I know you are a miracle worker, but Seriously!!!!!

Sewing budget!!!  Ha ha , the dance school wanted a budget of £10 per costume!!!!!  Bearing in mind that one group of costumes is a full length unitard with a cape, one is a leotard with a circle skirt, one is another unitard with a practice type tutu to pull on over the unitard, and one is a long sleeved with stretch lace and separate skirt.  So I just completely ignored the budget and told them what the costumes would cost, and let them decide if they wanted to go ahead or not.
I am reasonable, I find the fabric with the best price I can, and I only charge a pathetic amount per costume, so they get them for a good price.  I figure that if they could buy them ready made, why ask me, and as they cant, then I get some say in how much they cost.
I might be regretting that in the next couple of months, when I am tearing my hair out to get it all done.
Thank you Roger for your suggestions, that is kind of what I was thinking of, just not sure how it is going to work without being too bulky around the girls body, as the dimensions are quite large, so it will take approx 40 mtrs of fabric.  I think it will have to taper from the corners to the waist, as otherwise ..... Poor girl with 40 metres of fabric to carry around!!!!!

I have been asked to make costumes for one of our local dance schools again this year, so far I think it is approx 80, not sure about the boys costumes yet.  There is four group dances, so four different costumes.  It has taken ages to sort out the fabrics and colours, only for the courier to loose one of my parcels containing 3 rolls of fabric! (how is that even possible, it must be huge!).  Fabric company is replacing the lost fabric, so hopefully that should be here today/tomorrow.

I have cut out two costumes, one each from two of the groups, as I do like to make sure the dance teacher is happy before I cut all of them, been caught out with that before!  It also allows any possible costume malfunctions to hopefully come to light before they are an issue.   I am hoping to get one of the girls around to try them on, maybe with the dance teacher present, so any alterations can be decided on, otherwise I am expected to fit/discuss during a dance class, which is near on impossible!!

I have to make a HUGE skirt for one of the girls, which will pull out from underneath a tutu, as she walks towards the back of the stage, to form a very large triangle from her to the stage front corners.  The dance teacher has bought habutae fabric which is lovely and thin, but not sure how I am going to achieve what she is looking for, so any suggestions gratefully received.

Fingers crossed the rest of the fabric turns up, and dance teacher is happy with the costumes so far!

If it were me sewing Lycra (different I know), I would stay stitch the neckline on the garment the. Use the binding like elastic, and stretch it as you sew it on, then it should keep its shape.  If you haven't done this before, make a test piece and see how much stretch you need.  On Lycra fabric it is quite a lot, but not sure about jersey.

lots of lycra is polyester, so if you are happy with the recovery and the quality, i would use it.  Just make sure you allow for maybe not being quite as stretchy as plain lycra. (mostly due to the sequin/foil print, not the polyester!}.

Fabulous tutu, and beautiful granddaughter wearing it!  Well done both of you.

The easiest way ever is to buy fold over elastic and use that for your binding/straps.  If that doesn't work for you, I do it this way.  Cut the lycra for the binding 4 times wider than you need it to be.  i usually cut an inch.  Sew the binding right side to the wrong side of the leotard, matching the edges. If you stretch it slightly as you sew it sits better or overlock it.  Then fold it up and over to the front, and fold under the raw edge, stitch it down along the folded front edge.  Then for the straps, keep the folds and continue sewing along the edge.  Not sure I have explained it that well, but imagine it as bias binding only in lycra!!!  I dont use elastic when i do this, as the lycra acts as the elastic.

You will need a unitard pattern if you want it to have legs. For example https://jalie.com/jalie3672-celeste-open-back-unitard, from Jalie, and re-draft the bodice to make the curve.  I don't know if there are free patterns on the internet though.
For the fabric try Funki Fabrics, they do animal/leopard print Lycra. There is one long leg and one short leg, with the net skirt stitched on the hip line.