Tutu!

Halloween is just around the corner and costumes are on the minds of many. Make a tutu!  Use white to make a bunny, black and yellow for a bumble bee, black for a cat or orange for a pumpkin. The possibilities are endless.
I have costumes done already (that I wont post until Halloween. :p ) but I wanted to make a purple and black tutu to match a bow that I had made.

Step 1: Gather supplies.

tulle

elastic

scissors

needle & thread

cardboard

Step 2: Measure.

Measure around the waist to determine how much elastic you need. Then measure from the waist down to as long as you would like the finished tutu to be. My baby has a 16 inch waist and I wanted the tutu roughly 6 1/2 inches.

Step 3: Make the waistband.

I used non roll elastic for this tutu. You could also make it on a peice of ribbon for a tutu that ties on instead of pulls on.  On the elastic, your sewing does not need to be pretty since nobody will see it but make sure it is secure so it wont come undone after being pulled on.

Step 3: Cut the tulle.
I buy my tulle on 6" rolls at Hobby Lobby because they have a good selection of colors and it's easy to find 40% off coupons. :)  You can also find tulle on the bolt but the rolls are much more convienent to work with.
To get the length of each strip of tulle take your desired length measurement and multiply by two and then add two to the total. (6 1/2 X 2 = 13. 13 + 2 = 15). 
The quickest and easiest way I've found to cut the strips is by wrapping the tulle around cardboard.  I cut a peice of an empty cereal box to 7 1/2" X 6". The width does not need to be exact but the length does.

I then take the roll of tulle and wrap it around the peice of cardboard.

 I wrap it around 20-30 times and then cut more later as needed.

Then cut along one edge and you will have your evenly cut strips.

Step 4: Tie the knots.

I only use one peice of tulle for each knot. Use two or even three strips if you want a fluffier tutu. I prefere to just use one so I can push the knots closer together to fit more on the elastic. The knots are too big for my liking when I use more strips.

There are different ways to tie the knots but this is the method I like best.

Find the center of the strip.

Put it underneath the waistband.

Bring the ends over the waistband and down through the loop.

Pull tight making sure the ends stay even.

Continue all the way around the waistband.

After every three or four knots push them as close together as you can so no elastic shows.

Here is a tutu that I made on a piece of ribbon a few months ago. The knots end up very small and it results in a really full tutu but it is much more time consuming to tie all those knots! It also uses a lot more tulle!

And a few others for inspirations.

An Angel

a ballerina

Orange and Black Halloween tutus