DIY Stretch Lace Garter

My original inspiration for my garter was this pretty:

Image via Etsy / seller florriemitton

I loved the shabby chic-ness of it. However, the price tag, as well as the intricate diy tutorial I found, had me thinking I should keep looking.

My next idea was to do something like this:

Image via Etsy / seller theChicaBoutique

Or even a combination of the two like this lovely number:

Image via Etsy / seller BellaSposaCouture

This seemed easy enough, stretch lace and an appliqué of some sort was something i could handle! After scouring hobby lobby one day for stretch lace, which they did not have, I turned back to Etsy. I was able to find MarynotMartha, who sold stretch lace in every color and width imaginable. I eventually settled on this lace in nude blush, and I ordered a yard.

Image via Etsy / seller MaryNotMartha

Once I received the lace, I measured it around my leg to make sure that I cut it to the right length. Luckily, I needed exactly half so I could use the other half as the toss garter. I turned the lace inside out and lined up the cut ends. I then sewed the ends together, making a circle.

I attached my silk flowers to the outside of the lace using modpodge (that stuff is amazing!) and let it sit overnight.

You're probably thinking, silk flowers? Where did those come from? I thought she was going to make material flowers? Well, I had ordered a hairpiece from another Etsy seller (ChloeANDMaddie, more on that later), and she had wrapped it so pretty and had made these flowers for the bow on the outside of the box! It was so cute and perfect I couldn't just throw it away! So I recycled!

Thanks to my recycling, my garter literally cost $4.80, which consisted of the cost of the lace, plus shipping and handling. Cost effective AND I love it. You can't beat that winning combination.

Did you find a piece of your ensemble in an unexpected location? Were you able to recycle anything?