tutus

Cute huh? Thanks go to Kayla for suggesting such an adorable project for February's festivities.

If you are coming, and planning to make one of these little darlings,

you need to bring the following:

• 3 - 6 yards of tulle.

The amount of tulle depends on the size of your monkey and the "poofiness" of your tutu. More tulle = more poof. Also, feel free to buy all your tulle just one color, or mix it up a bit with coordinating colors. (Photo 1 and 2 were made with 2 different coordinating colors, and photo 3 is made with only 1)

• White sewing elastic, cut the size of your monkey's waist.

3/4" elastic works best for bigger monkeys, where 1 - 1 1/2" inch elastic works best for the baby monkeys. (the fatter elastic tends to curl on bigger monkeys.)

• gems, silk flowers, skinny ribbons (optional)

To add a little flare to your tutu you can hand sew on some little embellishments (see photo 1) If you choose to do this, bring a needle and thread. Hot glue works as well, it is just quite a bit messier...

• two inch wide satin ribbon (optional)

This picture shows the tutu's waistband wrapped in a 2 inch wide satin ribbon.

If you would like to protect your monkey's tummy (because tulle is very very scratchy) and ensure that they will actually wear your newest creation, bring a piece of coordinating ribbon that is 2 - 2 1/2 times the size of your little monkey's waist. Disclaimer: some monkey's will wear tutu even if it's scratchy. It just depends. A shirt will also help buffer the owies.

{Please note, all photos are from etsy, here and here. The tutus pictured are for sale at those shops, if you so desire.}