Lydia's Birthday Project!!

In the past few months we have spent a lot of time with our new friends...Jon & Doty.  They have the most precious little girl, Lydia, AND they live right down the street from us!  Today was her 1st birthday and I wanted to do something fun her gift.  What does every one year old little girl need??? A TUTU OF COURSE!!!  I thought it would be fun to try and make one, so...I thought I would share my project and maybe inspire some of you to make one. (Plus it was fun to play with my new camera)

1.  Purchase supplies-

(ribbon, 6" taffeta bolts, tacky glue, sequins, 1" elastic...and...I needed some sewing supplies)

2. Sew the elastic into a circle - luckily I guessed right on the size.  What I read said you should measure the waist then do an inch or two smaller so it fits snug.

(please do not make fun of my horrible sewing if you zoom in on the picture - I am CLEARLY not talented in this arena! But luckily you can't even see it when all the taffeta is on)

3. Cut the taffeta and ribbon.  I also guessed correctly on the length of the taffeta, but the key is to decide on your length then double it ( I will explain this later).

4.  Slide the elastic circle up your leg so you can sit back, relax and tie on your taffeta!

5.  Tie on your taffeta - All you have to do is tie a double knot around the elastic.  Just make sure your knot is facing down so the taffeta points and lays down.  I alternated white and purple and then every four pieces, I tied on a piece of ribbon.  The very last thing I added was some cute wired ribbon for a precious bow in the back! (I think next time I won't use wired though - crunches up too much...

6. The last and finishing touch - sequins.  I didn't know if I should add them at first, but they really made the tutu complete! I just used the tacky glue and it worked fine.

So we went to the party today and had a blast with the Hoffmans!  Lydia looked precious and we loved spending time with their family and friends.