The Most Unnecessary Craft Tutorial Ever: Baby Tutu

This project is ridiculously easy. Stupid easy. If you can tie a knot you can make a tutu, so you don’t really need my instructions. Also, there are already a billion versions out there.

(Out of curiosity, I just Googled “tutu tutorial” and there are approximately 212,000 results already on the internet.)

But since you already know how I feel about acting like YOUR tutorial is the most special and awesome and original of all the tutorials ever (and also because I have nothing else to say today)(and maybe because I just want an excuse to post pictures of my baby in a tutu)(plus I was playing with my new lens) I’m going to share my tutu project with you anyway.

For the sake of honest blogging, I will tell you this version from Plumtickled is where I started when I thought “hey, I’ll just MAKE a tutu instead of paying $22 plus shipping from Etsy!” Her’s was the first that came up on Google. But since it involved sewing I decided it wasn’t really for me. True story, I once used glue to make a throw pillow JUST to avoid sewing four straight lines. And by “once” I mean “last year” and also “that throw pillow is still in my guest room right now.” I will do anything to avoid threading my sewing machine.

So here are my instructions for the world’s easiest, no-sew, adjustable, one-size-fits-all, infant, baby, toddler and kid sized tutu.

Step 1: Buy some tulle in various colors. You will not need this much but since the easiest way to avoid cutting tons and tons of strips is to buy the tulle in rolls you can just plan to make several tutus with the extra. I promise you know someone with a baby girl who would love a tutu. You will also need ribbon and scissors.

Total cost: $16 at Michael's including the flowers for $1 each. Because I'm fancy.

Step 2: Cut the tulle into strips twice the length you want the finished tutu to be. I did not measure, I guessed. Since my goal is to use this tutu for the rest of the year and beyond I made it medium length.

Don't worry too much about making the strips all exactly the same length. This is supposed to be easy.

Cut up some strips in each of the colors you're using. I did a ratio of about 3 white to each 1 blue or green.

Step 3: Cut the ribbon to a nice long length. Like I said, I want this tutu to fit for a long time so I actually cut the ribbon long enough to go around MY waist. Now tie the ribbon around something (like your leg) to make it easy to work on. Take a piece of tulle and fold it around the ribbon. Then tie the two pieces into one knot snug up against the ribbon. Some tutorials called this a “double knot” but it’s really just one knot with two pieces of tulle. SEE? MY TUTORIAL IS THE BEST.

My thigh works well, because it's pretty much the same size as my baby anyway.

ADDED: Knot tying demonstration. The hardest part is getting the knot snug right up against the ribbon so they all look nice and even.

Try to get the knots as tight on the ribbon as possible. It might take a little practice.

I have a REALLY HARD TIME being random with my colors (thanks OCD tendencies!!) so I didn't really try too hard. Every 2 or 3 white ones I put in a blue one, then 2 or 3 later a green one.

Step 4: Repeat steps 2 and 3 until you’ve tied enough tulle on the ribbon to go all the way around the baby/child you’re trying to be-tutu. You can slide the knots around if you decide you need to add any more of one color in any one area. You might as well put something interesting on TV and grab a glass of wine because it might take a while to tie enough tulle to make the tutu nice a full. Trust me though, it’s worth it.

The flower came with a clip on the back. It's like the universe made it especially for lazy crafters like me.

Step 5: Find a bebeh model to model your tutu. Take fourty bazillionteen pictures.

And there you go. That’s the whole thing. No sewing, no glue, no fancy cutters or machines or tools needed. Just tulle, ribbon and scissors. My plan is to cut enough strips now to keep making the tutu bigger as Caroline grows and to use it for each of her month-day pictures. I’ll probably still have enough left over for at least two or three more tutus, especially if I make them a little shorter. Anyone around here need a baby tutu? I’m willing to trade for Starbucks or yarn.

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Tagged as: baby, Caroline, crafts, cute, DIY, fun, i make things, tutorials