Frozen Birthday Party Dress

This is something I decided to do totally last minute, but I'm so glad I did as it made a huge difference both to the birthday girl and to the overall 'Frozen Birthday' mood of the party.  I usually put my kids in a relevant costume when we have a themed party, and I was planning to use an Elsa costume this time, but then I happened to see a birthday dress on Etsy, and I immediately fell in love with it.  Problem was - I couldn't justify spending $80 on a birthday dress!  So, I decided to make my own 'Frozen Tutu Dress', and it was actually super easy, no sewing involved.  I'm definitely going to do this every year now for as long as she lets me.  It just makes such a huge difference for the birthday girl to be in a special birthday dress, and for everyone at the party to know exactly whose birthday it is!

Most of this stuff I already had at home.  The ribbon was around $2 (after coupon) from Michaels.  You'll need about 2.5 yards of ribbon.  I got the bandeau top (~$4), the rolls of tulle ($3-5 each), and the rhinestone ($4) from Jo-Ann Fabrics.  I originally only did one layer of tulle (see more info. below), and so I only needed 3 rolls, and the whole project was under $20.  If you decide to add another layer of tulle, you'll need 3 additional rolls, and your cost will rise by about $8 depending on the type of tulle (shiny is more expensive) and coupons you use.  The whole project shouldn't take more than two hours, and I promise you'll feel quite good about it when you're done!

Cutting The Tulle

The first thing you'll need to do is measure the birthday girl.  I put the bandeau top on my daughter, and measured all the way down to her feet.  She's 4 years old, 4 feet, 4 inches tall, and we measured the length of the tulle to be 20 inches.  

Next, cut a piece of cardboard with the length you just measured and a width of 6 inches (the width of the tulle).  Grab a roll of tulle, and attach it to your cardboard using a pair of hair clips (#1 below).

Now wrap the tulle all the way around the board both sides (#2 above).  That is one full strip.  Each strip will be twice as long as the board or in my case 40 inches.  Now keep wrapping the tulle around the board to create the rest of the strips (#3 above).  You'll always end where your clips are so it's easy to keep track.  Count another strip every time you reach the clips.  The number of strips you'll need is based on the number of holes in one line of your bandeau top.  Mine had 45, and since I used 3 different colors of tulle, I needed 15 strips of each color.  I found it easy to cut eight, and then start over, and cut another seven.  

Using sharp scissors, carefully cut the loose piece of tulle at the same length as the board (#4 below). Then, inserting the scissors at the base of the board, cut through all of the tulle (#5 below).


This one cut will make all of the strips you counted at once (#6 below).  Now, repeat for the other two colors.  Make sure you keep the different colors in separate piles as shown below (#7).

Looping the Tulle - First Layer 

Stretch your bandeau top over a paper towel roll (#1 below).  You'll be looping the tulle around each of the bottom squares in the first row of your bandeau top.  You'll always be tying the tulle around the squares and not the threads.  

Take one strip of tulle, spread it on a flat surface, and fold it in half the width (#2).  Then bring the two ends together folding it in half lengthwise (#3).  Your strip is now the length of the tutu (#4).

Taking the folded end of the tulle (see #4), insert it through the hole directly above one of the bottom squares (#5).  Hold it through from the back of the bandeau top, and open it to make a loop.  Hold the loose ends up, and make sure they're even.  Then, pull them together through the loop to form a knot (#6).

The knot formed is shown in #7 below.  Pull it tight to lock it in place (#8).

Continue with the rest of the squares on the bottom row pushing the folded ends of the tulle through the hole, and out through the bottom, checking that the loose ends are even, and pulling them through the loop to make a knot.  I like to do two strips of the same color and then change colors as shown below (#9), but I think many different patterns would work.

Now, I ran out of time before my daughter's party, and so her dress only had one layer of tulle.  It still looked great, and I know many of the dresses being sold on Etsy have only one layer as well.  Having that said - I think, especially with these lighter colors, the dress is a bit see through.  So, if you have the time and feel like investing the few extra bucks, I'd suggest you go ahead and make the second layer.  It does look better.  But, again, this dress is so cute to begin with, I don't think anyone would know the difference...

Looping the Tulle - Second Layer

At this point, you should have strips looped all around the first row of your bandeau top.  The pictures below only have a few strips, but this is just for demonstration purposes.  

Row two starts with the square between each of the two strands on the first row (see #1 below).  Do the same thing with the second row as you did with the first.  Fold each piece of tulle, and loop the folded end through the hole above the square, and out the bottom (#2).  Make sure you bring the tulle all the way to the bottom of the bandeau top, and not through the hole between the thread and the square.  

Check that the ends are even, and pull back through the loop to form a knot (#3).  You should now have a strand directly above and in between the two strands in the first row (#4).  Continue all the way around filling in each of the squares between the first strands.
We're all ready for straps!  Please click on the image below to see Part 2 of this project:  Attaching the Straps!

Of course, this project can be slightly modified to fit any type of girly birthday party theme just by changing the color scheme.  Please post any questions/comments you may have or photos with some variations of this project.  Thanks for coming by.  See you soon!