If there’s one thing my darling daughter needs, it’s a full, twirly, fancy tutu for Christmas. 

She is the dress-up queen in these parts, but unfortunately has worn all of her tutus and dresses to the point of no return… if you saw her cinderella dress, you’d probably think I don’t brush her teeth, or wash her hair.  It’s pretty torn up- luckily, she’s been very specific about her wants from Santa.  More dress-up. I don’t think I have the energy to create a dress a la Glinda the good witch (her new fave lady)…. But a tutu? 

I can do that.

I used a pattern from the book Oliver + S Little Things to Sew which is chock full of great things to make for children.  I’ve already made the bucket hat for Grant this past Summer, and I have another project from the book in the works for Ellery.  Anyway, this particular tutu is made with 5 different colors of tulle, folded over at the waist (so yeah, actually 10 layers when finished), gathered at the fold, and sewn onto a wide piece of grosgrain ribbon.  I would say this was an somewhat easy project- but at the same time, to work with mountains of tulle for the first time wasn’t something I was used to.  I used a size 10 needle (i generally use a 12), but that’s really the only thing I changed from my normal sewing. 

I love that the tutu is longer than most, and that it has some serious volume.

I especially love the bow at the back:

I wanted to stay away from the typical ballet pink, mostly because I had already bought a black leotard and I was feeling a little black swanish that day…  I found the burgundy ribbon on sale at Michael’s and was inspired to make her tutu eggplant colored- I lucked out at Joann’s one day- all of their tulle was 60% off.  sa-weet!.  The undermost layer of tulle is very pale pink, then it goes into a ballet pink color, burgundy, deep purple, and finally black. 

I seriously cannot wait to see my child prancing around the house in this. 

I also can’t wait to see her face when she opens a box to find this little cutie…

A mini version for her baby doll. 

I had so much tulle left over, and I happened to buy the same color ribbon in a smaller size since it was a steal, so it was a no brainer… and seriously, this came together in like 15 minutes flat! 

Don’t worry.  I’m stopping there.  I don’t think anyone wants to see me walking around in a maternity tutu.

…Well, Ellery would I bet!

-Erin