Wide Elastic and Leather Belt

A local fabric store that I loved, for it's random collection of fabrics and notions, recently went out of business.  I tried stocking up on anything and everything that I thought I might want before they closed.  I'd been eyeing this wide (3 inch) striped elastic.  I loved the look, but didn't have the right skirt in mind. Then it hit me, it would make a perfect elastic belt.  

I dug through my leather scraps, and found some silver d rings, rivets, and a fastener.  With all of my materials gathered, it was just a matter of assembly.

Using my leather sewing needle, I stitched the leather to the ends of the elastic.

Then I punched some holes in some leather strips, added rivets, and attached the hardware to the belt.

 The belt is the perfect width for finishing off a maxi skirt.  

D-ring Belt Sewing Tutorial

 Clark has had a recent growth spurt, and has transformed from a chubby toddler into a skinnier kid.  The adjustable waists on his pants just haven't cut it; his bum cheeks still find their way out. I noticed recently that the top of his little cheeks are getting chapped, probably from both the pants sliding down, and the fresh air drying them out.  To keep the pants up, and prevent chapped cheeks, I made him a couple of super easy and inexpensive nylon belts.  He was THRILLED.  I had no idea that having his own belt would bring him so much joy.

Materials

2 D-rings

Nylon Belting (webbing) Material 

(Available in the notions section of Joann's) You will want this to be the same width as your D-rings (1inch is what I used). Length of material is waist+7". You can also find different belting materials in the trim section.

Sewing machine

Matches or a lighter

First, melt the both ends of the nylon belting by holding a lit match or lighter near the material.  The material should seal, and prevent fraying.

Slide both d-rings onto one end of the belt, about one inch back.  

 Fold the end of the material in 1/2", and then under an additional 1/2".  The sealed end should be near the d-rings.

Using your sewing machine, stitch near the fold of the belting material.  This will keep the d-rings in place.  Depending on the width of your machine's presser foot, you may have trouble with the bulk of the material passing under the presser foot.  If this is the case, you can use a standard zipper foot, and position it to the right of the d-rings. I stitched this row three times, just to secure the seam.

 Once you've done that, you're done.  You could always turn the end of the belting material under twice, if you prefer the look, but if you've sealed your ends it really isn't necessary.  If you were using a different type of belting material, cotton  for example, you'll need to skip the melting, and apply fray check to the ends.  I'd really recommend turning the material under twice if you are using a cotton belting material.

 Hopefully these little belts will prevent chapped cheeks both in our house and yours.  

Bling in the New Year Belt

Everyone needs a little sparkle to ring in the New Year.  Have you noticed all of the sequins and glitter popping up everywhere?  I made myself a sparkly sequined belt for the New Year, and it couldn't have been simpler.

What I used:

Sequined trim from Joann's (4-6 inches longer than the width of waist)

Strip of faux leather (cut to the same width and length as trim)

Velcro: same length as overlap

4 covered buttons

To create the belt I used a three point zig zag stitch to stitch the trim to the faux leather.  I stitched all the way around the trim.  I then attached a piece of velcro to the belt.  The rougher piece was attached to the right side of the belt, and the softer piece was attached to the wrong side of the belt.  When attaching velcro you'll want to make sure that you try the belt on for proper placement.

I then sewed a four covered buttons to the end of the belt.  So simple.

Yep, still breaking out the maternity clothes.

I'm not a very glitzy girl, so a semi sparkly belt is perfect for me. Speaking of sparkle, did you see the glitter hot pants shared on Grosgrain...my behind couldn't handle that much sparkle.

Don't forget to enter the My Memories Giveaway.

Lace Belt Tutorial

Last week I showed you how to make the lace embellished top or tank.  During the photo shoot I accessorized it with a lace, faux leather, and ribbon belt.  Although the belt is not a top in and of itself, I think that it can do a lot for a basic top.  Today I'll show you how I made my belt.

Materials: Faux Leather or vinyl, a yard or so of satin ribbon, around a yard of lace, leather punch, sewing machine, and fray check

To begin you will want to cut a strip of leather, and one of lace, that are as long as your waist plus six inches.  I cut my belt material to be about 1/2" wider than the width of my lace. Once your materials are cut you will want to center your length of lace over the belt material.  You can pin along the length to secure the two layers.  I then machine stitched down the length of the belt.  The first rows of stitching were about an eighth of an inch from the edge of the lace.  I then stitched around a quarter inch inside the initial rows. The placement of your machine stitching should be determined by the shape of your lace.  I recommend using a lace that doesn't have much of a scalloped edge to avoid the edges from pulling away from the material.

