The crafty mess starts to annoy me after sitting out for a couple weeks, and I end up throwing everything into a box, with no attention to any kind of organization, and the box gets put into the back room until my husband does a dump run the next time the clutter gets to him.
So for the most part, I've given up even trying. At least until recently!
With the help of Pinterest, and a crafty girlfriend I can copy, and helpful Mr. Goggle, I've actually been feeling kidna inspired to make some cool things for Growly Bear's big 1st Birthday bash that's coming up at the end of May.
One of the things I want to do as part of the 1st Birthday celebration experience, is get "Cake Smash" photos done. For those of you not familiar with that term, you basically make and decorate (or buy) a cake, and dress your adorable little baby up in not much of anything, and let your little one massacre it as you capture it on film (or I guess capture it on "memory card" in this day and age...?)!
Luckily, the same girlfriend of mine who's crafty, also happens to be a photographer! (You've seen her work on my blog on my "Family Photo Wall" post). So, we've been planning this photo shoot for weeks, and having lots of fun talking about props and decorations and all that good stuff. And then a couple weeks ago, one of us came across a Cake Smash photo shoot online where the adorable little girl was wearing a pink tutu halter dress!!! And needless to say, we decided Growly Bear HAD to have one so we could work it into her photo shoot too!
So, me, the crafty-mommy-wanna be decided to make it for her. And you know what, it turned out not half bad!
What You'll Need
Measuring Tape
Tutu Elastic (or any elastic that's about 1/2 inch wide)
Needle and Thread
6 inch wide Tulle on a spool (Around 100 yards)
Ribbon (For the halter)
Silk flower
Scissors
A large coffee can
First, I measured Growly Bear around her chest where I wanted the top of the tutu to sit. Her chest was 19 inches around. I subtracted 1.5 inches from this number, and cut my tutu elastic that length, so 17.5 inches. (The elastic stretches while you're tying the tulle, so you want to make sure to subtract the 1.5 inches, otherwise it will be too big). Sew your elastic together, letting it overlap a half inch. In the end, the elastic will be 2 inches smaller then the measurement you took of your child's chest.
Next, I measured from where the elastic would sit around her chest, to her feet. (I'm making a full length tutu dress. You can easily make a shorter one if you'd like). From her chest to her feet was 23 inches long. Double this number (you'll be folding your tulle in half) and add 1 inch (to allow for the knot), and this is the length you'll need to cut your tulle. So, I ended up cutting my tulle lengths 47 inches long. I have no idea how much I used. I just cut a bunch, to get started, and ended up needing to cut more when I was half done.
Place your elastic around your coffee can. Fold your tulle in half, and create a loop.
Love and Hugs