Weddingbee Blog

After three attempts and no suitable garter, I turned to the internet and found this tutorial. Although it took my addled brain a few minutes to understand what was written, I figured it out and made my garter in no time. Because I changed a few things, here are is my tutorial for DIY-ing your own garter.

Materials needed: lace, ribbon, elastic, two safety pins, sewing machine, and hot glue gun.

Step 1: Measure out your materials. I just wrapped the elastic around my leg where it was comfortable and cut it, but you can be more precise and use a ruler if you are so inclined. I like to take shortcuts, which you will notice a lot during this tutorial. To measure the ribbon and lace, I just wrapped them around my leg twice and cut them. If you want more ruffles in your garter, just cut these a little longer.

Note: For this tutorial, you should make sure that your ribbon is wider than your elastic. In my case, I used 3/4″ elastic and ribbon that was about 1 1/4″. This gave me plenty of fabric to create the necessary gathering for the garter.

Step 2: Hot glue your ribbons together. You could sew them and make them look nicer if you wish, but my glue skills are marginally better than my sewing skills, so I stuck with the glue.

Step 3: Sew one edge of your ribbon to your lace. It will then look something like this:

Step 4: Sew the other side of the ribbon onto your lace. This should leave a nice gap between the ribbon and the lace.

Step 5: Pin a safety pin to the end of your elastic to help guide it through your lace.

Step 6: Using the safety-pinned end of your elastic, string the elastic through the gap between the ribbon and lace like so:

Step 7: Once the non-safety-pinned side of your elastic meets the end of your lace and ribbon, pin it to the end of the fabric. This is very important! Failing to do this will force you to start this process all over again, which sucks. Trust me.

Step 8: Finish weaving the elastic through the ribbon and lace. The lace and ribbon will begin gathering, and you will get something like this:

Step 9: If you are happy with the amount of ruffles, pin the elastic end to the lace and ribbon. If you aren’t careful, the elastic will get away from you and you will have to start over. If you are smarter and more careful than I am, you will be ready to sew the ends together.

At this point I was paranoid about the elastic unraveling on me yet again, so I sewed the ends individually before sewing them together. Do what makes you happy. And keeps you sane.

Step 10: After you sew the ends together, cut off the excess.

Step 11: Sit back and admire what you have made. Show your SO and dad and force them to compliment you on your efforts. Keep staring at your garter and decide that even though it looks like something Martha Washington would wear, it will work just fine for your wedding.

Step 12: Add embellishments! I thought my garter could use a little pizzazz, so I added a bow (hand-stitched in the middle so it won’t untie and hot glued onto the garter). I also found a little horseshoe charm that I plan to attach with some blue thread.

Is it a masterpiece? Hell no. But, for zero dollars and just a few frustrating hours of work, it is good enough for me. Plus I get to feel like I did something productive last weekend! Winning, for sure.

Are you DIYing your garter?

All personal photos