Tutu Tutorial

I did a guest post a while back on my friend Kirstikoos blog. I thought sharing the tutorial on my own blog would be a good way to kick off posting again! Enjoy!

This is a very simple tutorial for a cute poofy ballerina tutu!

Tutus are super fun for little girls! My 23 month old LOVES to prance around in them!

I included lots of pictures because I am a very visual learner! I tried to be extra clear on everything but if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask!

You will need:

♥ About 18'' sewn elastic for the waist (this fits 6 months to about 8 years)

♥ 4 or 5 yards of tulle (I get mine at wal-mart for $1 a yard.) Get as many colors as you want!

♥ A good pair of scissors

For this tutu, I used 2 yards of black and 3 yards of pink. The first step is to unfold your tulle (not all the way, just so it looks like it was freshly cut from the bolt). Then cut into separate yards. So I cut my black right down the middle and my pink into 3rds. You could also just ask the fabric cutter to cut each yard separately for you when you buy it!

After that you need to turn your pieces long ways... like the picture on the left. The fold should be on either the right or left NOT top or bottom. So in the picture, the one on the left is CORRECT, the one on the right below my doggie is WRONG.

Take your yards and roll each one of them up like the tulle on the left.

Your tulle should be all rolled up now like the picture shows. One roll per yard.

Then, cut a little off each end of your rolls and discard. This gets rid of the fold on the one side, and makes everything nice and even.

Then cut each roll of tulle into 5 or 6 inch pieces. It doesn't have to be perfect, tutu's are a very forgiving craft!

You should end up with several small rolls like these.

Then unroll your little rolls, you will have two long strips from each roll. Cut right down the middle (making 4 strips), do this with each roll. Now you are ready to make your tutu!

This part is hard to explain but hopefully will make sense. Take one of your strips and fold it down the middle. Lay your elastic on top of your strip, close to the center fold (should be a loop) at the top. Take your two ends at the bottom and put them through the loop, the elastic should be in the middle of the loop and two ends. Pull it tight.

It should look like this, if the elastic folds in half, it doesn't matter. It wont end up showing!

Keep adding your strips in the pattern you want. For this tutu I did 2 pinks then 1 black repeated. Be sure to keep the strips close together so you can make your tutu really poofy!

Your done!! Wasn't that easy???

Linking to:
I heart Naptime
My backyard Eden
Blue Cricket Design
Sister Stuff
Somewhat Simple

Baby Legs

I was at the dollar store a few months ago and I spotted these adorable striped scarfs! I thought "too bad those aren't tube socks, they would make the cutest baby legs." It never dawned on me to actually sew them into baby legs! I'm so creative huh?

So, I forgot about those cute scarfs until today when I found this GREAT tutorial on obsessively stitching. She teaches how to turn those exact adorable dollar store scarfs into baby legs!

I don't have a serger but I was able to do the tutorial the exact same except instead of serging I zig-zag stitched, I went around each end twice and I made the stitches short. I think it worked well!!

So cute!! I think I am going to have to make a pair out of every color scarf they have!

I added the cute flower bow Eden is wearing to the boutique today!
I am going to be doing some more in different colors soon hopefully!

Hooded Bath Towels and a FIRST!

Don't you love the idea of hooded bath towels for babies? Don't you hate the ones you buy at the store that only last for maybe 3 months before your baby out grows them?? I was sooooo pleased to find an awesome, simple, tutorial at Green Apple Orchard HERE. Like I have mentioned before, I am a beginner when it comes to sewing so I was excited when I saw how easy a project this was. I got my towels and wash cloths at wal-mart on clearance. The big towels were only $2.00 each and the wash cloths were only $1.00 each! Yah!! I made two and love how much more functional they are compared to those tiny baby hooded towels!



My mom was in town this past week and she helped me make a jumper for Eden! This was the first time I have ever sewn something like this. My mom helped me follow the pattern and basically told me what to do! This pattern had "easy" on the cover and after doing it with help, I just might be able to make another one all by myself, just maybe!

Polka Dot Onesie!

Remember the shoe boxes I covered with a receiving blanket here? Well I had just a tiny bit of fabric left over. So this is what I made....

I love polka dots!
I cut out the circles from the fabric, then I just use iron-on adhesive from the craft store. I used the no-sew kind so we will see how it washes! It seems to be stuck on there pretty dang good! I have some cute ribbon to match that I want to try to do ruffles on the butt with. I am not the best at sewing so if anyone knows any easy tutorials on how to do it please share!