DIY Tutu Princess Dresses

And operation Halloween costumes 2014: complete. I am even three days ahead of schedule! This year the Halloween costume discussion started early. The girls were set on princesses-no changing their mind! Liesel wanted to be Sleeping Beauty I mean Aurora and MJ wanted to be Cinderella. After these decisions were made in…August, I didn’t give it much thought until we were getting closer to the holiday. I began looking around and soon found that to buy princess dresses new ( not even the “Disney” brand) were going to be around $30 easy. That is when I made a new declaration, ” if costumes are going to cost >$20 each, I would find a cheaper way to make them myself!!” So I hit up Pinterest. And of course she didn’t let me down ( she rarely does).

I found a few tutorials on tulle inspired dresses and I was sold!. You can see I am a sucker for tulle, exhibit A, exhibit B. The idea seemed fairly straightforward and easy for a non sew-er like me☺️.

I first located some crochet tube tops for girls. They are similar to the head bands, but wider. I ordered them from kissyface creations for $2 each. For Moira I order a small light blue top, and Liesel’s was a medium light pink. I received both in 2 days! Next up was the tulle. Luckily Hobby lobby had all tulle on sale for .89 per yard! To be safe I ordered 6 yards of each color ( pink and blue), I also bought one yard of white.

To make the dress you must first measure your child from the bottom of tube top to about the ankle. Then add 1 inch and multiply by 2. After finding measurements I began cutting and cutting and cutting. I made each piece about six inches wide. This process would have been easier if I would have bought the pre measured tulle but I’m cheap and those were going to cost more than twice as much! Once you have your strips cut ( good to start with 30-40), you can start threading. Take one strip, fold it in half and feed it through the bottom loop in your crochet top

*tip: use a crochet hook, it makes this part go very fast*. Next, pull your bottom strips through the loop and pull gently until you make a nice knot.

. Continue until every hole on the bottom line of your crocheted top is knotted.

Next I made the embellishments aka sleeves and bodice using the white tulle. We had a few princess dress ups ( play condition) that had a Cinderella and Aurora picture on the front. I removed the picture and hot glued them to the front of the dress. Here are the finished products.

The girls love them!! I bought two tiaras at the dollar tree and called it a wrap!

But what about Emaline? We can’t forget our little Emmy! I first thought I would make her a costume similar to the girls except, Snow White. I quickly nixed this idea thinking it would be too difficult to make one so small. Maybe sew her a tutu??? Then while at Target last week I saw this little Cinderella bodysuit on clearance for $8 and I was sold!

Now our little princesses are ready to trick or treat🎃
In total I spent
Tops: $4
Tulle: $10
Tiaras: $2
Cinderella suit: $8
Total- $24!!! Not bad for three costumes☺️.