I made a troupe of autumn tutus a while ago in gold, burgundy and copper coloured velvet. I always loved the rich copper colour so when I was asked to make a Spanish tutu without the signature red and black I thought of this beautiful copper. The other part of my brief was to make the tutu suitable for non-Spanish music too.

starting point

I teamed the velvet with a soft sequinned lace, embroidered appliques and rhinestones.

sketch

I made up the leotard first and sewed the appliques onto it. The rhinestones had been glued on the previous day so that the glue was cured. The nude insert is made from a double layer of  sheer crystal lycra with the stretch running downwards.

decorated bodice

The appliques fit neatly onto the 6 petalled plate. I added some smaller appliques to join the larger ones.

baroque style decoration

The rich Baroque style appliques hint at the ornate style of Spanish costumes. Adding a matching rose as a headpiece and the picture will be complete. There is no need to shout “Spanish” too loudly if the choreography and music speak for themselves.

skirt detail

The pretty apricot lace lends a delicacy to this tutu that will give it an opportunity to convincingly dance to non-Spanish music.

Spanish-Lite