How to Make a NO SEW Tutu Using Pre Cut Tulle for Your Infant/Toddler

These are RIDICULOUSLY in expensive to make and little girls LOVE them =) Any questions, feel free to ask =) You could totally make one of these within an hour and have it ready for Christmas. This is my daughters Christmas tutu I just made =)

Step 1:

-PRE CUT Tulle-colors of your choice
-Rotary Cutter-you can use scissors if you like (found in sewing section at Walmart)
-Rotary Cutting Board (Optional but helpful. You can find cheapest at Walmart in sewing section)
-NO ROLL Elastic Waist Band 2/3 inch wide (At Walmart in sewing section)
-Large roll of paper Towels
-Hot Glue Gun
-Extras-this would be ribbon you want to add to the tutu or rhinestones

How much Tulle you need depends on how long or short you are wanting your tutu. For an infant start with 2 rolls (I made mine for my 1 year old and I used a roll and a half of red- I also added white and brown and didn't even use 1/2 of those rolls) of the predominant color. If you want to add other colors here and there then you will only need one roll of that color and will not end up using it all =)

Step 2:

About Tulle (pronounced 'tool'), just walk into your Joanns Fabric store (this is where I get all my tullle) or your hobby lobby and tell them you need pre cut tulle and they will direct you to where it is.  Walmart does not always carry pre cut tulle.

First, measure the childs waist with measuring tape. Then you want to subtract 4 inches from that measurement. So if your childs waist is 20 inches then you want to cut a piece of Elastic that is 16 inches long. This allows some stretchiness to the tutu so it doesn't fall off your child ;)

Next you want to hot glue the elastic ends together one end overlapping the other. See picture.

Step 3:

Allow about 2-3 minutes to dry then place the elastic around a roll of paper towels.  Now decide on how long you want your tutu. The red Tutu I have shown in the picture is for a 1 year old and I wanted it 12 inches long which falls right on her knee because tulle will puff out.  So if you want a tutu that is 12 inches long then you are going to need to double that length (I will show you why). So I cut tulle strips that were 24 inches long.

For a pretty and slightly puffy tutu you are going to want to fold the tulle in half WIDTH wise. See picture.

Step 4:

Next you are going to follow the pictures. You are going to take your tulle and match the ends up so they are level with each other and make a loop in the center and place this loop under the elastic.

Step 5:

Next you are going to pull the ends of the tutu up and over the elastic pulling it through the loop.

Then secure it as shown in picture 2 of this step.

Step 6:

Next you are going to tie one more knot into it as shown in the picture (DO NOT double knot it, one knot is sufficient)

Continue this all the way around the elastic using the colors you like. On this red tutu, I would do 4 red strips, then one white, then one brown, then one white and then 4 reds.  This was my pattern on the tutu shown in the Introduction.

Step 7:

For a ribbon waisted tutu 9optional), follow the pictures in this step.  Purchase a roll of ribbon that you think would look nice with your tutu colors. Take the end of the ribbon and tie one end of it anywhere on the waistband.

Bring the ribbon up and over each Knot of tulle. Weaving it through each knot.

When you are done weaving take the end of the ribbon and you can hot glue it nicely to the waistband.  It sounds (and maybe even looks) harder than it really is.

Step 8: Tutu Ideas

Here are some ideas for different tutus using ribbon and Hair flowers. I love using hair flowers because they have a little clip in the back that you can clip to the tutu and take it off to switch it with a different flower.

The first two pictures shown in this step have WIDE ribbon used.


Rhinestones also look super cute on tutus ;)