How to DIY your own Hello Kitty Garter

OBTer Waiala made the cutest durn garter in the history of EVAR and graciously agreed to share how she did it! Just a few supplies and some nifty hand-stitching or machine work and you're on your way to uber-cute! Hello Kitty fans: this is for you! – Offbeat Shrie

Materials:

• Pleated fabric (I used yellow)
• Elastic band (approx. width as shown)
• Ribbon (I used silver)
• Tulle
• Rhinestones
• Hello Kitty pendant
• Needle and pins
• Thread
• Pen or pencil
• Hot Glue gun (or Fabric Tac)
• Scissors

Step 1:
Measure your leg, where the garter will sit. Cut elastic, pleated fabric and ribbon to desired length (make sure and cut them longer than your measurement, so that they overlap just a smidgen). Too much is better than not enough, so be generous. You can always trim off the excess.

Step 2:
Now hot glue (or FabricTac) rhinestones and pendant to ribbon. Use a tweezer to hold items that will be hot glued. This will save you from burns and allows you to place items easily!

Step 3:
Sew elastic to inside band of the pleated fabric. When you have your garter on, the elastic will not be visible. Sew the two short ends of the elastic/fabric together (so that it forms a circle now). Make sure that the width fits on your leg where you will wear the garter.

Step 4:
Hot glue (or FabricTac) ribbon/embellishment strip to outside visible portion of pleated fabric. Hand-stitch or do a quick machine-sewn hem to attach the glued ribbon and the pleated fabric together (not necessary but helps with stability). Overlap one end of the ribbon over the other to close any gaps!

Step 5:
Flip garter inside-out, fold tulle and pin to inside of garter (on the elastic). Pin all the way around back to the beginning. Bunch or fold tulle every so often and pin them in place, to give it that darted/bunched look. Hand-sew or machine-sew (works best with a zig-zag stitch so you can pull the thread a little to create more bunching) the tulle to the fabric/elastic. Pull tight to keep tulle anchored.

Step 6:
Cut tulle to desired length. It may be helpful to hold it up to your leg and see how long you'd like the netting to go.

• If I knew I was going to use tulle the first time around I would have cut it to the desired length before attaching it to the garter, but it worked out fine to cut if after it was attached.

Step 7:
Flip garter right side out. Check that all is secure and try it on!