How-To: Wedding Garter

Today I will be sharing a How-to on making your own garter!!

(My wedding photos courtesy of Michelle Lee Photography, officially the nicest, bestest photographer EVER.)

After a lot of searching and grimacing on my part, I finally realized that buying a garter for my upcoming wedding was out of the question. I refused to pay $50 for elastic and hideous lace. I just don't see why it is so difficult to produce something cheap and sexy. A garter is supposed to be sexy. You don't even have to work that hard.

Anyway, I made my own and I'm gonna show you how you can too!

Inspiration first struck when I came across these lovely garters from jenaeb (and  this one too!) on etsy. These are super pretty! But, I'm exceedingly poor and vaguely handy with a sewing machine so I figured buying a garter was beneath me.

Good Lord.

Then I came across these headband and flower making kits at A. C. Moore.

Blue elastic! That's not a funky bridal blue! And pretty, elastic lace! Perfection!

Honestly, these practically make themselves.

Supplies:

-Length of elastic long enough to fit around your thigh (you want it a little smaller so the elastic can stretch and hold it up, but not so small your leg looks like it's having its circulation cut off.)
-Length of lace, preferably stretchy, that is three times as long as your elastic piece
-Matching thread
-Any embellishments desired
-A sewing machine or a good pair of hands (latter not recommended)

First, measure your thigh where you want your garter to go. Cut and sew together. Fortunately mine fit perfectly and didn't need this step. Sorry, no pictures!

Second, pin your elastic lace to your headband. Like so...

Next, begin sewing and bunching your lace as you go. This will create a ruffled effect and allow room to stretch. 

After this step you should have something resembling this...

As you can tell, straight lines are not needed. You also don't need a ton of sewing experience. This was maaaaaybe my third project. It was pretty easy and turned out great!

Unfortunately I ran out of elastic (my ruffling was a tad overzealous). But with my handmade embellishment...

...You can't even tell. 

If you are making this for your wedding, make a second "Toss Garter." Slap these babies on and love the fact you made two for $10 (with leftover supplies for several more). 

Recipe Box: Sick-Day Soup

Ok, so I'm sick. Some sort of head cold and maybe a little bit of strep thrown in (we'll have to wait and see). Basically, just sick enough to feel miserable constantly but not sick enough to feel like it's acceptable to lay around all day being lazy.

I don't know about you, but when I'm sick, soup hits the mark better than anything. But I get tired of traditional chicken noodle, and soggy noodles (from forgetting about the soup while blowing my nose) are hard to keep down when I already feel gross. So the other night I whipped up a super easy, very delicious, healthy soup.

It was really fast and easy to make because I already had the homemade chicken stock in my fridge, the broccoli, green beans, peas, and celery in my freezer, cooked shredded chicken in one cup increments in my freezer, along with some cucumbers pre-sliced for quick snacking. So the only thing I really had to do was make the rice, dice the garlic, and combine everything. PREP YOUR FREEZER FOR DAYS LIKE THIS!

Sick-Day Soup
makes about 4 servings

1/2 C Rice
3/4 C Homemade Chicken Stock
*
2 C Homemade Chicken Stock
1 C Cooked, Shredded Chicken
1/4 C Frozen Broccoli
1/4 C Frozen Green Beans
8 Cucumber Slices, halved
2 Stalks of Celery, cut in 1/2" pieces
2 Cloves of Garlic, diced
3 T Frozen Corn
1 t Oregano
Salt and pepper to taste (I added a lot of pepper, maybe half a teaspoon or more)

Prepare rice according to package instructions, substituting chicken stock for the water called for.

While the rice is cooking, combine chicken, chicken stock, all veggies, oregano, salt, and pepper. Put this in the microwave for about 10 minutes. Half way through, stir and then restart microwave. 

When rice is finished, stir into soup. Heat more if necessary. 

Take to bed with you and eat it all day long so you don't have to move (it's even good once it cools down!). This would also be a delish summer dish. 

I'll post the chicken stock recipe when I get the chance because that's where most of the flavor and healthyness of the soup comes from. There are some serious sick-fighting factors to consider when deciding to make your own stock.