TuTu(torial): DIY Fabric TuTu

 
I recently shared this project on The Wiegands. It’s so fun and pretty. So I HAD  to share it with all of you who who missed it. This fabric tutu is very easy to make and you can do it all, start to finish, in ONE nap time. BONUS: If you even semi-regularly sew, you’ll have everything you need.


What you’ll need:

• Scrap fabric
• Elastic
• Scissors to cut fabric (pinking shears if you have them)
• Sewing machine to make waistband.

 
Making the TuTu:
As you can see from the picture, your strips do not need to be perfect, or even the same length. It adds character to your tutu. Some of the pieces we’re not long enough so I pieced them together with the sewing machine. My strips measured 20-22 inches with a few 17-19 inch strips thrown in. The width of my strips were somewhere around 1.5”.  (I did not use a ruler or measuring tape to cut my strips… all of them are uneven.)
Tip: If you have pinking shears, I would recommend using them to cut your strips, as it will keeping the fraying to a minimum


For the elastic waistband, I used 1/2” elastic. The length of the elastic should match the measurement of your child’ waist.

Now the only thing you have left to do is to tie your strips around the elastic band. (My daughters waist measure 18” and I used 42 strips)
I also added a few places of scrap tulle for fun. Make sure when you’re double knotting, you’re getting the knots some-what close to the center of the strip.

After your all done, you can go through and trim up the super long strips and make the whole thing even.
Adelyn loves it. I love it. I hope you love it!


You could use just a few different fabrics with matching tones and I’m sure it would be even cuter! Or add more tulle through out it to make it more “tutu”ish.






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Note: The strips will fray, but it adds more character. Like I said before, cutting the strips with pinking shears will minimize that fraying. I would NOT recommend washing this in the washing machine.
I’d love to see pictures of your finished fabric tutu’s.

# kristanlynn
xoxo  

Fabric Covered Cork Board: A DIY Tutorial

I’ve been meaning to make this for a long time., and finally sat down yesterday to put it together. I figured some of you might want to make one too. So I took pictures a long the way.

Materials:

• Cork (I got a package of 4 (12 x 12) squares at Walmart for 6 bucks)
• Fabric (I used a Fat Quarter, which was more than enough. You could also upcycle old sheets, an old t-shirt, table cloth.. etc…)
• Cardboard (I used cardboard from an old box)
• Ribbon
• Thumb tacks
• Dress pins
• Hot glue and glue gun
• Iron
• Scissors

Lay out your fabric and cut 1 inch around the coark board.

Iron your fabric so it is nice and crisp.

Cut your cardboard the same size as your cork.
Hot glue the cork and cardboard together.
(You can skip this step if your cork is thicker. I added the cardboard to keep the tacks from showing through on the back side)

Center your cork on the fabric and use the thumb tacks to secure fabric to the cardboard/cork.

Fold the edges as if you are wrapping a box.
Make sure you pull the fabric TIGHT while securing.

This is what you should have so far:

Now we can start adding the ribbon.
You could wrap it in one long piece and secure with thumb tacks.
OR
You can do it like me:

I cut the ribbon as I went, leaving an inch hanging over each side.
I spaced the ribbon about an inch apart.
You could space out much further if you’re wanting to display larger things,
(I wanted mine to display all the lovely business cards I’ve received)

Secure ribbon with hot glue. (Later I added  tacks to ensure the ribbon would not slip.

I changed up the color of the ribbon. But one color would work well too.

Now it’s time to create the pockets. Place ribbon the same way you did before, just from the opposite side, creating diamonds or rectangles (as pictured above).
Secure in back with hot glue and tacks.

After all the ribbon is secured in back.
Push dress pins through each ribbon cross:

Take a pair of needle-nosed pliers and bend the back of dress pin so it faces the cardboard.

Cover the backside with contrasting fabric or packaging paper…
and VOILA! You’re done! +

You don’t even need to cover the back if you don’t want to, no one will see it.

Enjoy! Would love to see some of the ones you make.

# kristanlynn