Classic Ballet Tutu Sewing Tutorial

Posted on September 12, 2017 by Emily 2 Comments. This post may contain affiliate links. Clicking and purchasing through them helps to keep the great content coming your way, thanks! Find all my favorite items in my Amazon SHOP HERE. Posts written in collaboration of Brother as a Brother Brand Ambassador.

Last year Rose took a dance class and I made her a classic ballet tutu! Now you can use this classic ballet tut sewing tutorial to make your little {or big} one a classical style ballet tutu. This is just slightly more like the real thing that a tulle and elastic skirt, but still easy to make and I’ll walk you through it.

Classic Ballet Tutu Sewing Tutorial

While little tot ballet did NOT really need a classic tutu, I wanted to try my hand at making one. I danced for several years in High School so I was pretty sure I could put one together. Rose was THRILLED with this tutu loved wearing it to her little dance class. These photos of here are already pretty old as this was last January.. She grows way too fast!!

Are you part of the Life Sew Savory pattern group on Facebook? It’s a great place to show off photos, ask questions and be inspired. Please join HERE if you aren’t a member.

Adorable right? You can also find the tutorial/pattern hack for the shirt here.

OK, let’s get started. You will need FOE elastic, Tulle {1 -2 yards depending on colors and size} and some scraps of fabric.

Cut the tulle the width of the fabric and the height you want your skirt to be. So if you want your skirt 10″ I would cut stripes of tulle 10″ wide. Sew at least 3 of these together to form a HUGE circle. You want this to be very gathered so if making a classic tutu for a larger girl you may want 4-5 sewn together. Repeat with a second color/layer if desired. You can make one layer more full than another as well. I made the blue very full {3 fabric widths} and the white layer less full {2 fabric lengths}.

Now to gather this monster. I like to use the thread method of gathering when I have SO much fabric to gather. Take a string and zig zag OVER it around the top of the tulle. DO NOT sew the string, just sew over it. I also finished this top edge of my tulle with the serger if you have.

Your string should look something like this now.

PULL the string to gather the fabric. You want to gather it to 2″ larger than your child’s hip measurement.

If you have two layers, gather them separate, then sew together with a basting stitch.

Now make 2″ strips of your scrap fabric. Create a circle that is the same measurement as the tulle above {2″ larger than your child’s hips”} SO if the hips are 19″ your circles will measure 21″ around. Finish both edges with a serger or zig-zag.

Cut the FOE 1″ SHORTER than your child’s waist {where the tutu will sit} It will be stretched a bit when sewing so we are making it smaller than the waist measurement.

Pin one fabric circle on each side of the top of the tulle. You are sandwiching the tulle between the right sides of the fabric. Sew with just a straight stitch 1/4″ seam allowance.

Now you can flip up the fabric and have a clean inside and outside of the tutu.

Sew the FOE in a circle and space it evenly around the fabric. You are going to sew it to the outside of the tutu. The backside of the elastic will be on the right side of the fabric, and you are sewing TWO layers of fabric and ONE elastic all at once. Stitch the elastic on with a zig zag, pulling the elastic to match the fabric.

and taaadaaa! You have a cute tutu! Trim up the tulle as desired.. I made the under blue layer a bit shorter than my top white layer to make it poof even more!

And take a bow, twirl a pirouette, or plie in your brand new ballet tutu!! Please let me know if you have any questions with this classic ballet tutu sewing tutorial and don’t forget to share photos in the FB group. We all love to see what you are working on!