Tutu Hair Ties

Since I have boys, it's rare when I get to do a craft project for girls. We had a birthday party on Saturday for some lovely sisters turning 3 and 6. They love dancing and take ballet classes, so the theme was ballet. Their daddy even built them a ballet bar with backstage and lights for their birthday. It was a hit for both the girls and boys.

When I saw these darling little dresses at Costco, I knew they would make the perfect presents for these little ballerinas. I snapped up two at $12.99 each, but felt I needed a little something more to make the presents complete.

I decided to make them little hair ties that looked like tutus. I was inspired by the dozens of tutu tutorials (say that three times fast) I've seen on Pinterest. In fact, I even made a couple tutus for my nieces for Christmas. They came out adorable. I wish I would have gotten pictures of them.

Here are a few links to the tutus on Pinterest.
http://pinterest.com/pin/54395107969392829/

http://pinterest.com/pin/54395107969392826/

The ones I made for Christmas included tulle, ribbon and fabric scraps. For the hair ties, I decided to go with tulle and ribbon to match the dresses.

I started with a spool of tulle I bought at the $1 store (check the gift wrap section). My tulle was 8 yards long and I used sharp scissors to cut the width in half. It was pretty easy to do while leaving it on the spool. Then I cut it into 5-6 inch strips. It was the perfect amount for two hair ties.

I tied the ribbon on the hair ties (they came free with a little brush I bought on the same $1 store trip to stash in my swimming lessons bag). I found the ribbon didn't slide as well along the ties, so I spaced them around until I liked the look.

Next I tied on the tulle strips and slid them around until I got the fluffy consistency I liked.

Tada! Hair ties that look like a tutu. Your little ballerina can also wear them as a bracelet or give Barbie a dancer makeover.

I tied them to the top of the presents and loved the look.