Making Garters

I love garters because they are SO easy to make and the possibilities are endless when making them!  I mean really, you can do or use anything for them!   Weddings, bridal gifts, bachelorette parties, Valentine's day; they are good for many occasion's.   I thought I'd give you a quick tutorial on how I usually make them.  Again, you can make them differently but this is how I usually go about making them.

Okay first thing I do is find some satin ribbon.  What size you use depends on how big you want the garter to be.  I usually like smaller ones but the one I am showing you in the tutorial was one I made for a client recently and so I'm using that.  I took satin ribbon ( that I found at the Dollar tree! )  and if you can measure the recipients leg, then do so.  I have HUGE thighs so I usually measure a smaller part of my leg.  You want to cut your ribbon longer then your measurement so we can gather it.  Again, how much you want it to gather is up to you too.  Generally speaking if you cut the ribbon at around 25 or 26 inches long, you should be good. The ribbon I used was wide so I knew I was going to have a border coming off of both sides.  YOu don't have to do this but this is what I did for this one.  I'm goign to show you pictures of some other ones I have made at the end.

Here is a picture of my supplies!  Lace, ribbon and some measuring tape.


I measure out 26 inches of ribbon and cut TWO pieces.  You need one for the back and one for the front.    I also had to cut down my lace because this is a sheet on lace and not lace used for trimming.  If you have lace that is already cut down for you then you have one less step!

Here you can see that the ribbon is centered with the lace.  If you only want lace coming off of ONE side, then make sure to pin it that way.

Make sure your second ribbon is also pin to the back.  Usually when sewing everything is right sides together.  This time you want the right sides facing OUT because we are not going to be turning any thing.

Find where you want the elastic to be and we are going to create the casing for it.  I wanted the center to be about 1/2 inch or so.

See?!  Basically I am doing a 1/4 inch on both sides!  Turn the ribbon around and do a 1/4 seem on down the other side now.

Don't worry too much about the satin puckering up or gathering where you don't want it to.  Remember we are going to add elastic and it will be gather any ways so it will not be noticeable.

I don't have a picture of this next step but you need to feed your elastic through your casing.  I use a safety pin on one end of the elastic and then feed it through.  When you get to where the elastic on the end without the safety pin is at the end, pin it in place so you don't lose your elastic inside of the casing and have to start over.   Then I get it to the other end ( the side WITH the safety pin ) and pin that in place too

Next I put my sewing machine on a zig zag stitch and I sew the ends closed.

They don't need to line up perfect because I trim the excess off and now you have a garter ready to be embellished!  Isn't it pretty.  If you get your ribbon at the dollar store these are SO cheap!  They are pretty fast and easy to do as well.  I like to take mine and embellish them for weddings with a personalized stamped charm!  Most brides want to have their future husbands names on the charm and have the wedding date on the "toss" garter.  It makes for a fun and personal thing for your wedding day. I bought my garter and I kinda wish I had been crafty enough to make it back then.

So here is the finished product after I added the charm and the embellishments.

This one was a little bigger then I usually make them but I think it's cute!  Here are some others I have made

So be creative and have fun!  I have one in my shop in animal print with a charm on it that says, "Take me"    I made it with fabric.  When making the garters with fabric you want to put the two pieces of fabric together and stitch along both long sides with right sides faces.  THEN, you want to turn it right side out and THEN make your casing for the elastic.  That way you don't have any raw edges.

Any questions let me know!  OH!  I just realized I didn't tell you what size to make your elastic.  YOu want to make it an inch or so SMALLER then your thigh measurement.  So if you are 20 inches around your thigh make it 19 or 18 inches long.  You want it to stretch a little but not TOO much!  The first time I sold a garter on line on etsy, I made it too small because I didn't ask the bride to be what your thigh measurement was.  She had to send it back to me and I had to re make it so that it would fit.  Opps!  You never want to make something twice.  So be careful but most importantly have fun!  These are supposed to be pretty, sexy and fun!  Go to town

Flower Tutorial

I'm not very creative when it comes to finding names for things.  So Flower tutorial will have to do for now.  This is a very simple tutorial and the finishing results is pretty fast and pretty cute.  You can use any fabric you want for this.  I tried two different kinds and I used two different ways.  The first time I tried just using a glue gun.  That was almost harder to do then a straight sewing machine.  Here is what the finish product looks like.

First I took a 37 in by 3 in strip of fabric

Take your strip of fabric and make a long string of glue down one of the long sides...gotta be fast so the glue doesn't dry.

Then fold the fabric in half and press the sides down together so the glue sticks

Next take the new strip and cut on the folded side alllllll the way down to make petals for the flower

Make these whatever size you want.  Try different sizes for different looks.   Then you need to start your flower.  Add a little glue to the end piece and then roll.

