The Garter

I was doing so well with wedding project posts and then I disappeared for a couple of months. :( I'm back now though, and just in time since my wedding is in 18 days!

For my garter, I knew I wanted something Mississippi State themed since that's where we met and started dating and got engaged and all that jazz. I started looking around online and didn't really see anything I liked. Also, garters are expensive! I mean really, it's just a piece of elastic with some decoration! And that's when it hit me: it's just a piece of elastic with some decoration... I have elastic... I can get decoration... DIY time!

I had a pair of State earrings that I never wear, so I took the hooks off and turned them into charms.

I found some lace that I really liked, but thought was a little too narrow, so I sewed two pieces together to give me a wider band.

Then I took some maroon ribbon (it looks a little red here, but I promise it's maroon!) and attached two pieces to my lace.

And for some reason after that, I apparently stopped taking pictures of my progress so I'll just have to explain the rest with some I took this morning. For the casing for the elastic, I just took another piece of lace and sewed it onto the back. It's hard to tell from this picture exactly what's going on, but I have my two pieces of lace sewn together to make it wider, and then one piece in the back sewn on either edge to hold the elastic, which I just threaded through my lace casing.

 I found some pearls with adhesive on the back in the scrapbook section of Hobby Lobby and I attached those along the line where my two pieces of ribbon met. The adhesive on the pearls ended up not being quite strong enough to keep them attached to lace, so I used a little hot glue. Then, I tied some ivory ribbon through the hole in the top of my charm and sewed it down.

I didn't want the garter to be too bunchy, but in order for it to be stretchy still, I left the two sides of the garter unattached at the back, and just sewed the elastic together. This made it pretty but not exactly ideal for flinging...

...so I made a second one that can be thrown at the reception. I was running low on lace at this point, so the second one is just two pieces sewn together with elastic in the middle, making it half the width of the original one. The pieces I used were longer though, so it's bunchier and more flingable. 

I really love the way they turned out and rather than spending $30+ ordering two garters I didn't like as much from someone else, I used stuff I already had and spent maybe $10 on lace, ribbon and pearls for two that I love and are completely custom. I call that a win!