How To Make The Easiest Tutu Ever

I made Little Una Fox a tutu to wear to her peacock birthday party.  I have looked at a couple of different ways to make tutu's and decided that I was going to keep it really simple as I intended to decorated this one with a felt peacock tail.  So the method I used to make the tutu is so simple there is almost no sewing involved.  You can add the peacock tail or not of course.  Here's how I did it:

You Will Need:
For the tutu
elastic approx 2cm wide - a length roughly 4cm larger than your child's waist measurement
tulle - I used almost all of 3 x 5m rolls in 3 different colours
ribbon in a contrasting colour 3 x length of your child's waist.
scissors
needle and thread - optional

For the peacock feathers
purple, green, blue and brown felt
paper & pencil
scissors
pins
glue
ribbon
needle and thread
gold thread - optional


To make the tutu:
1.  Measure your child's waist and cut a length of elastic approx 4cm larger than this.  Create a waistband by sewing the two ends together.  If you really can't sew you could just knot it.
(The extra 4 cm is to allow you to sew the two ends together and also the thickness of the tulle wrapped around the waistband of the tutu needs to be taken into account in the waist measurement - so, I'm being generous with the elastic.)


2. Measure from your child's waist to your child's knee and add about 2cm.  Cut strips of tulle double this length and approx 14cm wide.

3.  Loop your tulle round the elastic and then back through on itself; see steps 1, 2 & 3 in the pictures above.  Keep doing this until you have completely covered the elastic waist band, alternating the different colours of tulle; and voilà...

4. I also threaded a piece of contrasting ribbon through the tulle loops at the waist to tie in a bow at the front or back if you are not making the peacock tail.


To make the feathers:
I made 10 feathers as this number forms a nice symetrical triangle pattern, you could do more or less.

1. Draw a design for the feathers onto A4 paper and from this make a template for each part of the feather; see the pictue below:

2.  Assign each part of the feather a colour then pin that piece of the template to the felt and cut around.  Make as many as you want feathers. Then with fabric glue, used very sparingly, you can glue each section of the feather one on top of the other.

3. If you wish you can also embroider lines of gold onto each feather.  I used a few extra stitches to secure the layers of the feather design.

4. Sew the first few feathers to the ribbon you have looped through the waistband of the tutu.  Then each remaining feather can be sewn to lengths of ribbon and then the ribbon sewn to the waistband.  Vary the lengths of the ribbon so that the peacock feathers hang at different lengths down the back of the skirt. 

0

A Peacock Party for my Seven Year Old

Little Una Fox was 7 on Wednesday.  My very creative daughter drew a beautiful picture of a peacock, there are a couple of these beautiful birds that roam our village so she has seen them often.  When I suggested to her that we could use the picture as the invitation to her birthday party, she got very excited.  So, we had a bit of a brainstorm, a look on pinterest for more inspiration (I put the mood-board up on one of my last post) and a Peacock Party was born.

I'd already told Una that this year we would celebrate her birthday at our home, which is a small, very narrow, cottage in Hertfordshire, so it would be an equally small number of children.  Until this year she has always had a pretty big do at a hall or restaurant.  But now she is 7, we decided an intimate party with just a few of her friends from school would be fun.  And more manageable for me with a busy month of parties and Mrs Fox's Crafty Boxes launching.

I planned to make something for Una to wear at the party.  One of my children's birthday and Christmas gifts is always made or vintage.  So, this year I made a peacock tutu, for my little Peacock Princess.  I will give more details on the making of this in my next post.

The party started straight after school with Una, her cousin, Joseph, and 5 friends.  In the front room I set up a simple craft for the guests on their arrival; making paper lanterns and these beautiful paper-craft peacocks that I bought from Happy Thoughts Papercraft.  Just something to keep them busy until everyone had arrived.   These are sold as downloadable PDF's on Happy Thoughts site and are GREAT value for money and perfect as a party craft.

Once all the little guests had arrived we moved into the back sitting room where I had set up a table with our main craft; making peg dolls.  Scraps of fabric and paper, ribbon, string and wool, felt tip pens and a few black sharpie pens, scissors and glue were what this required, along with old style wooden pegs with little stands.  I also supplied them with a single pot of turquoise paint.  The results were great.  I had several peg dolls I had made for them to take inspiration from but otherwise I let them do whatever they liked.  I had one boy amongst the guests and so had some more 'masculine' peg doll ideas.  A couple of the girls really liked his superhero peg dolls and so Captain Fartypants was joined by a couple of other scatalogically named superheros.

After the peg dolls we had our first game.  Onto A2 sized paper I hand painted a peacock, taken from a design by the fabulous Lab Partners -a design duo based in Oakland, CA whose limited edition prints can be purchased and are shipped internationally.  I left white shapes on the design to be filled in with peacock feathers.  These feathers I cut out from the handmade paper I used to make the children's sweetie cube party favours.  The children each had a feather with their name on and had to try and stick these onto the white shapes on the peacock.  Much hilarity fuelled by chocolate 'peacock eggs' for the 'winners' lead to several rounds of this game.

