Knotted Tulle Skirt

Yesterday Kaitlyn was thrilled to go to a friend's 4th birthday party. I usually have a hard time coming up with a gift that is fun and doesn't blow the budget. My new favorite gift for little girls is a knotted tulle skirt--a ballerina skirt for playing dress-ups. I've seen them online in photos and found a few how-to sites. So far I've made 2 for little girl birthday parties. Kaitlyn is still waiting for one for herself! Maybe for her own birthday next month...

They are so easy to make. This is what you need:

1 length of 3/4" elastic

some way to sew the elastic together into a loop

1 spool of tulle (Wilton, 65 yards long x 6 inches wide)

ribbons or silk flowers, optional

You can of course buy yards of tulle and cut it into strips--you may have to do this if you want a certain color or kind of tulle. I found the spools of 6 inch wide tulle at Wal-Mart in the wedding section of the craft department ($6). I haven't shopped other stores to see if more colors or brands are available. I've seen white, blue, and pink. The one I just made had pink, blue, and some blue ribbons.

Measure the child's waist and add an inch or two to make the elastic waistband. Cut the elastic to length and sew it into a loop on the sewing machine. I've heard that you can also use a length of ribbon for this--which would make it a tie-on skirt instead of a pull-on.

Cut the tulle into lengths twice as long as you want the skirt's finished length to be. Instead of cutting and measuring over and over I found a quicker way to do it. I wrap it neatly around my cutting mat (for me each piece of tulle ended up a yard). After you've wrapped it around and around several times carefully cut through the pieces of tulle at the edges of the board. (I wish I had a picture of this to show what I mean!)

Then, one at a time, knot the pieces with a square knot onto the waistband. Try to attach each piece in the middle of the length of tulle. You can also knot additional ribbons into the skirt along with the tulle for a fancier look--or glue on silk flowers. When you've covered the entire waistband you're done! I used up about 2/3 of the spool--so that would be about 45-50 pieces of tulle (6 inches wide and a yard long).

Here is Kaitlyn wearing the skirt before she took it to her friend. (No she doesn't normally wear her swimsuit around--the party had a mermaid theme and they were playing in the water!)