How to Make a Tutu Skirt for Toddlers

How to Make a Tutu Skirt for Toddlers

Each year I create a new tutu costume. This year is no exception. In the past I have made a cupcake, an animal cracker, and a bumble bee. This year I decided that I wanted to do a bird costume. I was inspired by the royal wedding and all the wonderful hats and fascinators. The three costumes I linked above are no sew tutu’s so if you are looking for a no sew tutu check one of those out. You could easily make this with a no sew tutu but I thought it was time to create a sewn tutu. Here is how to make a tutu skirt.

How to Make a Tutu Skirt for Toddlers

This post was sponsored by JOANN. All opinions and ideas are my own.

Contents hide

1 How to Make a Tutu Skirt for Toddlers

2 How much tulle do you need for a tutu skirt?

3 Tutu Supplies

4 How do you make a tutu with tulle?

5 How to make a fascinator

6 PIN How to make a tutu skirt

7 More Little Girl Costume Ideas

8 Related

How much tulle do you need for a tutu skirt?

A full tutu skirt requires quite a lot of tulle. The amount of tulle you use depends on how many gathers you use for your skirt. The more gathers you use the fuller the skirt will be.

For this toddler tutu skirt I used 5 yards of tulle for one layer.

For an adult tulle skirt you will need at least 8 yards of tulle. However if you want a fuller skirt with more gathers you could use 10 to 12 yards of tulle. Luckily tulle is very inexpensive, so 10 to 12 yards will cost you less than $20. Plus don’t forget to use a coupon 😉

Tutu Supplies

5 yards each of 3-4 blue tulles.

Supplies for Accessories:

Blue Feathers

Blue Felt

1/4″ elastic and velvet ribbon (or blue elastic headband.)

How do you make a tutu with tulle?

Measure your toddler’s waist. (To be fair this will totally work for an adult as well but it requires a lot more tulle.) Cut a piece of elastic 2-3″ smaller than the waist measurement.

Measure the length from waist to just below the knees.

Fold your first tulle (the darkest tulle) in half long ways. Then cut tulle the length from waist to below the knee. So your tulle will measure 5 yards by the length (for me this was 11 inches.)

Keep the tulle folded and line the raw edges up so they overlap the elastic 1/4″. Keeping the tulle folded allows us to get extra volume while only sewing one time. Use a zig zag stitch to attach the tulle to the elastic. Bunch the tulle as you sew, bunch the tulle tightly. I used all 5 yards on a 20″ piece of elastic. Leave a 1-2″ section of elastic with no tulle. This is where we will attach the ends of the elastic together.

Now cut the second piece of tulle 2″ shorter than the first length. So if your first length was 11″ your second length will be 9″. Again keep the tulle folded. Line this second piece up 1/2″ below the first tulle. Sew below the elastic (you just want to sew the first length of tulle to the elastic. The more you sew over the elastic the more stretched out it will become.) Again you will use a zig zag stitch and tightly bunch the tulle as you sew.

Continue adding tulle layers in this manner, cutting the length 2 inches shorter each time, until you have attached 3-4 layers of tulle.

Finish by sewing the elastic closed. I prefer to layer the elastic and use a square with an x in the middle rather than placing the right sides together and having a portion of elastic poking into the kiddo (they are fairly finicky about clothes ya know!)

How to make a fascinator

From the scraps of tulle cut a circle through 10-20 layers. Cut a circle of felt that is about 1/2″ smaller than these tulle circles. Sew through the tulle and the felt into a length of ribbon. Sew or hot glue feathers behind the felt onto the ribbon. Finish by adding a small piece of elastic to create a headband that fits the head measurement. You could also attach this to an existing elastic headband, just skip the ribbon and add the felt, tulle, and feathers to the headband.

Last cut two squares of felt. Sew them onto the shoulders of the shirt, or if you are using a short sleeve shirt you can use snaps to create epaulettes that are easily removed. Glue feathers onto the felt and your costume is finished.

You could also add these shoulder feathers to a sweater for a cooler weather costume. Check out how I created these curtains that are perfect for a photo backdrop.