Too Too Cute

posted by Diana

I've been working the craft fair circuit recently, so I've been wracking my little brain for ideas of cute things to make for my booth. Since most of the crafts I make are pretty much forest fairy-inspired and my booth draws quite a number of little kids, tutus seemed like the perfect addition to my crafting repertoire. 

My booth at Fleaville!

They're just so wonderfully girly and fae-like, I couldn't resist making almost a dozen.



I found a lot of instructions online for no-sew tutus (thank you Pinterest!), so I picked what I thought were the best parts of all of them and got to work.

For my prototype tutus, I picked up some rolls of glittery organza from Joann and some one inch elastic from my notions stash.

Then, I cut a piece of cardboard to 8" x 11" to wrap my organza around. I snipped my fabric at one end and it was ready to be knotted onto my elastic!

I stretched my elastic over a book and knotted my organza onto it. For my very first tutu, I held together one strip of purple organza and one strip of blue organza.

The first tutu I made.

When my elastic was full of organza and when my faith in this whole no-sew tutu business was low, I fluffed and separated the fabric. That was when the real tutu magic happened and the stodgy fabric became a fluffy wonder. For rest of the glittery organza tutus, I continued to use two fabric strips per knot, but, when I made my matte tulle tutus, I upped the count to three to four fabric strips. (Next time, I'll experiment with tying on only one piece of tulle at a time so my knots will be smaller.)

And here's the whole lot! They're so fun and floaty! I'm no ballerina, but I still want about a million of these. But I'll settle for one I'll wear exclusively for Halloween. Or to the Ren Faire. Or to the grocery store.

Happy making!