Western Wedding Garters

My little sister's wedding is coming up in less than a week! I was lucky enough to be asked to make some of the accessories for the wedding, including the garters. They are kind of a fun project that can be made very elaborate if you are a fussy stitcher or very simple if you are into quick & dirty sewing. The key is to make them flat; put in the elastic and join the ends last. Work with strips-press and topstitch rather than trying to work with tubes.

This is the "keeper". The top is brown lace layered over turquoise satin with a satin ribbon peaking out the top. If you are layering two fabrics like this, I recommend basting the two pieces together before joining them with anything else. To do the ribbon at the top baste the ribbon to the front fabric right sides together before stitching the backing fabric on. Basting each layer takes extra time but is totally worth it. Also, good pressing is essential but be careful with these fancy fabrics! They melt easily and satin will often leave press marks. To mitigate press marks use a press cloth, trim seams neatly, and iron lightly. I use my sleeve roll frequently when pressing on satin. The round shape allows you to press only where the seam or edge is and your seam allowances fall away.

The bottom is fringe layered over a brown satin ruffle with decorative stitching. I used a fusible interfacing for reinforcement on the satin before doing the decorative stitching. Again, baste the fringe into place before putting it all together. The garter is finished with some bling and a ribbon bow with an applique of their initials stitched onto the ends. I do not have an embroidery machine, but my Janome 4900MC can do some nice stitches and lettering.

Here is the "throwing" garter that I made a little more simple. It has the brown satin on top with the turquoise fringe and a bow with a rhinestone. I believe I did approximately a double length for the gather on both pieces. Use a bodkin or large safety pin to pull the elastic through. Be sure to pin the elastic and try it on before you stitch it together. It is supposed to sit a few inches above the knee.

My garters will soon be making their appearance-best of luck with yours!

Door Chime Makeover

I have not written too much yet on my diy home adventures. I guess I was trying to wait until something was "finished" to write about it. That nasty "F" word anyway. So here is a little project that is actually finished...

This beauty, our 1970's fake wood grain and brass door chime was ready for an update. It still worked so I didn't want to trash it completely but it definitely needed an update. I decided to go with a black/silver scheme to match my stainless steel appliances.

First, I figured out which breaker runs the door chime and turned it off. The front plate pulls off pretty easily and the rest is wired in and hung on a screw. It was full of cobwebs so once I got it down I cleaned it up. The pipes unscrew from the main piece and then the chimes could be pulled off. There were little rubber washers that held the chimes onto the pipes so I was careful not to loose them.

I taped off the motif on the front plate and that was ready to paint. I spray painted the pipes and the motif with silver spray paint-2 coats. Then I painted over the wood grain with an acrylic enamel. I had never used this kind of paint before-it is very shiny and you really have to keep a wet edge or it shows. It dries very hard and looks kind of plasticky. I did 2 coats of this as well.

After it was all dry I put it back together and hooked it up. The spray paint was scratching off pretty easily but now that it is up there it won't be touched. It was a cheap update and looks way better-on to the next project!