How to Make a Full Tutu
So I got it in my mind that Carly needed a tutu. With Halloween right up on us I decided that I’d start working on some costume ideas for little miss. I suppose since I don’t have a little girl to dress up, a little puppy will have to suffice :)
Luckily Carly is pretty good about the whole dressing up thing because, to be honest, if she had a problem with it I wouldn’t bother. Even if she did look insanely adorable in a homemade dog tutu if she ran around trying to get away from it or something I wouldn’t have the heart to keep it on her. But as it goes, I toss a sombrero on the little lady’s head and she runs around the backyard barking at cats on the fence and then falls asleep on the sofa with it.
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And she’s the kind of girl that can totally rock a pink cowboy hat. Or should that be cowgirl hat?
And this girl always looks good in her signature color, PINK!
And, heck, even Ollie gets in on the action when I purchase the wrong size wig :) He cares EVEN LESS when I put clothes and whatnot on him!
It truly should come as no surprise that I made my DOG a TUTU. But when I was making this I wanted to be sure that it could translate to human cutie patooties, too. It’s the same whether your precious gal barks or giggles to make an incredibly full totally gorgeous homemade tutu. And it all starts with only 2 craft supplies… let’s get going, shall we?
For this project you will need:
- Headband elastic ribbon (got mine at Hobby Lobby)
- Tulle (I used on a roll but you can cut your own strips by the yard) this is a good value if you want to build your stash
- Scissors and a hook (crochet hook works very well)
This is my headband elastic. Now I linked to 1.5 inch but I used 3 inch for a very full tutu, I just cannot find it on the HL website to link to it.
This is the texture of the ribbon. It’s got these little gaps that are perfect for adding tulle to.
Now, as Carly has worn this thing a few times and I’ve stretched it to pull it over her head a few times it has stretched OUT. I initially made the waistband of the tutu to fit comfortably (not too tight) when worn but I’d suggest making it just a weensy bit tighter than that to help compensate for this stretching.
Cut a whole heck of a lot of pieces of tulle at the same length. I sat in front of the TV with 5 or 6 rolls and watched The Paradise while I filled a shopping bag full of the things. If you don’t want to do any trimming be very, very careful to cut these the proper length each and every time. I was fine with trimming mine up like a pompom so I just eyeballed it for the most part (and there was a TON of trimming necessary which was messy).
My intended size for my strips for my pup was 10 inches for a fluffy, smaller tutu.
To add the tulle strips to your ribbon first start by finding the middle of a single piece.
Run your hook underneath a knot in the elastic ribbon and latch the center of that tulle piece onto your hook.
Pull the tulle through the knot.
Run your fingers into the knot and grab the other end of the tulle.
Pull the legs of the tulle nice and tight to form a knot.
Continue adding pieces as you’d like to fill out the tutu. For a very full tutu run tulle under every knot. I followed every row but skipped every other knot for a softer tutu since little miss would need to be able to comfortably lay down and too full would have been a bit uncomfortable for her.
Once you have the entire tutu filled out all you need is another piece of tulle to close the elastic up into a circle for the waistband. Simply overlap the two ends and then weave your tulle through both pieces, kind of like you’re lacing a sneaker. Knot off and this sucker is going nowhere!
Poof!
See how my shape is kind of crazy? I spun that sucker around and around on my arm to clean up the length. As it got shorter it got puffier which, in my mind, made it cuter so that was awesome! My eyeballing pieces totally stinks and some of them got a good 3 inches too long making for a totally crazy shape here.
I tried to put her tutu on like I would for a child, over her legs but that didn’t work out so well. Over her head was much easier, in the end.
With her new tutu on little miss still runs and plays and otherwise wreaks havoc. The only difference is a little part of you goes “aw!” while she’s destroying the sofa.
Whether you need to make a tutu for a fun run or for a Halloween costume for an adult or a child, the idea is just the same as it is for a puppy. I just happen to like dressing up my puppy because Rob’s no fun when it comes to wearing tutus for me. :)
