Pretty Little Tutu Tutorial - No Sewing Involved!

Our little girl is turned 1 this Sunday! I cannot believe how big and beautiful she is! She is such a joy to have in our family and is so happy and good natured. 

I thought and thought of the perfect one-year birthday gift for a little girl and more specifically our little girl.

I don't know if I have ever written about my passion for encouraging "real" play within our home...someday I will. In a nutshell, I believe we live in an overly busy and electronic age and that children don't REALLY play (or even know HOW to play) anymore unless they are encouraged. I have been falling increasingly in love with all things Montessori and have several play "stations" (hee! No pun intended) set up throughout our home. These stations are VERY simple. They consist of baskets/boxes of toys that encourage our children to use their imaginations (For instance we have a dress up box, a play kitchen with a large variety of wooden and cloth food, a basket of play-silks, art supplies, building blocks, Duplos, , etc...).

...Well, as I was thinking about THE perfect gift for our little lady, that would also encourage "real" play, I came up with this..."girly" things to add to our overwhelmingly "boy" dress-up box.

I took a trip to a couple thrift stores in the area and found 2 beautiful (think royal wedding style) hats, 5 pairs of ladies gloves, and some long necklaces. (I know that second-hand hats can be a little frightening, BUT did you know that you can simply slip any "un-washable" item into a zip-lock bag and put it into the freezer for 48 hrs and it will eliminate any bacteria or little pests that might exist on it? Neat huh?)

Next, I set to work making a couple of little things. One of the gifts that I made for my little princess is this pretty little pink tutu...

Today, I have put together a tutorial so that you too can make a tutu! ; ) Just follow the steps below.(It is SO EASY. I promise!)

Note: I realize that some of my photos are sideways or upside down but I just didn't have the time to turn them all the right way. Please forgive me.

You Will Need:

2 spools of ribbon 

(you'll end up using a 1/2 spool of each color so you can make 2 tutus with 2 spools of ribbon)

1.5 Yards of Tulle (sp??)

(I used 1 yard of light pink tulle and 1/2 yard of hot pink tulle in order to give the tutu a two-toned appearance)

Tip: Have the tulle cut in 1/2 yard strips.

Scissors

Step #1

Choose 2 spools of ribbon (one wide and one narrow) and coordinating tulle. Unroll the spool of wide ribbon and cut it in half (approx. 2 yards)

Step #2

Fold each piece of tulle in half and cut it on the fold.

Step #3

Cut each double layer of tulle into 3 equal parts.

Step #4

Cut 10-12 pieces of narrow ribbon the length of one of the pieces of tulle.

Step #5

Fold each piece of tulle in half over the wide piece of ribbon and tie in a knot.

Step #6

Between every few pieces of tulle, fold each piece of narrow ribbon in half and tie in a knot.

I love the way that this turned out.

Our little baby girl just LOVES her pretty new dress up things and wore the little tutu all day long.