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There is an excellent tutorial posted by bethany at the Vermillion Rules blog that describes precisely how to make a little girl’s tutu with only some elastic strap, a few yards of inexpensive and easy-to-find tulle, and no sewing. (I didn’t sew the elastic together as the author suggested; I just tied it into a knot instead.)
Check out the full tutorial here: An Extremely Detailed Tutu Tutorial.
The end result: A very happy little girl!
Tutu
I came home today and my son had created a suit of armor and a sword out of cardboard and paper bags. But his sword was badly damaged — dented and bent — by the kid down the street who had a fancy plastic sword. Well, that cardboard sword just wasn’t going to cut it (pun intended ) so I grabbed some scrap hard maple and sharpened it up nicely. The rematch is tomorrow… MOOA-HAHAHA!
Next came the shield — with peep holes so he can keep an eye on the enemy, and emblazoned with the family coat of arms! I love that he’s able to see how quick and easy it can be to create cool wooden toys. (Click for a larger view.)
And after it’s painted, plus the other side so you can see the handle… (Click for larger views.)
I was working on another rocking horse in the shop today and my son kept picking up a horse leg and pretending it was a violin. I didn’t want the leg to get damaged, but I also wanted him to be able to “play” violin so I banged out this little toy.
He loves it — even took it to bed with him! So I thought I’d share it. (He gets the hair from me.) Click for a larger picture.
And no, I did not glue the bridge on. 
Here’s a rocking horse I built for my son.
I used plans from a book called The Family Handyman: Toys, Games, and Furniture (ISBN: 0895777908), published September 1, 1995. It looks like it might be out of print now, but Amazon shows a bunch listed used and new for as little as about $5. Great deal, considering the plans sell separately for nearly $14!
It’s cherry & hard maple. The eyes are walnut. Let me know what you think!
Maple and Cherry Rocking Horse
When we first moved out to NC, we lived in a small apartment with no room for a shop. I did manage to get some wood into this project, though.
It was the first version of what turned out to be a wife-chaser. It ended up with a camera on top (developed by the fine folks at CMU) so that could track my wife if she wore a red dot on her shoe and didn’t move too fast. Later I hacked an old speech synthesizer chip so I would be able to make it compliment her as it chased her around. (I didn’t quite get that far.) …but then I got a job and now he’s just in a box somewhere.
Notice the beadie eyes (they would wink) and sinister frown.
