Just made my daughter this rag tutu. Found the idea online and had to recreate it. BTW this is
SO easy. The hardest part is sewing the two ends of the elastic together to make a loop. If you can manage that, you can make this tutu.
I've posted things in the past, and people have PM'd me asking how I made them. Unfortunately I have very little time to reply, so figured while I have the time, I'd explain it here and then you all know
How to:
Measure your child's waistline and cut elastic to the size. The elastic I used was about 1cm in width. Sew the ends together to make a loop.
Cut loads of 12x12 inch squares of fabric (this is the length that was ideal for my daughter (22m), so perhaps you will need longer). I used polyester, but you can also use cotton etc. I basically wanted the most lightweight material I could find because adding so much material to a skirt makes it heavy, and you want to keep the weight down, especially if it's for a child
Basically, I wanted to use triangular cuts of fabric, as it's thin at the top where you need to knot it to the waistband, wide in the middle to add body to the skirt, and thin at the bottom to look "raggy". I made these by cutting squares, and then cutting them diagonally to make two separate triangles.
I basically measured my daughter's leg, found the length I wanted for the skirt, which was 11 inches (she's 22 months old, but wanted it long enough to last her a few years), then added 4 inches for the knot, totalling 15 inches. Since I wanted the long edge of the triangle to go down the leg, that part would have to be 15 inches long. To have a cut triangle that size, the squares they came from would have to be approx 12x12. The squares don't have to be cut perfectly at all; mine were all over the place and I cut badly, but when they're in the skirt you can't tell because it's all folded up anyway.
Cut the squares diagonally through the middle to make triangles. It's better to use pinking shears if you have them as this will reduce the fraying. The fabric will fray anyway, but that's the whole point of the rag tutu. This just limits the fraying, and means you don't need to sit there and hem every triangle.
I used whatever fabrics I had left, and then bought a few more from the shop. But you could use all the same pattern, or coordinating colours; whatever you want really. I ended up with about 40 triangles I guess, though you just need to have enough to make the skirt look full once it's done.
Simply knot each triangle, tightly, onto the waistband until the entire waistband is covered. Voila!
They also say not to wash the skirt in the washing machine as it will fray more. There's no way I'm not washing it, so I think I'm going to try putting it in one of those mesh laundry bags (you can find them in the supermarket) and then sticking it in the machine. That tends to help with other things, so we'll see
