The Knotted Rose: Fairy Tutu Tutorial

With Princess ZaZa's fairy dress done, it was time to move on to the tutu! I could have easily done one of those no-sew tutu's in under a day.

But, having done one of the no-sew tutu's for her 2nd birthday announcements earlier this year, I decided that I don't like how the no-sew tutu's waist looks when finished. And as I have said time and again sewing something not only looks better, but it also holds up longer to the test of time.

Not really "no-sew" as I sewed the ribbons to the bottom of the tulle

I used organza to make the fairy tutu. The reason I chose organza and not tulle is for two reason's: the tight weave of the fabric and the fact that it singes nicely. If organza is held taunt and the edges are ran through a candle flame at a steady rate, the edges seal and create a lettuce edge effect.

Majority of the tools and materials I used

Raw organza edges, prone to snagging and unraveling.

Organza edges after being lightly burned.

I would have liked to post photo's of how to singe the fabric, but I would have needed another pair of hands to do so and Grumpy was unwilling to help me.

The amount of material needed to make this type of tutu varies depending on the size of child it is being made for, and the style of tutu. I used roughly half a yard of each color to make the tutu for a 19" waist. The under layer of the tutu is comprised of 9 - 6" wide by 9" height rectangles sewn together with an overlap of about an inch and then hand gathered.

Under Layer of the tutu.

To gather the fabric, the stitch length needs to be at its longest straight stitch setting when sewing the pieces together. Locate both the bottom and top threads on each side and pull only the bottom thread. Doing so will cause the fabric to "gather" or ruffle. I gathered from both edges to make my gathers more uniform. I gathered my fabric until it was roughly 24" long.

Top and Bottom threads.

The ruffles are starting to appear.

The layers on top of the under layer are cut into equilateral triangles with a height of 9", singed, then sewn together in a chain along one edge with an inch overlap and gathered.

See the lovely lettuce edge

Sewn together to form a bunting.

I made 7 of these chains for a total of 8 layers.

I intermingled all the colors to create the illusion of the tutu being made of leaves. I then sew the layers together in groups of 2. Being sure to align the gathered seams on top of each other and staggering the triangles. Then taking two groups of two layers and sew them together in the same fashion, so that in the end I only had two groups of four layers.

Carefully aligning the gathered stitches.

4 layers total

To make the waistband of the tutu I used some leftover dress fabric and cut it into a strip of fabric about 5" by 21". Putting the right side of the waistband to the under layer of my group of 4 strip and sewed a half inch seam.

The brown is the under layer of the tutu.

Underside of the tutu.

What will be the middle of the tutu.

Once that was done I decided to add some "leaves" to the tutu made out of the dress material as well. Cut in the same dimensions as the tutu "leaves". I also stay stitched the edges in the same manner as I did the bottom of the dress. I sew the right side of the waist band and the right side of the "leaves" together.

Top "leaves".

Leaves now attached to waist band.

The final group of four will be attached to the inside.

The last group of four layers were attached by aligning the wrong side of the dress leaves to the gathered stitches and sewing on top of both the gathered stitches and leaves seam. The final step to creating the waistband is a little difficult and should be done slowly. Fold the two groups of layers so that they meet with the wrong side of the waistband folded inward and the seam allowance facing the inside of the fold. Top stitch SLOWLY close to the edge of where the dress fabric joins with the layers.

So much fabric!

Aligning the seam allowance to point inward.

I overlapped the waist band when approaching the end of the waist band to create a continuous circle. I left the overlap open to run 19 " of elastic through it.