Tutu Bow Holder Tutorial

So my little one has a plethora of bows, and the little bow holder I made her when she was born was getting too small. I wanted something super cute, so I went with the one that looks like an adorable tutu. You can find these on Etsy for somewhere between $45 and $60, but if you already have the basics (hot glue gun, scissors,etc) then this little project should only cost you about $20. So with that, here's what you'll need:

• 1/2 yard to 3/4 yard fabric (depending on how big your bodice will be)
• Batting
• Scissors
• 6 yards tulle
• Hot glue gun
• Ribbon of your choice (for a list of the ones I used, scroll to the bottom)
• Cardboard

I read through some tutorials before I started, but they all made this seem way more complicated than it is, so I'm trying to keep this simple. First you'll want to decide how you'll want your completed bow holder to look. I suggest that you don't go to the craft store to buy your ribbon and tulle until you have decided on a design, because if you're like me you'll come out of Hobby Lobby with five different projects in your cart. I drew a quick messy pick of how I wanted it to look and headed out to buy everything.

The first thing you'll want to do is draw the template for your bodice. Fold a piece of paper lengthwise, draw and cut.

Trace your bodice out on the cardboard twice, cut and hot glue together. You'll want to double up on the cardboard because without doubling your bodice might start to bend over time.

Hot glue a sheet of your batting to the front of your cardboard bodice and cut the excess. Hot glue one more sheet of batting to double up the batting and once again, cut the excess.

Now for attaching the fabric - definitely the hardest part. If you get through this, you're good. Lay your bodice over the fabric to see where you want the fabric to lay, especially if your fabric has a pattern. Mine had the damask, so I wanted it to be centered perfectly. Next cut out your fabric with excess on all sides. You can use a fabric pen to trace around, but I just held the bodice in place and cut.

Place the bodice on the backside of the fabric with the batting face down. Start cutting slits on all curves - basically everything minus the bottom and the tops of the shoulders of the bodice. This part is not easy, but if you pull and check as you go, you'll be ok. Don't cut to far, or the slits will bleed through to the front, but you'll see that if they're too short the fabric won't fold up and over the the back properly. Hot glue as you go, while pulling tight - the neck is where you'll definitely glue your fingers together =] Simply fold the excess on the shoulders and bottom and hot glue.

Yay - now we're on to the tulle. You'll need to get the tulle by the yard instead of the 6 inch rolls that you would use for regular tutus. The tulle comes folded, leave it folded. Bunch up the tulle and tie with 1/8 ribbon, measure and cut (I do mine about 20 inches long). Repeat until you have enough for the tutu part. I did 4 white and 5 pink strands.

Next glue your tulle to the bottom of the bodice, making the two outermost strands on each side tilt slightly out.

Next get your ribbon that will actually hold the bows. You won't want to get chincy with the ribbon you get for this - get good quality grossgrain riboon. As you can see in the top left corner of the above picture, mine are all glued and ready to be glued to the tutu. I used the 5/8 inch pink glued to the 1 and 1/2 damask ribbon. I did three of each of these, however, you could also use a 3/4 ribbon and do 5 strands.

Once you have your bow holder ribbons glued on, glue a piece of 1 and 1/2 double faced satin ribbon over the tops of the tulle and ribbon at the bottom of the bodice. (Sorry - I got a picture of this step and my daughter deleted it) Finish up the final touches - any bows or flowers that you'll want to place on the bodice or tutu. Also, cut a piece of ribbon to glue to the shoulders to use as a hanger. I did two bows at the bottom of the bodice and one on the top left. At the very end I also cut and glued a piece of felt to the back of the bodice, just so it covered up all the cardboard and glued ends.

And that's it! All done and beautiful! Below are some extra tips and tricks as well as the ribbon that I used on my bow holder.

Ribbon I used:

• 1 and 1/2 inch Grossgrain (damask)
• 5/8 inch grossgrain (pink polka dot)
• 1 and 1/2 double faced satin (black)

Tips & Tricks:

• Get a newish glue gun. I have a newer one (really cheap that I got at Hobby Lobby) it works really well, but halfway through I ran out of glue and had to use my mother's glue gun from like the 70s - they get super hot and I burned my fingers like crazy because the glue got so darn hot.
• Make sure all your tulle is the same length after it's glued to the bodice. The easiest way to do this is to sit on the bodice, pull the tulle with your hands, bunch it all together at the ends and cut away.
• Have Fun!