{Tutorial} Fabric and Tulle Tutu

Ok, I’m pretty sure I gave you guys a long enough break from the 1st Birthday tutorials. So today I’m back to share another one with you, and will finish them up this week!

I’m seriously having so much fun with this whole, having a girl, thing! Making things for her is so much fun!! And I just knew that she had to look beyond cute on her big day. So I made her this fabric and tulle tutu along with a personalized onesie to go with it!

The best part of this tutu, is how easy it is to make. I literally sat down with my hubby one night and made it while watching one of the shows off our DVR.

All you need is:

• Crocheted Headband
• Tulle strips (about 10 inches long – for a 12 month size, longer if you are making it for an older child)
• Fabric strips (same length as above)

For my tulle, I used a 1.5” crocheted headband in hot pink, the Glimmer Tulle in American Beauty and Shrimp, and Moda fabric in Tangerine from the Dottie line and Sunshine Yellow Dots from the Grow with me Line. as well as some giraffe fabric I had on hand.

Start by cutting all of your strips of fabric and tulle. Separate them all into section. This will help in the long run, I promise!

To make things easy, I found a large cylinder to wrap the headband around. This helps keep the sections spread apart for easy looping, and it holds the headband still the whole time! You can use a oatmeal can, coffee can, nesquik can…etc.

Start with the tulle strands on the bottom. The reason for this is because the tulle is so thick, it will help to lift the fabric and give it the “full” look. Next you will place the fabric strips on the row above.

Now, how to attach the strips:

start by folding the strip in half, and place the folded end down thru the hole.

Then fold the tails down thru the loop and pull tight.

Once again, on the bottom row, you will want to do JUST TULLE. and put 2 strips of tulle per hole. You do not need to do a pattern when putting these in place, because they will all jumble together into a big poof anyway!

Then once you are done with the tulle, you will go up one row and put the fabric in, 2 strips per hole.

The tutu is fabulous…so full and because of how fun it is, it’s definitely perfect for a party!

For her onesie, I used the same technique as my No Sew Baby Onsie tutorial (here) but I did stitch around the applique. I also made a little ruffle using the same fabric as the tutu, and sewed it along the neck line! I also couldn’t resist, so I put a little “1” and balloon on her bum for when she was crawling around!

Thanks to The Ribbon Retreat for sponsoring this post and providing the headband, tulle, and some of the fabric.