Beautiful DIY Mermaid Tail Tutu for your Special Girl

My second daughter's fourth birthday is coming up, and she selected mermaids as her party theme. In an attempt to dress them as mermaids I made both girls mermaid tail tutus.

I saw a really cute version on Pinterest, but it went to an Etsy store where the costume was already sold; no instructions! So, I made it up as I went along. I wasn't even sure if I would blog about these, so please excuse the lack of pictures (especially in the beginning stages).

What You Need to Make a Mermaid Tail Tutu

tulle (rolls make things way easier)
ribbon

plastic gems

How to Assemble a Mermaid Tail Tutu

So you start by making a basic tutu that goes to the floor.

1. The first thing you need for a tutu is a waistband. I make mine by cutting a piece of ribbon about a foot longer then the waist size I need.

2. I like to use the tulle that comes on a spool rather then the large pieces you can buy on the bolt because it cuts down on the cutting. I cut my tulle pieces twice the length I want the final skirt to be, so if I want a 24 inch skirt, I cut my tulle into 48 inch strips.

3. After cutting the tulle, I start placing it on the ribbon. I find the center of each piece of tulle and place it under the ribbon.

4. Then I take the ends and put them through the hole between the ribbon and the tulle. (This is really hard to see with tulle, but it is the same technique I used for the patriotic ribbon rings).

5. And tighten.

6. Repeat with each piece until you have enough to go around the waist. If you want it fuller you can squeeze them together and add more pieces.

For these particular tutus I used 2 colors on each and did strips alternating colors. I started using 2 pieces of tulle for each color, and to add the crisscrosses I went back and added a third piece to the color I wanted to use for the crisscrosses. However, I only did it to every other section, so the pattern would go something like this 3 purple, 2 blue, 2, purple, 2 blue, 3 purple.

How to Turn the Tutu into a Mermaid Tail

Now that you have your tutu made, try it on the child; this way you can figure out where to place the tulle to make the tail.

I really wanted to cinch it lower and get more of a mermaid tail look, but the girls said they couldn't walk. I measured loosely where they felt comfortable and cut a piece of tulle that length to tie around that section.

After tying the bottom I pulled out all those extra, third pieces. Since you folded the tulle in half, each piece has 2 tails, one will go left and the other right.

You tie the left tail of one to the right tail of the other using a square knot (so it won't slip). Do this all the way around even in the back. You can still untie the tutu to make it easy to step into and out of.

Extra piece

First row

After the top row in done you do the next row down in the same way using the tails from the previous knots.

You now use the knot tails.

Second row.

And again with the next row. Basically you make a bunch of diamond shapes.

Again with the knot tails.

Third row

The last row I tied the bottom piece of tulle into each knot to keep it all together. Make sure you smooth all the inside pieces throughout the process, or they just get all lumpy and in the way!