If you're the parent of a young child, you'll know how much kids love to dress up and play. Sometimes, dressing-up kits and costumes can be expensive, especially as they are not worn day-to-day and children will eventually grow out of them. it can be cheaper to make your own, generic costume pieces that can be applied to many different types of fancy dress, and in today's blog, we'll be covering how to make a simple tutu using our dressmaking fabrics here at Calico Laine. What you'll need: Step One Cut your dress net in half length-ways - so for our 140cm wide dress net, you will end up with two 80cm-wide pieces. Sew the two ends of each piece together, so that you end up with two 80cm-wide tubes. Step Two Put your two tubes together - you can tack the two tubes together for easier handling if needed. Fold over one edge by about 2" and sew - this will leave you with a small tube at the top of your dress net. Make sure to leave a gap in your stitching so that you can insert the elastic. Step Three Locate the gap you left in your stitching. Attach one end of your elastic to your safety pin and insert it into the gap. Run it through the 2" tube you sewed - make sure to keep the second end of your elastic from getting into the tube. Step Four Once you have run the elastic through the 2" tube, bring the two ends of it together and stitch so that you have a complete circle of elastic running through your dress net. Sew the gap that you left earlier closed. Trim each layer of your dress net to your desired length, and you now have a completed tutu, ready to wear. [caption id="attachment_5887" align="alignleft" width="170"]Tutu made from Dress Net An example of a tutu made from our Dress Net Fabrics[/caption] This quick and easy garment can be used for a number of costumes, including fairies, ballerinas, and even under skirts to give them a little more 'poof'. You can also use more layers of dress net to make your tutu even bigger, depending on your needs. Have you ever used any of our dressmaking fabrics to create costumes for your children - or perhaps even yourself? Take a photo and upload it to our Facebook page; we love seeing the end results of customer projects!