Making your own garter is...

Originally, I wasn't going to have a garter. I didn't want to do a bouquet and garter toss. I don't like them. They make me uncomfortable. But, Chet and I were doing something and I mentioned we weren't having one and he was broken hearted. Damn. Fine. Well, I didn't want to spend $30 on a frilly, fancy garter that would just be uncomfortable. So, I though, "Pssssh! I can make one!" That was over a month ago. I sat down last night a worked on it. I'm a bit of a procrastinator.

I found no good tutorials online on how to do this. I kind of picked up bits and pieces, but most just sucked, no matter how they tried. Granted, I'm not the tutorial reading kind so that could have been the problem.

Anywho... I'm posting my tutorial if you want it. Let me know if there are any questions.


First, pick some fabric you like and cut it to your desired length. Who knows what that is. Everyone says something else. I have a 17in thick thigh, I cut mine to 23 inches and it fits lovely. Yes, it's crooked, don't worry.



Then, lay out the ribbon or fabric you want to put over the base fabric. See, it's already getting confusing.



Next, sew said ribbon onto the base fabric. The difficulty of this really depends on how good of a sew-er you are. I didn't have much of a problem with it, but I'm a decent sew-er.



When you're done with the first part you have smiley face basically. I think it's cute.



Both sides of the ribbon are sewn down. Please note, the ends should not be sewed. You must feed the elastic through there. It's looks bad, but it's okay.







Now, it's time to scrunch it. I'm sure there is a waaaay more professional way to do this, but I chose just shoving it onto a screwdriver. Actually, Chet figured that out.



Then, we taped the elastic to the screwdriver and pushed the fabric over it. Again, I'm positive there's a more professional way but this worked for us.



Feed the garter over the elastic... be careful not to loosen the tape.



Alright! Now your garter is over the elastic! You deserve a pat on the back. At this point, Chet held onto one end while I held the other.



This gets really scientific now. Scrunch the garter up to your liking. THE ELASTIC SHOULD BE SHORTER THAN THE MATERIAL!!! Thus, if you cut your garter material to 23 inches, do not make the elastic the same length. This is what allows it to be all scrunchy. I think I cut my elastic to about 15 inches.



Now... very, very, very carefully pin the ribbon, material, and elastic together to hold it in place. Do this on both ends. Preferably put it about an inch away from the end so you can sew the ends and not be worried about the elastic falling.



Sew up the ends. Hold the ends together and stick it around your thigh where you want the garter to go. Make sure you're still happy with it. If you're not, well, I don't know what to tell ya, but I'd check just to be sure.



Now... carefully sew the two ends together.





Now you have a very pretty pretty garter. I've added a giant button over the seams 'cause I wanted to. If the material is fraying (like mine) make sure to have some fray check or something on hand to fix it if you care too.

I made two garters, one to toss and one to keep. Not sure why I'm keeping one but whatev.

Next up... Table Runners!! Wooo!