In our homecoming skirt tutorial we walk you through this process and assemble both a mum and garter skirt, however, since these skirt strips are one of our most frequently asked questions, we thought we would also follow up with a blog post for easy reference now and in the future. In this post, we will walk you thtough our system and the rectangular size skirt strip we use for each of our homecmoming mum & garters sizes.
The homecoming skirt is one of the basic first steps for creating your homecoming mum or garter. Over the years we have changed how we created our skirts as we learn new tips & tricks and now have a solid system of creating a skirt for any size mum or garter. One of the game changers came several years agao when we switched from using circle backers to rectangular strips to attach all the ribbbons and braids for our homecoming mums and garters. We pre-cut these strips into various lengths based on the size mum or garter we are making and then all the skirt ribbons, braids, homecoming loops, and specialty ribbons are all attached to this single rectangluar stip. Once everything is attached we then attach this single strip to the flower head backer. This makes for easier assembly and allows us to attach and align our skirt and backer with greater ease.
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Homecoming Skirt Strip Size Guide
The first step to creating your homecoming mum or garter skirt is to determine the width of the skirt according to the size mum or garter you are making. We prefer our homecoming skirts to be propotianate to the width of the flower head so our guide will be based on a skirt that spans the width of the backer just slightly smaller than the total width of the complete backer including attached backer loops.
Our skirt strips vary in width from 7" for our traditional 6.5" singles up to 18" for our 9.5" quad and custom shapes such as our Texas shape and mega heart shaped mums. You can use the chart below as a guide to determine the best width for the mum or garter you are making. While the backer size you use for your own DIY mum or garter or homecoming business may be slightly different, we hope this guide will help you determine the best size to use for your project.
Most of our skirt strips are made combining 2-3 pieces of cut heavy weight cardstock, stapled together. For our larger mums 12" or wider we do use a piece of chipboard for stablity when assembling.
You will also need one additional piece of heavy weight cardstock (cut to the same dimensions) to finish off your backer at the end. For our larger mums with chipboard, we just use two smaller pieces of heavy weight cardstock to finish the backside of our mum. You can see how we finish out the back of a mum in our finishing touches video.
We try to keep the skirt strip as thin as possible so that we can staple all the layers of ribbon and braids to one strip. Our favorite stapler for skirt and final assembly is the Bostitch B8 stapler along with 3/8" crown staples.
Once you have your skirt strip cut, stapled and ready to go, we have found the easiest way to assemble a homecoming mum skirt is standing up versus laying it all out on a table. Of course, with anything craft related this is just a prefence and may be different for everyone. We staple a 7" piece of scrap ribbon (usually groesgain but you can use your homecoming ribbon or whatever you have on hand) to create a hanging loop. We hang our skirt strip on a costumer which we highly recommend for any homecoming mum business owner. Last year, we added wheels and it made mum season so much easier! You can find these more of our favorite tools in our Mini Tour of Our Mum Craft Room.
For DIY crafters, a command strip on a door, a towel rod, or anything else you have to hang your skirt strip on will work.
Adding Ribbon to your Skirt
Now you are ready to add solid color ribbon to your skirt strip. We talk about in our 6 Tips to Make your Homecoming Mums Look & Feel Professional that now is not the time to skimp on ribbon! Even though these ribbons will not be seen from the front, when the mum or garter is worn, a full skirt will make a swishing sound and you will not only hear but feel the difference.
A quick note before getting started, you will staple the top of the ribbon in the middle of the skirt strip. Leave room at the top of the skirt strip to add pipe cleaner holes if needed for assembly.
Begin by placing a number 40 ribbon on both the far left and right side of the skirt strip. (you can angle out if desired). This will allow your strip to stay in balance as you add remaining ribbons. Next, complete the first row of ribbon overlapping each ribbon as you go. Once you complete your first layer of number 40, add a second layer overlapping the ribbon against the first row.
After completing two rows of number 40 ribbon, you will begin the same process with number 16 ribbon. We like to attach our number 16 in groups of two slightly angled outward to give your skirt dimension, however, if you prefer to attached them straight that is great as well. You will complete two rows of number 16 the same as you did with number 40.
Next, we add number 9 ribbon in groups of three (see picture) all the way across the strip. We only do one layer here as the groups of three really fill up the top layer and add dimension to your skirt.
What do all these numbers mean? We explain the reason behind them in our post on Homecoming Ribbon 101 and our Ultimate Guide to Homecoming Ribbon video.
As a final step (optional) we add varying numbers of imprint ribbon to personlize the mum. Being the top layer of the skirt it really shows through when wearing in pictures and while walking. Our cheerleaders love it especially because it shows when placing the mum on their megaphone. You can see some of our favorite imprint ribbon in our 2024 Imprint Ribbon Guide and find all the ordering tips in our Ultimate Homecoming Imprint Ribbon Guide.
For garters, we only use number 16 and 9 ribbon so you can use the steps above just begin with a number 16 ribbon and do three layers instead of two. We typically do not angle out in groups of two our 16 ribbon on garters as it is the base ribbon.
Finally, on the back of all our mums (not garters) we add a row of 2.5" honeycomb. While pretty, it is more functional than anything, helping keep all the other ribbon in place while walking especailly for those mega Texas mums.
You will notice, we cut our honeycomb slightly shorter than our skirt ribbon. We like it this way to keep it from showing through at the front of the finished mum. Honeycomb usually has a slight curve to it. We recommend putting it where the curve faces inward so the rough edges do not rub when being worn.
You can see it in action in our homecoming mum & garter skirt tutorial.
We add 3-4 honeycomb strips on the back of mum only (curved inward). This helps keep eveything in place when the girls are walking.
Want to learn more about what ribbon to buy & the best places to buy? In our Ultimate Guide to Homecoming Ribbon we talk about the types of ribbon we use and the best places to buy.
For additional assembly tips check our our Finishing Touches video where we add bling, bows, boas, bells, cutouts and more.
Thanks for visiting our blog. If you have enjoyed these basic tips, join our newsletter and follow us on Pinterest and YouTube for more mum tips and tricks including coming soon braid & cutout tutorials and a tour of our craft room and ribbon storage ideas.
Happy creating!
Rayanne & Sabrina