FLOWER FAIRY TODDLER TUTU

Front
Make a whimsical flower fairy tutu. 

Back

This is another tutu for the Tutu Drive at Samster's Mommy:  http://samstermommy.blogspot.com/
I sort of made it up as I went along and do have a suggestion for a change from what I did on the waistband.

This is for a toddler tutu, but it could easily be upsided to child and adult sizes.  Use at least 2 1/2-3 times the waist measurement for the yardage and for a longer tutu double that and sew a seam at the bottom.  For the elastic would be the waist measurement plus 1/2 inch.

Items used:

• 1 yd 60 inch wide tulle
• 1 inch wide elastic, 19-21 inches for a toddler
• Sewing machine and thread
• Straight pins
• Iron
• Silk flowers
• T-Shirt
• Safety pin

Fold the tulle in half lengthwise, pin together at side and top and iron on low-medium setting to iron out any wrinkles and iron in a slight crease at the bottom.

Take the silk flowers apart and remove any rough plastic parts (I put the plastic center, etc.  in a jar to use on future projects)

Unfold the tulle and pin the flowers on one of the sides between the top and the ironed crease.

Stitch the flowers down to the side of fabric.  I used a sewin machine and stitched in the centers on most of the flowers, but you could just stitch around the edges.

Fold the fabric back together and pin.  Run a basting stitch 1/4 inch away from the top and other one 1/2 inch away from the top leaving long ends on each one, then gather to fit the width of the waistband.














For the waistband, I cut the bottom off of a T-Shirt which will save pressing and hemming (see below), but you could just use some stretchy fabric instead and press under 1/2 inch on one edge.

On the underneath side of the tutu, pin right side of the non-hemmed edge and stitch together using a regular stitch.

Press the edges up towards the top of the waistband, then fold the waistband over towards the front of the tutu.

Suggested change:  What I did at this point was was pin down and stitch the waistband on the other side of the tutu.  Instead of doing this, it would probably be easier to stitch the back together except for a 1-2 inch area on the inside of the waistband to string the elastic and then hand stitch it shut to avoid ugly zigzag stitching to stitch it together to avoid an itchy bulk of elastic poking in the back.

Pin the hemmed edge over the gathering stitches and match up to the waistband on the opposite side, pin down and stitch 1/4 inch from the edge of the waistband at the bottom.  I also stitched again 3/4 of an inch from the edge of the waistband at the bottom as I wanted it to be secure.

Pin the safety pin to the edge of the elastic and run it through the waistband until it is flush with the edge, then pin down each edge.  Pin the edges of the tutu, top side (right side) together and use a wide zigzag stitch on

the edge from the bottom up to the waistband.

On the waistband, push the sides together and zigzag shut, going over several times to be sure it is secure.  Because it will look a little ugly (see above picture with ugly zigzag stitching) use something to cover it up.  I used a sequined star from my stash.