No-Sew Jellyfish Plushie Out Of...Tutu Leggings

I was doing some spring cleaning when I found a pair of teeny tiny five year old leggings with a tutu attached. Random, I know. They weren't in good enough condition to donate, so I decided the next best thing would be to upcycle them.

So, I present to you... a lovely no sew jellyfish lady made from only 3 materials!

Supplies

• Very small pair of leggings with tutu attached (mine were a combo of mesh and cloth)
• Stuffing
• White, black, and red felt, optional

• Hot glue gun
• Fabric scissors

Step 1: Prepare Your Pants

First lay your leggings out flat. Cut a small slit in the waistband, and tug on the elastic inside. Cut through that and pull it out to save for another project.

Then cut the tutu layers off in strips. You can make these as wide or as skinny as you'd like, but I'd recommend to just make them wide for now as you can always adjust later. Also cut off the waistband because that can also be used as a strip.

Step 2: The Inside Body

Cut down the leg seam, along the very top seam where the waistband was connected (don't cut through), and then back down along the crotch seam. You should be left with a big rectangle-ish shape.

Using a round object, trace the biggest circle that will fit. (Bigger than a toilet paper roll) but I didn't have any plates that size. It doesn't need to be too precise and you can also freehand it.

Then cut the circle out.

Step 3: Adding Some Fluff

Pile a big handful of stuffing onto the center of the circle, then pinch the fabric up. Also add in any scrap fabric that you might have. First fold it up in half, then grab the other two sides and any other extra fabric. Don't be afraid to pull the fabric pretty tightly.

To glue it together, the best way I found was to release a little bit of the fabric, make a line of glue, and then pleat it back together like an accordion. Once you've gone all the way around like this, you can glue the edge of one side, the fold it over onto the other side. It doesn't matter how ugly the seam looks because you'll be covering that in the end anyways. The only part you'll see in the end is the smooth side.

Step 4: Giving Her Tentacles

Here's the creative part! Hold up the strips you made earlier to the jellyfish's body so you can get a feel for how they'll look, then hot glue them. Make sure you're gluing them so that the ugly hot glue seam of the body is at the top and the tentacles are hanging down, away from it. Also, you don't need to glue the strips right at the top, you can glue them closer to the side if you'd like to make them longer/save material.

Here's where you can go wild with cutting different thicknesses and lengths. You can even use the seams of the pant legs! Just don't use the seam at the top under where the waistband was, because we'll need that later.

Step 5: Top Cap

Cut out another circle, slightly smaller than the first one, and make slits around it. (~1 in. every 2 in.)

Place this over your jellyfish. The best way to glue this one is to fold two flaps underneath the flap between them. Then, fold the edges of the middle flap just underneath itself so that the edges are no longer raw. Then glue them together and continue with the next group of 3.

If this sounds a little complicated, you can glue it any other way you'd like, and it will look just fine.

If the edge of the cap is uneven, you can trim off any extra fabric so it's in one line.

Step 6: Edge Definition

Here's why we needed to save the big seam where all the tutu layers attached to the waistband! This is what's going to make our jellyfish really look like a jellyfish and also hide our ugly cap seam.

Just make a line of glue along the cap edge and press until the hot glue cools.

Step 7: Adding Some Personality

A totally optional step if you want yours to look more realistic, but if you'd like to give your jellyfish some character, cut out some facial features with felt! I went with big eyes, eyelashes, and red lips :)

Step 8: Cuddle Time

And that's it! You can feel good giving this away as a gift (or not!) knowing that you helped give some old leggings a new life. This will be a toy that can be cherished for years to come while also teaching children the importance of repurposing materials to better the environment.