I used a regular sewing machine needle on  my project, but a leather needle or heavy duty machine needle would worker on thicker or hard to work with material.

Next fold over the ends of your belt by two inches.  Pin them in place. Stitch around the entire perimeter of the tab (see image below).

You will next want to mark where you would like the holes of the belt to be punched.  I put three holes each 1 inch apart, the first hole being 1/2" away from the edge of the belt ends. You only need two holes on each end, but adding a third allows you to adjust the belt width a bit more (great for when you are wearing the belt over multiple layers).

Now cut a length of ribbon that is long enough to tie either in a bow or a know.  Angle the edges  of the ribbon and apply fray check to prevent fraying.

That's it.  I can't wait to make more of these belts in different colors and widths.

I'll be linking here.

Sewing for Momma: Stretch Lace Belt for Pregnancy (or anytime really)

You don't have to be very far along in a pregnancy before your pre-maternity waist disappears.  In the first and second trimesters I like to pretend that I still have a waist by wearing a belt above my belly. By the time the third trimester hits your rib cage has expanded , and the space between your belly and bust is practically non existent. It makes it rather uncomfortable to wear a belt, at least a traditional belt.

I was recently playing around with some of the stretch lace that I purchased for my maternity bands.  I found that I could cut one long strip, stitch the ends together, and create a rather comfortable maternity "belt".  It could easily be dressed up with a ribbon or brooch of some sort, and I also think that it would be fun to layer a normal belt over the top of the lace layer (once my abdomen isn't being inhabited by a growing babe).

Anyway, it's just a silly little project that I thought I'd share.  Have a great weekend!

Leather Bow Tutorial and Template

Today I'm going to show you how to make these cute leather bows.  I have made several, in varied sizes, and think that they are quite adorable.  These gwere inspired by this brightly colored leather that I recently procured while on a trip to a local saddle store.  I am not a cowgirl, and to be quite frank, an not all that fond of horses (I've had some less than positive experiences with them).  While enrolled in a book making class I discovered that saddle stores were the perfect place to buy remnant leather.  They often have a box of scrap leather that is sold by the pound. On my last visit to the saddle store I found this bright pink, lilac, and mustard yellow leather.  I was so excited, but I couldn't really imagine making a journal out of it.  I bought it on impulse, and I am oh so glad that I did. I am quite pleased with these little bows and belts that I created.

Well I think that is about enough background information, lets get down to the nitty gritty.

Click read more for the full tutorial.

DIY Faux Leather & Ribbon Belt-Part 3

Alright, this is the third and final chapter of the DIY Faux Leather Belts, I promise.  I am not going to go through and do a thorough tutorial, because frankly, I think that most of it is pretty self explanatory.  If you have any questions just let me know.

As I was working with this material I remembered that I had a leather hold punch set.  I had purchased it for book binding, and had stashed it away.  I pulled it out and started imagining what I could do with it.  Initially I was thinking that it would be rather handy to add belt holes (which it is), but then I came up with a couple of additional uses. 

Notice the cutting mat, it is a must.

 Now there are a number of different types of leather punches.  Mine happens to be a more basic model.  It has interchangeable heads for punches of different sizes.  You simply select the size you'd like, place it on top of your material, and use a hammer to cut through the material.  Disclaimer: when using my leather punch I always have to have it on a hard surface (like the kitchen floor), and I have to have a protective layer (such as a cutting mat or cutting board).  I usually have to give it about 7 or 8 good whacks with the hammer and a couple of twists and the punch is made. 

One idea was to make a thin "leather" belt with ribbon laced through out it.  I cut out a piece from my red material. I cut it so that the ends almost met around my waist, rounded the ends of the material, and began punching holes.  I punched one hole on either end of the belt about 1/2" in.  I then made a series of punches along the belt. I left 2" between each set of holes that were 1/2" apart.  The sets of holes were where the ribbon was exposed on the outside of the belt.  I added a bit of fray check to the end of my ribbons so that they wouldn't fray, and I was done.  I left about 10" of ribbon on either end of the belt for tying. If you like the look of this belt, but don't have a leather punch available, you could always use an x-acto knife or pair of sharp scissors to cut slits in your material.  

