Fluffy Runner’s Tutu a No-Sew Tutorial

So I am a day late on this. Keeping track of time/dates/ anything has not been for forte’ lately. Life has been crazy, thanks to allowing myself to get dragged into other people’s issues. I like to help and it can kick me in the rear sometimes. At least my workouts were charted out for me so I didn’t mess those up!

Anyhow the other night I finished my second tutu for The Color Run in Ann Arbor, MI. Pictures of each step were taken so I can do a tutorial. I based this on Idiot Runner Girl’s tutorial. You can check it out here.. click me

First thing first you need supplies. I am sure you already knew that though!

Supplies:

• Tulle (125 yards were used to make this tutu)
• Scissors
• Ribbon
• Measuring Tape
• Plenty of Time
• You!

First things first gather up your supplies. I used five colors of 6 inch tulle they came in 25 yard spools. You can buy the wider bolts of tulle also and just cut the strips to make them 6 inches wide. Tulle can be purchased in fabric and crafting supply stores or even online. You can use less for a not so full tutu or more for an insanely full tutu I will assure you that 125 yards will make a pretty fluffy and full tutu.

Supplies.. Measuring tape as well as the pink and purple tulle not shown.

Now that you have your supplies together it is time to turn those rolls of tulle into strips of tulle. I wanted my tutu to be a little bit on the longer side so the tulle was measured and cut into 30 inch strips. This will give you a tutu that is about 14 inches long. This also takes forever. While I measured and cut I watched (well more listened to) a movie. I don’t even recall what it was so it must have not been that good.

The white sheet of paper was to help me see the tulle better while cutting.

Now you need something to put the tulle on, this is where the ribbon comes into play. I cut a 7 foot length of ribbon. It will be too long but it best to cut it longer then trim after you are finished and tie the bow in the ribbon.

Yay ribbon!

It is time to get this tutu going! I used two of the 30 inch strips of tulle and folded them in half. One on top of the other, then made an upside down “U” shape with it, this is the beginning of our loop.

easy peasy

Take your tulle and place it under the ribbon with the top of our loop above the ribbon line.

This is about to get exciting 😛

Fold the top of your loop over the ribbon like so making a closed loop with the ribbon being the top and the tulle being the bottom you should have a “U” shaped hole (loop):

You still with me?

Here is the trickiest part. It is actually pretty simple. Take the two tails (loose ends of tulle on your loop) and pull then through the loop.

There you go!

Now grab the ends and pull into your loop turns into a knot.

Pull!!

And there you go, you have your first knot finished!

1 down, 1 billion to go 😛

Just continue this process in whatever pattern you would like for your tutu. You can even just do it in a solid color. But what fun would that be?

I think you get the point here. Just keep going, and going, and going!

I did not pull my knots tight I left them loose (well, just not super tight)so I could push them together easier to get my proper size for me. I wanted to be sure I used the entire lot of tulle. So as I am looping and knotting away the teasing started. “That is a lot of tutu I thought you were trying to get thinner not fatter.” “How much weight do you plan to gain by July?” ‘Are you and your friend doing a three-legged race and you both need to fit into the same on?” Ahh men, can’t kill them……….. Don’t worry they got it right back. I can be a bit sassy at times. HA!

It was HUGE! Tico also wanted to be included in this post too. Look how cute he is hanging out with mom and supervising the tutu making process.

Next I grabbed the ribbon ends and started to push the tulle knots together pulling any of the knots tighter that looked to big. After it started to shrink in size I put it around my waist and continued to pull until it was the appropriate size for me.

Pull!

All you have to do now is tie your ribbon in a bow, trim the ends of the ribbon to make them the length you like and get out there and run.  Can’t wait to wear mine at the color run. I have two more after that so I am going to start planning colors and kick out some tutus!

It is full enough to stand on its own!

This was my first tutorial post so I hope that everything was explained well and coherent. These are easy to do and just consume quite a bit of time. So be sure you plan to have an evening free or do it in intervals. Have fun making your tutus!

Me in the latest tutu. it is too full to fit in the mirror. I think I need someone around to be a personal photographer for when I blog.