The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve:
Lovers, to bed; 'tis almost fairy time.
-William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 5 Scene 1
I love these sweet little tutu dresses. I love how ethereal and fairy-like they are. Most of all, I love how they can make you forget that that you're on your 20th repeat of "Stay away from the water. Come back here. COME BACK. I am counting to three..." Now, if you are looking to make one of these, chances are that you have some experience with these little fairies I speak of, and you know exactly how this whole scenario goes, so...
...On to the Tutu dress!
These were SO easy to make! And I even took the difficult route by using the tulle that comes on a bolt instead of those cute little spools you can buy at the craft store. But this is how I did it:
Measure your munchkin from armpit to floor, and double that length. Cut 10 yards of bolt tulle into strips that are 8 inches wide by that measurement you just got. My little one's doubled measurement happened to thankfully be the with of the bolt fabric, so I just had to cut it into strips. No extra cutting necessary.
*If you are using the tulle that comes on a spool, your yardage is going to be anywhere from 100-400 yards depending on how full you want it and how tall your little lady is. 100 being about right for a toddler. Think along the lines of 100 yards per year of life*
For this Tutu Dress, I used 5 yards ivory and 5 yards of mint tulle.
Now take white elastic banding and measure around your munchkin's torso right at their armpits. Cut the band an inch or two smaller than that measurement, and sew one end to the other. You will have a big circle now.
(Reserve 2 strips of tulle) Take 2 strips of your tulle just layered together (I put one layer of each color together), and fold them in half, making an arch in the center. Put the center arch behind the elastic, and then pull the tails over the elastic, through the arch, and tighten. (Not too tight- get em all on there before you tighten really well, that way you can be sure they are evenly spaced)
Now if you'd like to cover the elastic that is still peeking out, take a ribbon, and tack it at one spot on the elastic. Then wrap it over the adjacent knot, and back up, over the adjacent knot, and back up, etc., etc. until you get all the way around, and tie a bow. (
See here if that confuses you) Save the rest of your ribbon to cinch the empire waistline once the dress is on your little sprite.
Now put the dress on that little lady, cinch that waistline, and take your reserved pieces of tulle- put them on top of one another. Wrap them from the back of the right shoulder to the front of the right shoulder (Threading them under the elastic band- these are your arm straps) over the back of the neck to the front of the left shoulder, and to the back of the left shoulder. Then tie in the back and you have arm straps and a little halter. You could opt to sew these into place, but I am lazy and this works great. So there :)
Now jump for joy! You did it!
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