And then it was time for tea.  I used my mismatched vintage china to serve a typical party tea.  Una felt very grown up as she hosted her little guests, who were left in the playroom unattended until the noises coming from the room started to sound like little high-pitched gremlins running amok.

After tea we had a few more games, musical bumps and pass the parcel.  I'd made a peacock birthday cake, and candles were duelly blown out.  I'm quite proud of the result of my mad rush on Tuesday morning to purchase a giant cup cake mould and cake decorating supplies.  The warm helpful staff at the Sugarsmiths in Hertford were supportive to a fault, even though I must have seemed a complete idiot.  I've no baking skills at all, and simply figured fondant icing surely works like playdo and if I can paint a peacock onto paper I can paint a peacock onto a giant sponge cup cake.

Phew! I was more than exhausted when the children were ready to go home.  Their party bag was decorated with more peacock feathers, handmade paper and real.  A little sweetie cube, another peg doll kit and a Happpy Thought papercraft peacock to do at home, a mini paint box and a chocolate cupcake with a single edible rice paper peacock feather on it.  I sent them off happy (nay hyper!) with their parents and then sank into the sofa with my little foxes telling me how great the party was.  Even if I didn't enjoy all the crafting, baking, decorating and entertaining those words would make it all worthwhile.

Add caption

So, if this post makes you think you'd like to have a chat with us about creating your child's party please send me an email.  Or look at the pictures, and use them as inspiration to make your own Peacock Party, please do.  Any questions drop them into the comments box and we'll get back to you.  For my next post I'll give further details on the tutu.  Honestly, the easiest way to make a tutu ever.

And next Wednesday, I will be doing Louis, my car mad soon to be 4 year old son's party.  We are taking inspiration from his favourite book of the moment; Cars and Trucks And Things That Go.  So, look out for details on that one too.

7

Ladybird Tuesday - The Party

I have a confession - I don't have time to post a blog for this weeks Ladybird Tuesday, I should not even be on the computer. 

And the reason is above.  No, not the book, I don't have this book.  I would like it very much tho.

Una's birthday party is tomorrow and I should be sewing peacock feathers onto her tutu, baking her birthday cake & the cup cakes for the party, making tissue paper pompoms, painting the picture of the peacock for the pin the tail on the peacock, cutting out the tags for her party bags, the sweetie bag favours, sorting out her pass the parcel and musical bumps prizes and the tableware and ...

I need a coffee...

I'll post details of how to create a fabulous peacock party and how to make the easiest tutu ever next week.  Or maybe the week after.  Louis' birthday is next week.  He wants a car party. *small sigh*

2

All Nearly Done - Competitions, Parties, Boxes and a Studio

Since Valentines day it has been a rather crazy busy week or so. I have not updated our blog as I have simply fallen into bed exhausted every night with nothing to say and fingers too tired to type.  There is still time to get involved with the 'imapiece' Craftivist Jigsaw Project and sign the Save the Children epetition.  I know that we have not published the winner of the vintage Ladybird book - Learning to Sew yet, so, here it is:

What have we been doing?

Well, it's been half term and here at Mrs Fox's February is party month.  We have parties this month including three of our own little foxes and Mr Neil Fox.  Mr Fox is 40 and obviously found turning 40 more traumatic than a celebration.  I must admit I was surprised.  I thought it was only women who greeted the passing of such a milestone with such undisguised dread.  When I said I really needed to update our blog he gave me full permission to use his trauma as an excuse for my neglect.

On the other paw it is always a joy to work on a party for the little foxes.  We always get to be so much more inventive with our own parties as, to be honest, we can talk our own little foxes into things we wouldn't try out on a client.  As I knew we would be particularly busy this February I had warned my little ones that it was going to be small parties this year and they could have a little garden party in the summer with their friends to make up for it.  Little Una Fox will turn 7 next Wednesday and we have worked on a Peacock Party to celebrate.  What is a Peacock Party I hear you cry.  Well here is the moodboard and which includes Una's picture that inspired the whole thing, further details and some great 'how to'-guides will follow shortly.

Mrs Fox's first Crafty Box is due to be sent out soon and the finishing touches are just being added to  a great new project from Mrs Fox's.  We will be sending out a Mrs Fox's Crafty Boxes every month filled with themed children's craft projects and a variety of ideas and suggestions around that month's theme to fuel your child's imagination and aid you in developing their interest and enthusiasm for making things.  If you are interested in subscribing to Mrs Fox's Crafty Boxes further details are here please email us if you are interested.

And finally Mrs Fox is, almost, nearly ensconced in her new studio.  There is much still to do and the smell of paint and floor sealant is almost overpowering.  But it makes me so happy to sit in here and type this blog post.

0