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Tulle Skirt with Ribbon Flowers

Today’s contributor is Jill from Snugglebug University.  All posts written by Jill for Make It and Love It can be found HERE.

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Hi, it’s Jill from Snugglebug University. Have you seen all of the adorable tulle skirts that are popping up in stores this fall?  I loved them all so much that I decided I needed to make some tulle skirts of my own!  Today I’m going to show you how to make a tulle skirt with ribbon flowers.  That’s not all, though!  On my blog today I’ll show you how you can also modify this tutorial to make a more casual version.  That’s TWO different tulle skirts!  Yay!

DIY Tulle Skirt with Ribbon Flowers | via Make It and Love It
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Every fall I take a picture of my girls in the vineyards near my house, and it’s been so fun to watch them grow in each of the pictures.  Most of the time I just let them wear whatever they want, but I think they are finally getting old enough that I can plan some matching fall attire for them.

This tulle skirt is part of my plan for my youngest…and can I say just how much I love it?  The best part though is that my daughter really loves it too.  Hopefully that means she’ll wear it when I want her to wear it!

DIY Tulle Skirt with Ribbon Flowers | via Make It and Love It
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This skirt was my ultimate inspiration for the tulle skirt I made, but it wasn’t the only one.  I saw a pom-pom one at Target too that I LOVED!

The skirt is made with a knit fabric underneath the tulle.  This helps it not be so scratchy against your child’s leg.

DIY Tulle Skirt with Ribbon Flowers | via Make It and Love It
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The flowers are all made out of ribbon or tulle and come together very quickly.  I love what they add to the skirt…I’m almost wondering if I should have added more!

DIY Tulle Skirt with Ribbon Flowers | via Make It and Love It
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DIY Tulle Skirt with Ribbon Flowers | via Make It and Love It
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Now that this one is done I can’t help but imagine a Christmas tulle skirt version (with holly sewn on!) or a winter version (with little glittery snowflakes).  I’d love to see what variations you come up with!

DIY Tulle Skirt with Ribbon Flowers | via Make It and Love It
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Who is ready to get started?
Supplies:

***These are the amounts I used for my daughter’s skirt, which is about a size 5T.

  • 1/2 yard of knit fabric for the waistband and bottom layer of the skirt
  • 3/4 inch elastic for the waistband (about as long as your child’s waist.)
  • 3 yards of tulle
  • small pieces of ribbons, tulle, buttons or jewels for the flowers
  • a 3/4 inch plastic dritz ring for the tulle flower
  • basic sewing supplies

***As always, if you need a bit of help with the basic sewing skills used in this tutorial, don’t hesitate to check out the Sewing 101 post for more help.

Let’s get started!

The first thing that you need to do is measure your child’s waist.  My 4 year old’s waist was 20.5 inches. Then measure from your child’s waist to wear you want the skirt to fall to.  For my daughter, that was 11.5 inches.  I added about a half inch to the length measurement (for where you will attach the gathered part of the skirt to the waistband).  I didn’t add any length for the hem because that’s one of the great things about knits…you don’t really have to finish the edges.  If you decide to use a different material for your skirt waistband and bottom layer that’s totally ok, just make sure you add what length you need for a hem.

First we are going to cut out the waistband piece and the “bottom” skirt piece from the knit fabric. The waist band should be 1.5 times the size of your child’s waist, by 3.5 inches tall.  The skirt piece should be 2 times the waist piece, with your desired length (for me this was 12 inches).

Tulle Skirt with Ribbon Flowers (37)
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(Note, there’s no reason that the skirt layers have to be cut as one piece.  You can also cut them as two pieces and then sew up the side seams.)

Next you are going to cut the tulle pieces for the skirt.  If you’d like the skirt to be more puffy, just use a longer length).  I bought 3 yards of tulle and cut 9 rectangles, just keeping the length the length of the bolt, and making each 12 inches long.

If you need the hem the bottom of your skirt piece, go ahead and do so now. Gather the top of the skirt piece and gather up all of the layers of tulle.  I did 3 layers of tulle at a time.

Tulle Skirt with Ribbon Flowers (1)
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Adjust the gathers so that it matches the length of the waistband.

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I sewed the tulle and bottom layers together with a stretch stitch to keep them together and make it easier to sew later on.  (Doing it this way means that the tulle layers will be caught in your side seam.  Younger kids might find this to be itchy, but my daughter doesn’t really seem to mind it.  If you think you’d like to make it so no tulle makes it into the side seam, you can just sew the tulle layers together. Keep the knit as a separate layer that you will add in when you attach the waistband.)

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Once you’ve adjusted the layers so that they match the length of the waistband, it is time to sew up the side seams. One different thing about sewing with knits is that you’ll want to make sure to use a stretch stitch. This can be a regular zigzag, or it can be one of the other stretch stitches your machine offers.

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Sew up the side seams of the waistband as well.

 

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Place the waistband (wrong side out) so that it aligns with the top of the skirt (where the gathers are).  Pin the waistband in place, and then sew all around the skirt.

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Then fold the waistband in half.  Tuck under the lower raw edge, and pin to the inner side of the skirt.  You can also iron in place.  Depending on the fabric, ironing can help make sure that the edges stay tucked under.  You’ll be sewing along the same place that you just sewed, but this time you will be completing the passageway for the elastic.  Make sure that you leave a 1-2 inch opening so that you can feed the elastic through.

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Use a safety pin to pull the elastic through the passageway.  Sew the ends of the elastic together, and then then close up the passageway.

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Now all that is left is to make the flowers. I made three different types of flowers for this skirt and then I just hand-sewed them on.

For the first one, I used 5×9 inch pieces of tulle around a 3/4 inch dritz ring.

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Fold tulle in half, place in the center of the ring. 
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Then wrap the ends of the tulle over the ring side, and pull through the loop. pull tight.  Continue all around the ring with additional pieces of tulle and then cut to the size you want. Then just hand sew around the ring to attach it to the tulle.
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For the second one, I just folded the ribbon into a “daisy-like” configuration and then tacked the center in place by hand.  I added a gemstone to be the center and attached it to the tulle skirt with a little ribbon “loop” to act as a leaf.  When attaching the flowers I just attached to the tulle layer.

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The last flower type was created by gathering the length of the ribbon by hand, and then pulling tight.  I secured the center by hand sewing it tightly and then I added another gemstone for the center.  Changing the length of the ribbon (and the width) will change the size of your flower.

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When it comes to washing, I’m planning on washing in cold water and then line drying.  I’ve also found that if you hang your tulle skirts upside down it seems to help them hold their shape more.  I think that is it!  Let me know if you have any questions!

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Also, if you liked this post, click on over to my blog today to see another fun variation on this tutorial!

multi layered skirt
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Thank you so much for having me here on Make It and Love It!

–Jill

blog contributor Jill
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You can follow Jill on her blog (snugglebuguniversity.com), on instagram, on pinterest, and on facebook.

 

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Looking for more skirt inspiration? Check out these fun ideas:

Turn Old Jeans into a Maxi Skirt

Yoga Waistband CIRCLE SKIRT…so simple, so cozy!

Make a Flouncy Bubble Skirt…with an elastic waist

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Jill

Jill is a mom of two little girls, a scientist by training, and a maker at heart. She loves to sew, draft, craft, and create both for her kids and her house. You can read more about her creative journey on her blog, www.snugglebuguniversity.com.

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Hi, I'm Ashley

Hi, I’m Ashley—the DIY-enthusiast behind this crazy blog!

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