DIY: Adult Tutu

I love tutus!

For this year’s Halloween, I knew that I wanted to wear a tutu. At first, I searched for rainbow tutus as I thought about being a unicorn. However, after extensive searching, I found that they are expensive! The little tiny rave tutus, you know, the ones that don’t cover your butt. Well, those were on the cheaper end starting at $15+. I then thought maybe a single color would be cheaper, but they’re not.

So, I decided to make my own. I no longer cared about being a unicorn. I figured if I was going to spend time and money on a tutu, it should be one that I can wear more than just in Halloween. I went with those thoughts and made plans to make a black tutu.

Not only did I get to make it the length I wanted, which was more in the $30+ range online, but it only cost me $16! I found a 54″ 40-yard spool of black fabric tulle on Amazon for $13 and got satin ribbon from Walmart on sale for $3!

I first measured around my waist for the ribbon and left a bit of a lag for a loose bow when tied. I then measured the length from my waist to mid-calf, which was about 34 inches.

I figured that to do the loop method, the strips would have to be double the length, which would be 68 inches.

In the beginning, the plan was to use 20 yards because, from all the research I did, most people used 20 yards for similar length tutus. I then had to math. There are 720 inches in 20 yards. In order to get 68 inch long strips, the math dictated that I do 10.5 layers. Because I had plenty of tulle, I decided to do 12 layers for extra strands. This brought our total to about 22.5 yards.

For a 34 inch long skirt by 31 inches wide (with 2 ft of lag for bow)–

Here’s what I used in list form:

30 yards of 54” wide Black Fabric Tulle
55 inches of Ribbon
Scissors
Measuring Tape
Pillow

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The tulle comes in double layers, which is why the 54” wideness actually seems like 27”. I left as is for more puffiness and less work. Once I had the layers laid out, I cut the ends where the folds were. I then proceeded to cut the strands. I cut the tulle in half long ways and then in half again. In the end, I had four stacks of 68-inch tulle strips that were about 6.5 inches wide.

Then it was time to loop. I tied the ribbon around a pillow to make looping easier. If you’re not familiar with looping tulle, you fold your strips in half and pull the tulle through the fold over the ribbon.

The best part is how easy it was to make. It took me about an hour to an hour and a half of planning how long and wide to cut the strips I needed and actual cutting. It then took about 4 hours to complete, which also includes additional time for additional strip cutting I had to do towards the end, which I realized I would need a few more strands to cover the circumference of the waistline. This came to be another 4 layers, which equals to about 7.5 yards.

Overall I am pretty pleased with the result! (Oh yeah, and I decided to be a witch!)