Weddingbee Blog

I love bachelorette parties; they are always filled with drinks, fun people, good food, drinks, a healthy does of debauchery, and more drinks. But I do not love the standard bachelorette party gear. No, it’s not the phallic symbols that I shy away from (although I’m not one to insist on them), it’s the lack of options in the other gear:

Sources (clockwise): Target, Advantage Bridal, Amazon, and Bachelorette Party Superstore

They all have pink. Well, not all of them have pink, but the most widely available ones have pink. And not every girl wants pink on their sash.

Seeing this obstacle last year in preparing for MOH Cheerleader’s bachelorette party, I made the decision to make her sash using colors she liked (pink not included).

Since that time, I have made both BM What’s Her Face’s sash and BM So and So’s sash for each of their bachelorette festivities. I know a grand total of three sashes does not make me an expert, but my method is a pretty easy and cost effective way to customize a bachelorette sash, so I thought someone might be interested in doing the same. So, let’s get to it:

First up, gather your supplies (and photograph about half of them):

Fabric in color of your choice (~2 yards, I always choose something silky or non irritating on the skin), felt in color of your choice (I prefer the ones with sparkles), hot glue gun, stencils, marker, sewing machine. Note: if you don’t have a sewing machine or you hate sewing, an extra wide ribbon could be used for this purpose, although it is rather costly.

First, determine the size of sash you want to make. I like to keep mine around 4″ wide so your letters will be somewhat visible from a distance. Cut out your fabric to meet your specifications—mine is about 9″ x 72″ (this is way longer than you’ll actually need, but you can chop the excess off once you’ve got it put together).

Second, sew the ends of your fabric together down the length of your fabric so you have a long, cylindrical tube o’ fabric. Then flip it inside out. Iron if you are so inclined. I’m usually not inclined.

Flipped halfway out so you can see this very complicated seam (har) and lack of ironing

Next, onto letters. If you’ve got a Cricut, Silhouette, or other fancy cutting machine, hook it up, cut out your desired font, and wait for the others to cut their letters out by hand (don’t worry, it doesn’t take too long and can be lessened by only cutting one of any duplicates). When choosing a font, make sure to pick something with few twirls and glyphs. They look pretty but they are a bitch and a half to cut out.

Yay letters!

Once you’ve got your letters, trace them on your felt (if you do it on the backside make sure to reverse them), and get to cutting again. I recommend a very sharp pair of scissors and a cat free zone.

Now, if you’re like me (which is to say slightly scatterbrained), you’ll be plugging in your hot glue gun right about now and impatiently waiting with a glass of wine while it warms up. If you’re not like me, you’ve had your hot glue gun plugged in this whole time and you’re ready to fire away.

I wanted a break anyway, glue gun.

Glue those suckers on! Well, first, try on the sash a couple of times to see where the letters should be placed so they are visible and then glue them on.

Finally, finish her off. I cut the ends at an angle, folded them over twice, and sewed them at the ends. If you’re super ambitious you can put some velcro at the ends of the sash to keep it closed during the festivities. If you thought you had velcro, but actually didn’t, you can improvise with a safety pin. And, if you realized that you forgot to bring a safety pin once you’re already out and about you can improvise further with festive pins your thoughtful friend picked up or a hair tie.

I would say the total cost of the above sash was between two and three dollars and just a couple hours of time. It’s definitely not as polished and flashy as the ones you can purchase, but it gets the message out, allows for complete customization and leaves plenty of money left over to treat the bride to drinks.

Next up: Head gear!

Did you make a sash or other gear for a bachelorette party? What color(s) would you like to see on your sash?