I am not sure how old a tradition it is to make a lace garter for a bride for her wedding, but I am sure that once lacemakers hear of the idea, they immediately think "It's a tradition now!" A garter is a (long) piece of lace which goes round the leg, either with a ribbon or on elastic (or both). It is symbolic, and it reflects the time and craft of the lacemaker. Who knows - the garter could even become an heirloom!
Any strip of lace can become a garter, by sewing it onto a piece of elastic. You will need to (tactfully) ask the bride how far it is round her leg. Make the lace longer than this, as the bride will need to stretch it to get it on. Then sew the lace onto the elastic. The elastic needs to be at full stretch if you sew it along the piece of lace, and that could be tricky, I imagine. It might be better to choose points along the lace, and anchor the lace onto the elastic at those points. If you use enough points, then you might get the gathered effect you want. But if you get bored with anchor points, then at least there is less distance to sew on the lace with the elastic at full stretch. It might also be as well to either involve the bride in the fitting, or do the sewing in such a way that the bride can undo it and sew it properly, if necessary!
The patterns on this website use a ribbon instead of elastic, although it might be as well to add some elastic as well, to make sure that they stay up. The patterns have regular holes in to thread the garter. It is essential to make sure that you have a ribbon to fit the holes in the pattern, or if necessary, change the pattern size to fit the ribbon. Click here to see how to change the pattern size.
I think I must point out that a garter can take a long time to work. I give a timing for pattern 73 (which is not a garter pattern), and that took 15 hours to make 18 inches. A garter may be 36 inches long, or more, and you might take longer than me (or indeed, less, of course). I do think that it's important to work out how long it will take you, roughly, and whether you are prepared to do this. It is not something that you dash off in half an hour! Pattern 88 (which is a garter pattern) took me around 12 hours, and that only uses 15 pairs.
I also think that it is important that you try out the pattern first. Do a few inches, perhaps until the pattern repeats. This has many benefits. You can check that the pattern looks nice, and that you have the right thickness (and colour) of thread, and that the ribbon fits. You can find out whether you can do the pattern, and how long it will take you to manage the whole thing. You can also get all the starting errors out of the way. I tend to make mistakes when I start a new design, or perhaps I figure out a better way to do it. Finally, you have a sample of the garter, which you can keep, as a memento of having made it, after you have given the proper garter to the bride. Lacemakers are often fretful at this idea of doing a sample first - we want to get started on the proper piece! And all that extra bobbin winding.... Still, I do strongly advise to do this.
It is, I hope, self-evident that you are not going to be able to use a cookie pillow for this. It is far too long a piece of lace! You will need a block pillow (and take care where the pattern moves from one block to the next!) or a roller pillow, or a bolster. Click here for descriptions of these pillows. You will also need to repeat the pattern to get a pattern long enough. Click here to see how to do this.
You will need to wind on a lot more thread than you usually do, if this is a longer piece than you usually make, to prevent running of out thread. However, don't worry if you do run out of thread. It is easy to tie on a new piece of thread to an existing thread using a slip knot, and if you do it properly, you won't be able to see the join. I ran out in the garter above! There is also the Parallel thread technique to add more thread.
Click here for wedding garter patterns.
© Jo Edkins 2016 - return to lace index