOOOOVE this!! I'm actually going to make one for myself, but floor length - good to know that I'm going to need a TON of tulle!

SunshineFaerie said...

For those asking how wide the strips are supposed to be, I think you leave them the width of the tulle roll (i.e. 6inches wide). That's part of what makes this tuturial so easy, you're basically just cutting lengths. If you are using tulle from a bolt then you have to do the extra (and very annoying) step of cutting the whole thing into 5.5 - 6 inch strips. I did that with my first try, and it took soooo much longer than when I bought the tulle roll.

nokkie du toit said...

thank you so much , i got so much tule from wedding dresses i made in the past and never knew how to make a tutu skirt ,and with 2 little girls my grand children i am going to spoil them

Unknown said...

So just to be clear it is 50 yards? Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Can you give further instuctions on the wastband part?

Blh76820 said...

surely it is not 50 yards..150 feet?! that would make a ridiculous amount of tutus..

Blh76820 said...
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Anya said...

Yes ladies I make these with ribbon or elastic and it is 50 yards.. That's fifty. not five. measure around the waist and subtract 3 for the elastic band. Sew it together. To determine the length of the tulle.. Measure how long you want it to come off the waist. Now double the number and add 2 inches. Example.. You want it to be 8 inches long.. 8x2=16+2=18 so take your 6 inch tulle spool and cut tons of pieces 18 inches long. It seems like allot but it's folded in half and that's what makes it so full. I use more because I do 3 colors at a time. It's very easy once you have everything cut and ready to go.

Anonymous said...

The tutorial is extremely easy to understand and to make a fuller Tutu I will most likely use over 80 yards of tulle.
Thank you

Fatima siddiqui said...

I am finally making one for my grandtr !such a wonderful idea.how do you come up with all these ideas I see on Pinterest!!

Anonymous said...

50 yards, how much is on one spool? Sounds rather expensive when you say 50 yards.

Anonymous said...

50 yards, how much is on one roll? That might help people rather than thinking 50 spools. If it has 10 on it then one would need 5.

Anonymous said...

On a basic spool, not the glitter kind, there are 25 yards. Usually $5 a spool at Hobby Lobby or every other week they are 50% off.

Unknown said...

Nice blog and great pictures too
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Anonymous said...

Instead of elastic, you could use some ribbon to tie around the waist. Hook the tulle on there the same way. I've made plenty with ribbon and find it's a little more adjustable that way.

Ariana Whovian said...

Im making a green, red, and yellow one for my robin costume for Halloween and this was a great tutorial! Thanks for sharing!

Ariana Whovian said...

Im making a green, red, and yellow one for my robin costume for Halloween and this was a great tutorial! Thanks for sharing!

Alanna said...

Thanks, I just made two of these using your tutorial and they turned out SOOO cute!
Just thought I'd share an alternative to the roll. I bought 6 yards of tulle by the bolt--58" wide. Then I just folded it in half width wise and cut 6 inch strips with my rotary cutter--took less than 5 minutes, making 40 6 inch by 59 inch strips. Then I cut each of those strips in half length wise--making 80 strips measuring 6 inches by 29 inches. That's pretty close to the same as the 6inch roll by 30 inch.
I got my tulle at Joann when it was 50% off, so the tulle cost about $5 per tutu.

Unknown said...

Estupenda la idea!! me encanta!! es que asi quedan con mucho mas vuelo.. sin necesidad de andar poniendo capas y mas capas de tul fruncido..

Anonymous said...

Awesome. Was thinking of buying a tutu but decided try to make one on my own. Cost me under 6 bucks for materials. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

where do u buy the no-roll elastic? im making two for my flower girl dresses

Anonymous said...

Hello I made a tutu for a Halloween costume but it is way too puffy I would like it to lay flat I cut my strips 10 inches wide and use about 14 yards of tulle it is very long past my knees does anyone have any suggestions on how to make it lay flat thank you

Anonymous said...

this worked perfectly I used 27 yards of the 6" rolls and it is great. to flatten in a it you may want to make sure the knot part is on the bottom of the elastic.

BBCrafts.com said...

simple tutorial. This is very helpful for me.

Audrey said...

I sew, but this idea is ingenious for those who do not!! I just made 3 of these - one for each of our granddaughters in 2.5 hours. I purchased the tulle 6" by 40 yards in the wedding section by the cards in Walmart for 3.50/roll. Easy to follow instructions. Soooo cute♥

Unknown said...

Thank you for this tutorial.While my mother was a seamstress, I didn't inherit that gift. This post allowed me to make a Doc McStuffins themed tutu for my daughters 3rd birthday party. If a crafter of mind, but not in execution like me can do it, anyone can! Thank you!!!!

Unknown said...

Thank you for this tutorial and sharing this one. Loved it!!! Glad that I learned it here how to make tutu without sewing. Before, I used to buy tutus for girls from alwaysunderpay.com & loved their tutus of all sorts. Now is time to make my own. Thank for the idea and really loved it.

Beautiful tutus for babies. So loved this one. Nice colors, very adorable, cute & chic!

New Braunfels Injury Lawyers said...

This is awesome! Thanks so much. I'm going to try and make this for my daughter's first birthday.