Having a new granddaughter is so much fun! I get to make the cutest little things! In pink! My favorite color. In today’s installment of Baby Girl Week I’m showing you how I made a baby girl tutu and barefoot sandals for my little Mellie! Can you tell how excited I am to have a granddaughter?
To make these sandals you’ll need some fold-over elastic. (don’t ask me why it’s called that – I have no idea).
Mine is from JoAnn’s. And as you can see, I plan on making a lot of these ; ) I couldn’t resist the ruffle elastic!
I cut the elastic to 9″. Melanie is 3 months old and about 11 pounds, so adjust length for a bigger baby. Fold the elastic into a figure eight as shown above. Hot glue or sew the ends together, keeping the figure eight shape. Where the elastic overlaps in the middle, place a dab of hot glue to secure. Flip the elastic over and hot glue on a flower of your choice.
I made my flowers by wrapping tulle around my hand, tying it off around the center, then clipping the ends. I fluffed it out and hotglued a little flower in the center. It doesn’t get much easier than that.
How sweet are those baby piggies!
I can’t wait to show you how I made the tutu. It’s different from the other tutorials that I’ve seen where you cut a bunch of strips of tulle and tie them on. I don’t have time for that! So here’s what I came up with:
Supplies you’ll need:
- tulle (I bought 3 yards of 54″ wide: way too much – I’ll be making tutus until her first birthday!)
- scissors or rotary cutter
- cutting mat (if using rotary cutter)
- sewing machine (don’t worry – this is simply sewing a straight line!)
- ribbon (long enough to wrap around and tie a bow around baby’s waist)
With the tulle folded up and the selvage ends on the right side, place a straight on top of the tulle and cut to get an even edge.
Next, measure in from the edge two times the length you want the tutu to be. I wanted my tutu to be about 4 inches long so I cut 8 inches from the edge.
Now I have a 54″ long 8″ wide piece of tulle. I then cut that in half to make 2 27″ strips of tulle that are 8″ wide.
Now, take one strip to your sewing machine, and using a long stitch, sew a straight line down the middle. I backstitch at the end. Grab the bobbin thread from the beginning of the strip, and pull it to gather to desired length. Tie off and trim the threads. Do this again with the second strip of tulle.
Next, take the gathered strip of tulle and pin it to the ribbon as shown above. You’re going to attach the other strip of gathered tulle onto that ribbon, so be sure to leave enough room for it.
Now sew the gathered tulle strip to the ribbon.
Before you sew on the second strip of gathered tulle, fold over the first strip off to the right to avoid getting it caught in the stitching of the second strip of gathered tulle. Take your time with this step, being careful not to catch the first strip in your stitching.
The two folded over 8″ wide strips of tulles are now 4 layers of 4″ tulle. Glue on some pretty, little flowers if you like! Then tie onto baby and takes lots of photos! Note: the next time I make one I will use wider ribbon and add at least one more strip of tulle so that the skirt would have 6 layers of tulle.
I love the sweet touch that the little roses make on the waist band.
And since I’m on the subject of babies, my friend Lauren from The Thinking Closet just posted an adorable round-up of the sweetest DIY baby onesies that is sure to give you loads of inspiration. You may see a project of mine in there ; )
And a quick reminder that today is the last to save 25% on all specialty media at Silhouette®. Use the code BABBLE to get the savings! If you don’t have a Silhouette® yet, today is last chance to get in a fantastic bundle deal for the Cameo or Portrait.
I like to party here.
Stopping by from DIY Sunday Showcase link party. This is sooo precious. This would be a great gift for a newborn or for a photo shoot. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you very much for your advice, in fact, we were very surprised how different prices and services can be in different clinics. You are right, if a balanced approach to all issues, even to the purchase of children’s clothes, you can save a lot of money.baby gate reviews
Hi, Love all of this! Thank you so much for sharing honestly! It’s true that I think “love” & “bond” are different. Love can be automatic whereas a bond requires a bit more effort. Super interesting!double banister baby gate
Thanks! I’ve already bought the materials for the sandals! So cute!
BTW, it’s called fold-over elastic because you fold it over your fabric so that you have elastic on both sides. Apparently, it’s used mostly in underwear. I learnt that at the store today.
Cheers from Buenos Aires 😀
I would have liked the directions for how you made the tulle shoes too.