Thursday, September 25, 2008

making a tutu. or, how my mom procrastinates: a photo essay by Millie.

I have had the materials for making 2 tutus for one entire year now. I got the great idea while we were at a mall, waiting for Clin to buy some soap or something. The babes and I looked over the edge of the second floor down to a kiosk that had pretty things for sale. Like tutus. The woman sitting at the booth was making a tutu - and it was sooooo easy. Tie a little tulle around some elastic and viola.

Within the month a sale at JoAnns had me purchasing tulle for cheap. That is when the word "easy" left me for my own. I purchased what looked like enough pink and purple tulle, but the lady cutting the tulle informed me that if I was making a tutu, I would need at least 2 more yards. Okay! I don't know you, but I trust you. I trust anyone who knows how to measure out a yard of tulle.

Brought the materials home, set them in the laundry basket on top of my other projects. You know, dusty photos and baby books waiting to be organized and scrapbooked. And there they were laid to rest for one year. Soon to be covered with cheap binders, pencils, school supplies, and unfolded sheets.

So the following is a photo essay, created by Millie, to document my search for the lost materials of the tutu.

Here I am contemplating opening the sewing machine. I decide against it, because I still have not searched for directions on threading a sewing machine. It's safer to start by gathering the materials.


The notorious laundry basket of procrastination. Notice the ShopKo and Offfice Depot bags of school supplies. A glimmer of pink tulle beckons.



Here it is! The tulle. And the purple totally looks blue here. But I promise, it's purple. $%$%!#% - me swearing at our lowsy camera.



I also purchased thread. Pink, white, and black. It was on sale and I didn't want to return to JoAnns. Ever. So I grabbed it. Although I think the only sewing this project requires involves connecting one end of elastic to the other. Maybe I'll do it by hand?




Elastic. Elastic? I know I purchased elastic. I stared at it in the store for hours, trying to decide what width and how long. There were way too many elastic choices. This is the moment of panic. The one where I realize I may have to return to the kingdom of JoAnn for more elastic.



Millie's finger.



Ahh, and my memory does not lie. The elastic is found. How happy am I?

3 comments:

Hailey said...

Hi! I saw your comment on Lisa's blog about info on the Thrillionaires. I am a co-founder and I just wanted to give you the e-mail for Brett--it's brett.merritt@gmail.com He'll give you info on pricing, etc.

Good luck with the tutus! I have twin girls so I expect I'll be on the look-out for those in a year or so!

Tara said...

You are so bold. I've pulled out my sewing machine for a project only once...and it was under my sister's supervision. She's 14. And I let her do most of the work.

Arianne said...

Pretty soon you'll be whipping up all of your clothes...you're well on your way.