Now work your magic the rest of the way down with the gun and then roll.  Glue.  Roll.  Until you get to the end.

You can make the roll really tight for a fuller flower or make the roll kind lose for a less full flower.

I love the way the end roll looks!

And there you have it!  I think it looks really cute by itself or you could add a pretty button or some ribbon in the center

Next I tried it with sewing instead of glue for the first step.  I think it actually went faster and was less messy.  YOu can do it by hand by with a machine.  I'm lazy so I used my machine.

For this flower instead of doing one long strip I decided to do a bunch of shorter strips with different coordinating fabrics.  Mess around with the lengths and don't worry about making then too long.  You can always cut them if they are too long when you roll them!

I love how colorful it is!

Then I added something to the middle.  This is actually a brad for scrap booking but it had great color!

I then decided to make a wider one.  I took a piece of thick interfacing and started with the OUTSIDE circle and sewed it down using my machine.  You could use the glue too because that would have been just as easy or you could sew it down by hand.   Once I was done with one color ( if there was extra I just cut it off ) I just grabbed a new color and started sewing/gluing again!

The center I took the part of the green one I had cut off because it was too long and rolled it and glued it in the center.  Again it looks good by itself or with a colorful button in the center!

These are SUPER easy and can look really elegant or really fun depending on the fabric and button you use for the middle!  I haven't had time since I made these last week to try new ones with different fabrics.  I also want to make some more with a much wider petal.  The wider the petal the more the flower kind of looks like a flower you would buy in the wrapping paper section!  I love them.  Oh how I wish my daughter would let me put things in her hair!  Now I either need to gift these or put them in the shop.  Someone please convince my daughter to leave something in her hair!  Pretty please?!

Lady Bug Purse Tutorial

So who wants to make a cute ladybug purse?  I am telling you this was EASY, quick and my daughter has taken it every where we have gone since I made it for her.  She LOVES it!  So here is what you need:

2 fat quarters
2 pieces of 14 inch ribbon
1 piece of 3 inch ribbon
two scrap pieces of fabric about 5 inches or so in all directions
interfacing ( optional )

READ INSTRUCTIONS ALL THE WAY THROUGH BEFORE SEWING!

I started out by cutting TWO pieces of fabric 11 1/2 inches tall by 11 inches wide from one fat quarter.  If you have pattern on your fabric that is directional ( meaning the pattern goes one way ) then make sure you cut it going the way you need it.  Mine needed to have the animals upright so I made sure to do so.

Do this with both fat quarters.  One will be the outside of the purse and one will be the inside.  If you want to interface it, do so now.  I decided for my daughter, it didn't really need it.  Don't know what interfacing is?  It is the stuff that makes purses stiffer and more padded.

Next you want to round the corners ( you don't HAVE to, but that is the look I wanted for my purse.  I didn't want it to just look like a cute tote, but a purse instead. )  I just grabbed a bowl from my cupboard and used that to outline a curved edge.  Make sure to do it to both the left and right corners of the bottom of the fabric like so

Again, make sure you do this with all four of the pieces of 11 1/2 X 11 inch pieces.  

Next you want to pick a color for the lady bug.  I picked some pink fleece.  If you are doing a lady bug like me you want it to be an exact circle.  I used another bowl that was slightly smaller then the one I used to round out my edges.  It turned out to be about 5 1/2 X 5 1/2 inches all the way around.  Yours can be whatever size you want!

Next I made another circle cut out for the wings.  I chose a black and white polka dots so it could be close to what a real lady bug looks like but anything works well.

Here are my circles.

Next I took the circle that would become the wings and folded it in half and then cut it down the center.  This gave me two pieces like so

HOWEVER, this part is up to you.  The one I saw in the store had wings that were much smaller.  I played around with this and I liked the big wings because that is how a real lady bug would be.  YOU DO WHAT YOU LIKE!

Now, I didn't have any iron on adhesive and so I used some spray on glue.  Very clever I thought until I noticed I sprayed it all over my hand and everything was sticking to it!!!   Not cool...

Place your lady bug how you want it on the out side of your fabric.  I over lapped my wings a little because again, I LIKED it like that!  Do what you like....

I then did a zig zag stitch all the way around the wings and body.  This is going to get repetitive but seriously do it how you think it will look cute.  I think the zig zag kinda ties everything together.

Looking cute right?  Now I took a round piece of tule ( you know the kind they sell at the dollar tree in the wedding section ) and scrunch it in the center and pin it to the lady bug over the wings right in the center.

I LOVE the tule.....if you don't like it, scratch it!


