Weddingbee Blog

This past weekend I got the itch to make something for the wedding. Not being one to ignore my urges (mmm…ice cream), I quickly started looking for the easiest task on my list of DIY projects to conquer. (I said was feeling creative, not overly ambitious.)

Originally, I wanted to start on our cake topper, but my inspiration well was dry on that front, so I moved on. Deciding I was too lazy to drive anywhere to pick up additional materials, I knew this project would have to be one in which all the components were at my disposal. Looking around, I realized I had enough elastic, fabric scraps, and lace to make a garter. What I lacked was a plan. Undeterred, I sought inspiration and assumed I would figure out how to make something wonderful from pure internet osmosis.

I found plenty of gorgeous pictures to get my creative juices flowing:

Image via Florrie Mitton on Etsy

Image via Florrie Mitton on Etsy

Image via Florie Mitton on Etsy

Going into this project, I was very aware that my DIY garter would come nowhere close to the beauties shown above. My lace was less than ideal, my tulle was not as fine, and my sewing skills are severely lacking (biggest understatement ever), but I was bored on a Saturday evening, so I figured I’d see what I could come up with. Also, the garter toss is something I am less than enthusiastic about, so the overall quality and cost needed to be minimal.

But I did not expect it to come out this bad:

Sadly, a personal photo and design

Oh, I can’t believe I posted that. It’s painful to look at. The satin fabric was pulling out the seams because it was cheap and I cut too close to my stitch. The tulle was just horrible and looked nothing like the inspiration pictures. After spending close to two hours on this one, I gave up and started looking at other materials to make my garter.

So I made this next:

Another overexposed personal picture

Another fail. Just so you know, if you sew elastic to a piece of lace, a garter it does not make. It makes a piece of lace with a piece of elastic on the back of it that does not stretch because the lace is not stretchy and the elastic has no give from the lace. Lesson learned (maybe).

Not wanting to concede defeat for the second time in as many hours, I thought I could fix this by applying some velcro to the ends. It worked, so long as I didn’t move my leg. Fail number two.

On attempt number three, I thought I could solve this problem by leaving gaps for the lace to stretch out.

Personal picture

You can kind of see the gaps I left. I failed to get a picture before I started ripping it apart to salvage the elastic. I may have been a little irritated at this point.

As you can see, this attempt also failed, probably due to the inadequacies from attempt number two, which I apparently needed to relearn.

By now I was in a haze of failure and was not thinking clearly. I realized that I had been underutilizing the best DIY tool I own: my laptop. One Google search later, I was directed to my happy place where several brides before me had expressed how easy and simple DIY garters are to make.

Up next: a DIY garter tutorial with pictures of a garter that is actually presentable!