How To: Make A Ridiculously Cute Tutu

This is my tutorial on making ridiculously cute tutus.

Here's what you need:
Different colors of tulle (Hobby Lobby usually has a sale on the rolls every other week)
Ribbon
Rotary cutter and mat OR scissors
Measuring Device
A leg or other sturdy tube-like object


First of all, figure out the waist size of the recipient. I just googled waist measurements for an 18-month-old. Seems to be about 20 inches.

Step 1: Measure double the waist measurement that you need. This is so that whenever you tie a bow, it is proportional to the recipient of the tutu (An adult would look weird with a teeny tiny bow).  And, cut it.

Step 2: Fold your ribbon in half and "mark" the center point. My "mark" was just the little crease I put in when I folded it in half. This is so that you can make sure that the tutu is even all the way around.


 Step 3: Figure out what kind of tutu you want. Short and poofy. Long and elegant. Now, in inches. Short - about 7 inches (for an 18 month old). Or Long - 12 inches (for an 18 month old).  Also, to make cutting easier, lay your rolls of tulle out and line up your edges. Stack them on top of each other, this way all your lengths are the same, and in order.

Step 4: Take whatever length you want your tutu parts to be, and  (yup, you guess it!) double it! Since my friend wanted a short and poofy tutu for her little girl, I decided on 7 inches. So that is why (see first pic) I measured out to 14 inches. My order was pink on bottom, white in middle, and purple on top. Since I was using 3 colors, it didn't really matter the order. If you are using more colors, just remember your order (this is where stacking them helps). And Cut it!

Step 5: Move your cut stack of tulle out of the way. You are going to end up making quite a little pile for yourself there. Then, grab that little tail of tulle sticking out from under your rolls, and pull it to the beginning of your measuring point.  Continue to cut up some tulle. (I will note here that for 3 colors, when they are tied, they take just under an inch if tied a little loosely.)

Step 6: Now you should have a nice stack of evenly cut tulle. In order. Keep your tulle in order! It will be important when tying.  Set this off to the side.

Step 7: Get your piece of ribbon and find your center "mark". Tie your ribbon onto your leg (or other tube-like item, here I start off with a big thing of bubbles). Make sure that your center is where you can see it.

Step 8: Carefully pick up your top (only 1) piece of tulle. Gather it so that it is still the length you measured, and fold in half.

Step 9 (I left these next few pictures a bit bigger so that you can see what I mean): Insert the center of your tulle up under your ribbon right under your center "mark"

Step 10: Pull the center of the tulle down back over the ribbon, and open it up. Pull the tails that are under/below the ribbon through the little loop you just made.

Step 11: Pull it tight. This is the way that alll of the tulle is secured to the ribbon. If at any point in the future the tulle starts to loosen, just pull it tight again.

Step 12: Do the same thing with the next few colors, working to the right. After you finish your "set" of colors (for example, my set of colors went purple, white, pink, so my next piece of tulle on the pile would be purple), flip your whole stack of cut tulle over, and starting at the first color of your self, work a set backwards to the left.
To explain this better, you will first tie your colors, in my picture it is purple, white, then pink. At this point I took my stack of tulle, and flipped it over. On the now top, was pink. I took that pink and tied it to the left of the purple. The next on top was white, so i took it and tied it to the left of the pink. Next was purple, and I tied that to the left of the white. After that i flipped the pile back over, and went around to the right side of my tied tulle, and continued.

I do it this way so that around your center mark, you have an even amount of tulle on each side.

Step 13: After tying alllllllll of your tulle, and measuring the tied section to make sure it is the waist measurement of the recipient, take each side of the ribbon on the outside of the tulle and tie a simple little knot, just to hold the tulle in place. Then, tie a bow and you are DONE!

Ta-da!  You have just made a tutu! This will work for any age. For a newborn, a good short and puffy length would be 3 or 4 inches, for an adult 9-10 inches would stick right out!


Please do not re-use this tutorial or any of the images without my permission. If you would like to link to my blog, you are more than welcome to create a link and direct people here!