On the 6th Day of Christmas

my true love made for me the cutest Santa tutu. 

On Pinterst (surprise, surprise) I found the most adorable Santa outfit for a little girl.  I pinned it thinking that I would make it someday for my own little girl (fingers crossed for the future).  But someday came sooner than expected, because I made one for Miss McKinli.  

The picture was found on Etsy for sale at $89.99 (regularly $115.00) - YIKES!  So, Heather and I brainstormed ideas for the materials and then I tried different things to create my own version.  

Materials:

5 yards of red tulle

white feather boa

felted ribbon

buckle 

1" elastic

thread

Tutorial:

There are so many tutorials out there on how to make a tutu.  I had Heather measure McKinli just under her armpits and cut the elastic to be 1 inch shorter.  Then I sewed the two ends together to create a circle.  

Next I cut the tulle to be 5-6 inches wide & the length needed to be 12 inches, so I cut it at 24-26 inches.  Once everything was cut I put the elastic around my leg and began the tying process.  

The finished tutu

The next step was to figure out how to attache a feather boa to the top.  I originally thought I would have to hot glue it.  But, instead I decided to tie a piece of thread around the tutu and then continuously wrap it around to keep the boa in place.  I ended up going around the top of the tutu twice.  Then I cut the excess feather boa pieces off.  

Finally, I used McKinli's measurements again and cut the black felt ribbon to that length.  Then I sewed the ends together to create a circular belt.  If using a real buckle be sure to secure it on the ribbon before sewing it.  

I also wanted to make sure it would actually fit around her, so I made a second belt that tied around her (just incase).  Then instead of using a buckle, Heather was going to add a little bling in a square shape to create the look of one.  

The complete Santa tutu (without the bling)

I can't wait to see pictures of how Miss McKinli looks in the completed outfit!