Desmond Tutu

This is a very easy tutuorial (wah ha ha ha, I so funny).

Get some elastic from the easiest source you can. WalMart, JoAnnes, Spotlight, those old sweat pants that don't fit anymore. Measure the elastic for the right size of the desired tutu recipient (I won't judge you if you want to make this for yourself).

Sew the elastic together. I decided to use a zig-zag stitch but any stitch will do. You could even hand stitch this if you don't have a sewing machine. If you are really lazy, I suppose even a stapler would do the trick here. Just don't blame me if it doesn't last as long.

Get a large pile of tulle. I got this in the remnants bin at WalMart for under a dollar. I think it was just under a yard. If you would like your tutus longer than what mine turned out you will need to buy more tulle, I used every last scrap of this pile. It really is cheap so it won't break the bank.

Cut it up into a pile of strips. They don't have to be perfect or even close to perfect, they just have to be strips.

Fold the tulle in half, loop it around the elastic and make a half hitch.

I found it worked much better if I tightened the half hitch around my thumb, instead of the elastic alone.

Work the half hitches closely together.

In no time you will have a cute little tutu like this. In the picture above you can see the loops of the half hitches. If you turn the tutu inside out at this point you get a nice finish like the picture below.

At this point it could be finished but...

if you want it to be a little more secure or add some nice ribbons you can sew the entire band with a loose zig-zag stitch.

The zig-zag stitch ensures that you will still be able to stretch the elastic without breaking the thread. So, please don't use a straight stitch here.

All done. Find a cute little bum (yours even, still not judging) and dance...

dance...

dance...

dance.

The crazy thing here is like the kids at Christmas who get an expensive toy and end up playing in the box. The girls love these tutus and overall they took less than two hours to make, with interruptions. However, those capes that I made, that took an entire day, still sit unused.

Go figure.