Twirly Tulle Skirts

"Can you make tutus out of this?" 

It was my second day in the sewing room in Romania and this was Katarina's question for me as she pulled out a roll of black net embroidered with little pink hearts.

Well the netting, while pretty, was a little too soft for actual tutus, but it would work fine for fun tutu-like skirts. Just the thing little girls enjoy wearing! I explained this to Katarina and she gave me the go-ahead to make such a skirt.

Wanting the skirt to have maximum twirl factor, I decided to make the front and back skirt panels each the full width of the fabric - 60". And, while I was at it I decided that 2 layers of netting would be way more fun than only one. Thus, I cut out 4 rectangles of netting, about 60" long and 14" deep.

Those 4 rectangles were then sewn into 2 loops and gathered to fit onto the pale pink lining before all 3 layers were attached to a hot pink elastic waistband.

The resulting skirt met with both Katarina's and our model's approval! We estimated the skirt to be about a size 10, so Katarina asked if I could also make a smaller skirt for younger girls. Maybe around a size 4?

I agreed and quickly cut out a second skirt - this time with only one width of fabric making both the front and back of the skirt to accommodate a smaller waistband size. I cut 2 rectangles, this time about 60" long and 10" wide. Those were folded in half and the short ends sewn together. Then the upper edges of the resulting loops were gathered together and attached to the lining and elastic waistband, same as the larger skirt.

The little girls who came to model the skirts loved twirling 'round and 'round in them! Katarina decided that skirts like this would be an excellent addition to the sewing shop's inventory. This gave me the chance to teach one of the women who works in the sewing room how to make skirts.

  So that's how I spent my last couple days in the sewing room - teaching how to make cute netting skirts for little girls - and I wouldn't have traded it for anything!

Thank You Sunflower Design sewing room for welcoming me into your space for a couple weeks, letting me sew, and making me feel like part of the family!

*I have now left Romania and traveled to Cambodia! If you want to keep up with my travels this year, check out my World Race blog!