The Creation of a Tutu

Every dancer dreams of the day she’ll get her first tutu. Her first real tutu, that is. Not a puffball of pink tulle designed for pre-ballet class—though, hey, when you’re 5, those are pretty great, too—but a big, glorious platter skirt with a corseted bodice. Ballerinas wear many tiaras over the course of their careers, but putting on that first tutu is the true crowning moment of a young dancer’s life.

And the people who create tutus are seriously accomplished artists. Recently, L.A. Weekly introduced us to California-based seamstress Sara Bacon, who makes many budding ballerinas’ tutu dreams into beautiful realities.

Sara in her workshop with a tutu-in-the-making (still from L.A. Weekly video)

Yes, you probably already know that constructing a tutu is a long, labor-intensive, complicated process. But L.A. Weekly‘s story and video about Bacon hammers home just how much love goes into each costume. She only has time to sew handful each season—this year, she’s working on five—which means that they basically become her babies. “And just like children, I love them all equally,” she says in the video. Aww!

Bacon makes a lot of tutus for Youth America Grand Prix competitors, and the video follows the creation of one YAGP hopeful’s colorful costume for her Le Corsaire Odalisque variation. We see time lapse footage of the patternmaking, the layers upon layers of ruffles being stitched together, the fittings, and finally the dancer rehearsing in the finished product. It’s fascinating.

Prettyyyyyyyy (still from L.A. Weekly video)

Take a look—and check out the accompanying story here.