Making a Tulle Half Skirt

With this method, you will make a simple little half skirt using some tulle, lycra and chain. If you are looking for that 80's feel this is a great method for you.

Supplies:

Dance skirt, dance shorts or dance brief
Tulle
Lycra, lace or other material
Thread to match tulle
Silver, Gold tone or Bronze Chains
Safety pins
Straight pins

Directions:

1. Choosing the Materials

You have three things to consider here - the color of the tulle, the color of the lycra (you could use another solid material or even lace) and the color of the chains. You will probably use about a yard of tulle and a quarter yard of lycra but it you want it to ___ you are going to use a little bit more. Another thing to consider is that the tulle squishes up quite a bit.

2. Cutting and the Fabric

First, cut the lycra into little strips. Then cut the tulle into strips. Bunch a few of the strips up at the top.

3. Sewing the Fabric to the Shorts

First, place the shorts into a pillow so the shorts stretch out a little. Decide how close to the center you want to start the half skirt and how wide you want the half skirt to be, where you want to stop sewing the strips to the top. Then sew the first bunch of tulle strips to the waist at the predetermined starting point. Fold a strip of the lycra (or other material) in half lengthwise so that you have two strips. It would probably be more pleasing to have the strips not be the same length. Then gather the lycra strips at the fold and attach them next to the tulle strips but slightly overlapping the tulle on the left side. Then repeat with a bunch of tulle strips bunched together and then with another folded lycra strips. Keep repeating this until you reach the predetermined ending place. You don’t want this half skirt to look too perfect because the point of the skirt is to keep it tattered looking with an “almost Madonna feel� to it. Do not forget to make knots in several places while sewing these strips to the shorts to make sure that if a thread breaks, the half skirt does not fall apart.

After it is all sewn on to the dance short or the bottom you choose, then trim the top of the half skirt to even it out and then kind of fluff it out. Again, you do not want it to look too perfect.

4. Finishing touches

Next, add the metal chain. It is best to use two loops of chain hanging from the waist. You can use a silver, gold color or bronze color chain depending on your preference. However, you want to consider the weight of the metal. Make sure that you dance in the costume before competition to make sure the metal is not too heavy. When you sew the loops of metal to the shorts, make sure you sew it all the way through and not just to the tulle. Also, the chain needs to hang loosely. If it is stretched out too far, it ruins the look. Make sure you tack the chain down carefully, sewing through to the dance shorts or skirt. It is probably best to tack the chain down at the top in more than one place but making sure that the chain does not hang to tight to the costume and can move freely when dancing.