Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Tutu FAIL.

Before I get into my disaster of a tutu creation let me mention that the Tutu Drive has been officially expanded through the end of the month. So get crack-a-lackin!

Now on to utter tutu sadness...well, perhaps that's a bit dramatic.

I had this great idea for today's tutorial, I love big ruffly pettiskirts but have always been intimidated by the amount of work they require. I thought I had come up with a good way of making a "quickie" simplified version. But as often happens in the crafting world (in mine at least) what started off making a lot of sense ended up getting a big ol' stamp of craft FAIL.

Samster didn't even want to model it...You can't really tell just how bad it is in the pics. It's pretty wonky. I'm not quite sure where I went awry but I'm just too tired today to try and give it another go.

I'm not going to totally leave you hanging though, I do have two tutu tips that I think are pretty darn good!

One- use your tutu scraps to make a matching doll tutu to go with your donation. Making one this tiny really took no more than 10 minutes & when I gave it to Samster you wouldn't believe how she lit up to see her doll in a matching tutu. I'm sure it would make the little girls receiving these tutus just as happy. (you can find the stuffed tutu tutorial here)
(By the way, did you ever have a doll like this?? It was my FAVORITE when I was young, I think you would pick one out that looked like you. Although I chose one with green eyes & fair skin. Clearly I didn't quite understand the assignment.)

Two- It's been driving me crazy how the little balls in Samster's pompom tutu always congregate at the ends. I'm sure it bothers me much more than it does her but regardless I needed a solution. With this one that I made for the Tutu Drive last night I decided to stitch a little line down the tutu every 8" or so, this way the stuffings are contained in their own little pouches. Since the tutus all gathered you really can't even see the lines. I love it! (stuffed tutu tutorial here)
So there you go. Sorry about the lack of tutorial. Thank goodness Adrianna from Crafterhours will be here on Thursday to save the day with a guest post! Whew!

19 comments:

  1. Great photos. I love the pockets idea. I really want petticoats for Cady, too, but I would have noooooooooo idea how to make one. The ones available online are too expensive, and the ones that aren't are sold out.

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  2. Good idea! I posted the pictures of the tutus I have made, please go check them out when you have a little time. It is great news to know that the deadline has been extended, I have so much tulle! I'm also making fairy magic wands to match the tutus =)


    http://www.mrssassycrafter.com/

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  3. ok, before I scrolled under the picture I about died when I saw that doll! I have mine packed away somewhere and my daughter still has and plays with the blue and striped backpack carrier thing! Oh and mine had red hair and green eyes and I am brown and blue so you weren't the only one that didn't get it ;)

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  4. PS My Child was the name of the dolls...just had my daughter dig out the carrier so I could read the label :)

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  5. Is that a My Child in the picture? I use to have a little boy one. OMG that brought back so many memories!!!!

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  6. Oh my gosh, I totally made a matching dolly tutu with my scraps! Two, actually, but my little sister took one for "Monkey." I sent mine out today! They should arrive in the next day or so. :)

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  7. Nah, it's cute Natasha! Any little girl would love it! I think we tend to think of things as "fails" when they don't turn out according to our vision, but the final product is usually still pretty good :)

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  8. THANK GOD!!! NOTHING has gone as planned and I was soooo afraid I wasn't going to get them there by the 20th!! WHEW!

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  9. I love that it wasn't enough to have her face buried in the floor. She then had to move behind a chair to get away from the camera!

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  10. I still have one of those dolls too! I am a brunette with green eyes, but I chose a boy with red hair and blue eyes. I loved him though!

    Those doll tutus are so cute. My daughter would love them and I'm sure other little girls will too. Great idea. :)

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  11. LOVE the tutu for baby dolls idea...gotta get one of those together this weekend. Why didn't I think of that sooner?!?!?!

    My sister still has her doll like that she named Sammy Jo (and she didn't get the memo either her doll is blond and although she's attempted lots of various hair colors as an adult her dark italian skin and brown hair could NEVER even consider blonde).

    Makes me curious to see what "looks like me" American Girl dolls my little brunettes will pick out for themselves in a few years.

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  12. I had to take a double take when I saw the "My Child" doll. So funny. My little girl plays with my old doll like that. I did make her dolls a tutu, but I haven't attempted one for my daughter yet. I like the pom pom stuffed one. Very cute!

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  13. I have a little boy "My Child" it has red hair an green eyes. My mom picked it out to look like me. I love all the tutu possibilities you have posted.

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  14. omg! I HAD THAT DOLL!!!! it got dirty too easy! and i have SO many bright ideas that end up bing EPIC fails! im right there with ya! XO

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  15. I made a super cute pettyskirt for my daughter Kaelyn. I found a few shortcuts that made it super simple. Check it out on my blog, I just started it so there isn't much on there yet. BUT, if you like it I'll try to do a tutorial on it and show you my little tricks. http://www.prettypixies.blogspot.com/

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  16. I loved that doll!!

    I'm so glad I read the comments, because I couldn't think of the doll's name and it was driving me crazy!

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  17. I LOVE how you show both your successes AND not-exactly-successes on this blog. So realistic! I hoped over here to learn how to make a duct tape dress form but had to surf around a bit as you've got a great blog!

    I've made a bunch of pettiskirts now (enough that I'm SICK of them! LOL!) If you use the chiffon rolls there is no cutting of the fabric and I've got my time down to 2.5 hours per skirt (which beats my first skirt time of 2 days!) Cost per skirt is $18-$25 depending on size so it is worth it to DIY. I have a tutorial on my blog for pettiskirts that's pretty extensive.

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  18. Awww, I miss my My Child dolls I had a blond with green eyes and a curly top red head with blue eyes. They had the softest bodies. My daughter has blond hair and green eyes so I guess my My Child actually looked like my child. Me brunette with brown eyes.

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  19. Oh that tutu with the little balls is so cute, off to check out that tutorial!

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