Let it go…

If you have a daughter or niece who is anywhere between the ages of 2-10, you have PROBABLY heard “Let It Go” a few TOO many times. I have a four year old at home, who absolutely LOVES Frozen. Defining the word “love”… she has a Frozen themed bedroom, plates, place mats, clothes, shoes, school supplies – She LOVES it.

On a trip to The Disney Store at The Eaton Center in Toronto, I happened upon an Elsa dress that my daughter just fell in love with. It was almost $100, which is crazy. By the time I know it, Frozen will just be the next Spice Girls and Avery will have moved on to something that is new and of course … Much better than Frozen. So I decided for Christmas, I would make her one instead.

One skirt costs about $20 in material, and takes about 1.5 hours.

Here are the tools:

-Sparkly sky blue sheer fabric
-Matching sky blue SMALL HOLED tulle
-Light purple SMALL HOLED tulle
-Any colour of matching LARGE HOLED tulle (Not as much of this)
-This fabric band in photo # 2 or any child’s headband with holes in it like this that you will be able to weave fabric through
-Fabric scissors
-A small crochet hook
-String

1. Start by measuring out your fabric and marking every 3-4 inches with a dot or a line to give yourself an idea about where to cut your strips out. Typically tulle comes the same width but length is up to you and how long you want your skirt.

2. When you cut your strips, it’s really not important that they are straight. To be honest, I found the ones that were not cut in a straight line work better and add more texture to the tutu anyways.

3. When all your strips are cut, measure your child’s waist and cut your fabric band at that length. Lay the ends one on top of the other so the holes over lap and tie some string through the holes tight to keep the band together. This will act as your waist band for the tutu/dress and it will be the base that you do all the tulle work on.

4. Start with the bottom and work your way up. At this point it doesn’t matter which is the top or the bottom. If you lay the band down in-front of you, start working with the row closest to you and use that as your bottom. At this point you want to start with the LARGE HOLED TULLE FIRST. Doing this will help the tutu/dress “poof” and will really give it that dramatic princess effect.

5. Fold your strips of LARGE HOLED TULLE in half by bringing the two ends together (you should now have a loop at one end and two ends on the other).

6. Grab your crochet hook and use it to help you push your tulle down through one of the holes in the bottom row on your band.

7. Once you have the tulle through the hole, remove the crochet hook and poke it through the hole directly above the one you have just put the tulle through.

8. Pick the tulle up with the crochet hook and little bit by little bit, pull it through the hole.

9. Once you have the tulle through the hole pull it though a little bit and create a new loop with you fingers. Put your fingers through the loop and grab the ends of the tulle and pull the tulle through the loop to create a Lark’s Head knot.

10. Continue this procedure for the rest, alternating colours into whatever pattern you choose. Try alternating how many holes you skip in between where you place your tulle. For example: if on your first row you put tulle in holes 1-6-12-18 try on your next row to put the tulle in holes 4-8-12-16. That way the skirt will be full everywhere and will not have any empty spaces.

Have Fun!