Next take your 3 inches of ribbon for the antennas.  There are a couple of things you can do.  I just pinch mine in the center and folded it over and glued it.  If you want to make the antennas a little cuter you could tie knots on the ends.  The version I saw did this.  I was just too lazy and the ribbon I liked was a little too fat for that.

Next glue it to the button of your choice.  Or whatever you think would make a cute head.  I thought a button was a good idea but you could get really creative with that.  And then I got lazy again and instead of sewing the button on, I glued it.

Now that the outside is done you need to pin the two outside pieces with the right sides together and sew all the way around on the sides leaving the top OPEN ( i love how you can still see all the black lint stuck to my fingers!  haha )

Put the top off to the side and do the same with the inside pieces ( if you want pockets on the inside you must do so now BEFORE sewing it together.  Since mine was for a 2 year old I felt pockets to be unnecessary )

When sewing the inside together ( right sides together again ) make sure to leave an opening on the bottom.  A good 5 to 7 inches.  This is so you can turn the bag right side out in a minute.  What I do to remind meyself so I don't forget and just keep on sewing is I do a double pin where I want to stop sewing.

In the picture above you would NOT sew in between the two sets of double pins.

Next I clip the corners and I iron open the seams.

If you have NEVER made a purse before this next part will seem weird.  Trust me though...I have made about 40ish purses!

Take the outside of the bag and turn it so it is wrong sides facing together ( in other words, what it will look like when the bag is ALL done! )  Then take the INSIDE of the bag and put it over the outside of the bag so that the right sides of both fabrics and facing each other.  Check out the picture if you are confused.  It should look like this

Next you take those seams you ironed open and line them up and pin them together ( with the seams still open )

Next you want to take your 14 inch ribbon and pin it where you want your straps to be.  Honestly if you are smart ( unlike me ) you will do this BEFORE pinning the two together.....I forgot, however and had to do it on this step.  Also, look at my picture below:  you will notice that my ribbon was sliding sideways.  You do NOT want that to happen!!!  If you do then your straps will be crooked.  I had to fix this a million times before I sewed it down.  If you are smart ( unlike ME! ) pin the strap to the outside of the fabric BEFORE putting the inside over and lining up the side seams.  It seems fussy but it will be worth it I promise!  Also, make sure you pin the strap in between the two.  If you pin it to the outside of everything right now, when you go to turn your purse the right way, your straps will be trapped between the two fabrics.

Next you want to sew all the way around the top of your bag.  You are ALMOST done!  WOO HOO

After you sew around the top you may be wondering how you are going to pull the whole purse the right way.  Have no fear!  Do you remember that hole we left in the bottom of the inside of the purse?  Find that hole, put your hand in it and pull the OUTSIDE of the bag through it like so

It should look like this when you pull it through  ( at this point your daughter might come to see whats going on and get REALLY excited to see something you made for her! )

Next you want to shove the inside of the bag....well....in the INSIDE!  And then iron down the top of the bag and stitch across the top again to make sure the lining stays down.  Also, it just looks cuter when you finish the top.  I again used a zig zag just because I think it fit with everything else better.

Next do you remember that stupid  dumb hole in the bottom of the lining?  ( I'm not aloud to say stupid because I get yelled at by my 5 year old for saying a bad word.  Aunt Kimmie got yelled at a LOT while she was here last week haha

You want to tuck under the seam and iron it down.  Then pin it closed and sew it down.

You could also just sew it by hand.  I was just lazy and I like to think that when I sew it by hand it makes it slightly weaker.  Then again, my daughter is putting really small things in here so far.  She had some crayons, some bracelets and some puzzle pieces in it all weekend.

You now have an adorable new purse for your daughter, grand daughter, sister, friend, niece or heck, yourself!

I was thinking of all of the fun animals you could do instead of a lady bug.

butterfly
monkey
OWL ( i'm gonna try that one! )
caterpillar
hippo

all sorts of fun and easy different shapes and sizes.  I would LOVE to see if anyone does one.  Send me a link if you do and if I get enough of them I will make a new blog in a month or so and post all of them who send them in.  Either leave a link in the comments or email me at  katiesclicks at yahoo dot com.

I hope everyone had a great Monday!  Mine was awful!  haha  I woke up to realize it was that "time" of the month, my kids were PMSing WAAAAAAAAY worse then I was and I had a bunch of errands to run.  Not cool.  Then my husband came home and he was in a bad mood too which just made everything worse.  Now the kids are in bed, the house is quiet and we are both typing away on our lap tops.  Him doing homework ( he is ALMOST done with his first bachelor's degree!  His second one should be done by April! ) and I am changing the craft world one tutorial at a time....okay not really but hopefully at least ONE person enjoys this tutorial and gives it a try.  :)

Thanks for reading and let me know if you have any questions.

I'm linking up to some parties through out the week...