Red, White, and Blue Celebration Garter

It has been a while since I have made a bridal garter. Between not having any creative mojo, and then getting my mojo back and quilting with a vengeance, I haven't really thought much about making garters. However, when the opportunity presented itself, I couldn't say no. I love making them! I love the satins and lace. The possibility for embellishments are endless and it just gets me thinking of all the creative opportunities. 

My friend, Mary has been so sweet in encouraging me and my garter making. Matter of fact, three of the sets I have made, have been for people she loves dearly. 

Anyway, she is celebrating her 23rd wedding anniversary this July 4th (in Vegas!!) and she asked if I could make her a fun garter to commemorate the event. 

I jumped at the chance and had so many ideas! The problem with many of my ideas, is that I don't always have the technical knowledge to pull them off. (I really wanted to do some cutwork embroidery on the bottom edge) I'll get there eventually, but right now, I just wanted something fun and festive.

This is what I came up with! A red, white and blue beauty! 

Although it is similar to the garters I have made in the past, I just had to change it up a bit. I like to try new techniques to keep the creative mojo flowing. I decided to do a nice scalloped satin stitch edge along the bottom. This is close to the cutwork look I was originally thinking of, that I knew I couldn't pull of just yet. To clean up the edge after the satin stitching, I originally started trimming with small scissors.... this was taking for...e..v...er! It was tedious and not fun. 

Then...LIGHTBULB!!

 I went out to the garage and used my husbands wood burning tool. It was awesome! Totally melted the organza and made cleaning up the edges a breeze. A super hot breeze, as it has been over 100 degrees here. But still, it made super easy work out of cleaning up the extra fabric. This of course only works if you are using a fabric that melts. Organza melts. I did have to be careful not to linger to long or to close to the red stitching, as it would have melted too.

All in all, I love how this turned out. It's fun, festive and I hope she likes it. :)