Babies 1st Birthday *no sew* Tutu Dress {Tutorial}

Remember this onesie dress I made for a close friends baby shower just over a year and a half ago? 

Some months ago, Ms. Peyton finally grew big enough to fit in it. How adorable and perfect does she look? It puts a huge smile on my face when I get photos of little ones wearing their dresses that I create.

The big milestone was coming up for little Peyton; her first birthday. Her parents asked if I would like to make her birthday outfit--and of course I totally agreed to! They gave me free reign in designing it. Oh, the options!! After getting the ok with mom, I knew I wanted to go for a tutu dress. Mom said go all out--pink and girly. I told her she would not be disappointed!

I found this SUPER helpful tutorial on cutting the tulle for the skirt and this tutorial for creating the actual skirt using slip knots; both are from Angie at Treasures for Tots. She has a lot of tips for creating these cute outfits. After some googling and bloghopping I decided to make a 6.25" skirt for Peyton. Most baby tutus are made anywhere from 6"-8" in length but even at 12 months, little Ms. Peyton was still wearing 6-9 month onesies, so I didn't want the skirt to be TOO long. In the end, a 6.25" skirt worked perfectly, with my cardboard cut at exactly 12.5". (Jo-Anns will give you their cardboard pieces that they wrap their fabric with--I always keep a stash of these as they come in handy for many projects!)

I really wanted a multi-pink effect and some sparkle; I used two different shades of pink with the lighter one being a shimmer 'finish.' 

You can see the lighter pink has a shimmer effect compared to the 'matte' dark pink tulle

For some strange reason the first time I make something new I ALWAYS get nervous. Either that it won't work, it won't come out right, or that I did something wrong. I got very excited once the skirt started taking shape from just the very beginning. The pattern I used with my colors was simple; I rotated using 2 pieces of each color tulle. I didn't want a striped look, but I wanted a dimensional look--this worked perfectly.

My tutu skirt came along perfectly. In the meantime, I had also fell in love with these 'necklace shirts' I saw on Pinterest. They are just so girly and adorable and I thought it'd be the perfect compliment to the tutu for Peyton's dress. I used a white onesie and pink fabric paint. I hand-drew the individual pearl strands rather than using a 'stencil' and it turned out wonderfully; a little more work, but the finished product was totally worth it. The paint dried fairly quickly and the color was perfect. Again, it was the first time I had used fabric paint in a long time, so I was nervous. The one tip I'd recommend is to definitely have a surface on the inside of the onesie so the paint doesn't bleed through to the back...not that I had to make an entire second onesie or anything. ;)

Along with the dress I made a tulle flower to pin onto the pearl strands of her onesie (similar to those in the necklace shirts) but Peyton wasn't a fan and kept pulling at it so we had to take it off--thankfully I didn't sew it onto the onesie! She also had an adorable pink bow for her hair which she refused to keep in. BUT, of all the things she totally loved the tutu and had no issue with strutting her stuff in it her entire birthday! This was the main thing her mom and I was worried about--that she would pull and fuss with the tutu, but she had no problems with it. Maybe she knew how cute she looked. :) Keeping it tied in a simple bow was all it needed to stay up on Peyton throughout the day.

She did everything from opening her presents, to riding her pony to playing with her new toys in her tutu! The only reason we had to take it off was for her cake; no one wants a dirty birthday dress!

 

I definitely recommend making these skirts for birthdays, costumes or for photo shoots.  

They are totally affordable, easy to make, customizable and SO cute!

Maybe oneeee day I'll be able to make these for a little girl of my own. :)