I mentioned in the reveal of Ella’s party  that these “tutu curtains” weren’t my original idea. But that just makes me love them even more!

I knew I wanted something to frame the large window in our living room. My original idea was to try to create pink Christmas trees out of paper. I looked up different ways to fold paper and thought I could layer the folded paper in such a way to create little trees all over the wall. I did like how the paper looked folded but once I layered it to look like a tree, I wasn’t completely sold on it.

 

Part of the problem was I wasn’t using enough pieces of paper on each row but as I added more paper, I realized each piece was looking like a tutu… which was perfect! Ella and I watch this one video of Waltz of the Flowers all the time and the ballerinas have the most beautiful pink ombre tutus so it really was fate. I abandoned the tree idea and decided  to cover the whole wall with the layered pieces of paper to create the tutu curtain. It could evoke the curtains you really see on stages and turn an entirely white room into a pink paradise. And I couldn’t be happier with how they turned out.

Once I figured out what I wanted to do, it was pretty easy to put together. It just took patience and experimenting, so I’ll take you step by step so you can make your own!

Now the amount of paper you’ll need depends on how big of a curtain you’re trying to make or how much space you’re trying to cover. I used a total of around 150-200 pieces.

To make your first panel, fold four sheets of paper in half length-wise. Then fold the two ends back towards the first crease. You’re basically turning each piece of paper into an “M” (or “W”) shape.

Then staple the pieces of paper together on the long ends. You can do more than four sheets of paper to make a longer panel but definitely do at least four.

Then fan out the paper and tape the corners to the wall. Then as you make more panels, just start layering them the way you want!

When I first started out, I put up a few pieces of each color to equally divide the wall between them. I wanted a seamless ombre effect but if you’re just doing one color, you can skip this step.

You can also fold the paper widthwise to make the panels shorter and wider. And for the really small panels, I just cut pieces of paper in half and then did the same folding process. Having the different sizes gives it more dimension but it could also be fun for it to be more uniform. I personally didn’t want the tops of the paper to show until I got to the lightest color on my curtain but the fun thing about this DIY is it’s totally customizable to the look you’re trying to achieve. Like I call this a curtain but none of the papers are actually attached to each other– you could staple/tape/glue the papers together to make a more permanent fixture.

I can really see using this idea for all types of events and holidays. And I’ll definitely be saving this paper for Valentine’s Day and the many pink-heavy gatherings I’m sure to have in the future. My favorite type of DIY is one that is simple to put together but gives maximum visual impact and this definitely fits the bill. You might already have all the materials in your home! It was also just a genuine joy to create, having the initial idea evolve into something even better.

Thanks for reading!

xo

eb