The other belt that I made with the punch set is a wider and slightly more decorative belt.  This belt I intended to have some overlap (unlike the red belt).  I cut it about 4" wide and long enough to wrap around my waist with about 5" of overlap.  I wanted to make a decorative pattern at the end of the belt similar to what you might find on a pair of wingtip shoes.

Placement marks

 I marked my pattern onto the end of the belt, and using a variety of different sized punches made the holes.

 I also added a simple punched pattern on the loop of the belt and around the edges of the belt itself.

Punches along edges of belt

  I love how you can catch a peek-a-boo of color when the belt is layered over a top.  I made belt holes on both the top and bottom overlapped material.  That way I could lace ribbon through the holes and tie it in a bow or a knot.  I positioned the holes close enough together that I could also use a standard sized pin or brooch to fasten the belt. 

I'm still working on my bow tying skills, but I am sure it will come with time.  These are quick and easy belts to make, and they don't require any sewing.  I used satin ribbon for the ties, but you could use anything that you have on hand. 

Okay, I promise that I won't pop in with anymore belt posts for awhile, but you might see a bit more faux leather in the future-I have to use up the scraps.

Looking for a leather punch?  Here are a number of available leather punches.

Check out where I'm partying today-I love a good link party.

  

DIY Faux Leather Belt: Part 2

Okay, here is another simple faux leather belt using minimal materials.  The only hardware that I used were some simple D shaped rings.  It cost about a dollar and a half for a set of 6 D rings.  You can find them in the notions department of craft or sewing stores.

For a skinnier belt you will want to find rings that are smaller than 1 inch wide.  For the black belt I used 3/4" rings.  For the brown belt I used 1" rectangular rings (can they be called rings if they are rectangular and D shaped?)

To make your belt you will want to cut a strip of faux leather the desired width of your belt. I would suggest cutting it 1/8"-1/4" thinner than the size of your D rings.  Wrap the piece of material around your waist and cut the fabric so that they are about 6-8" of material overlap. The extra material serves not only as your belts tail, but also accounts for the material needed to attach the rings.  You can clip one of your belt tails at an angle, a point, or simply round the edge if desired.

Add caption

Now I made two belts using this technique.  One out of the brown faux leather, and one out of black.  The wrong side of the brown material was a much lighter shade of brown, and I didn't want to have it exposed when the belt was fastened.  To avoid this, I cut a second strip of material that was about 1" wider than the width of my belt.  With wrong sides together I stitched around the perimeter of the belt so that my belt was the same on either side.  I'd stitch no further in than 1/8" of an inch.  Now when doing so I had my belt centered on the second piece of material, there was about a half inch overlap on either side.  This makes the stitching much easier.  You don't have to worry about keeping your pieces perfectly lined up.

All trimmed up

 I simply trimmed the bottom layer of fabric when my perimeter stitching was complete. My black material was black on the wrong side of the fabric so I chose to omit this step.

Now it is time to attach your rings. You will slide two rings the blunt end of your belt.  Fold the material over so that there is at least 1" of overlap.  You will now stitch the material together to secure the rings.  I made two rows of stitching on the black belt.  The first row of stitching was about 1/2" away from the end of the belt, and the second row about 1/4" further out than that.  Clip any extra overlap material.  With the brown belt version I stitched a box shape with an X through the center.  I wish that I wouldn't have made the box quite so large, a one inch box would have been sufficient.  The larger box became problematic when trying to camouflage the rings and the stitching (which explains why you don't see any finished photos).

Once you have attached your rings your belt is nearly complete. You may want to add a simple loop for the tail of your belt.  To do so I simply cut a piece of material that was about 2/3 the width of my belt.  I overlapped the ends, either hot glued (the black belt) or stitched the ends (the brown belt) together. If you choose you can attach the loop itself to your belt, I chose to leave my free floating for size adjustment.

You could wear the belt as is, or you could add a few additional pieces to cover the rings and stitching on your belt.  With this black belt I decided to apply Disney's Lauren Headband bow to the belt.   I like that it is wide enough to cover the rings, but simple enough to not add bulk to the belt.  You could use any number of things to dress up your belt.  A felt flower, a large button, a brooch, ect.

For detailed instructions visit Disney's blog for the actual bow making tutorial.  Here are a few images and simple instructions for applying the bow to your belt.

Cut a piece of faux leather the width of your belt that is 15-16" long.  Cut an additional piece of material for the center of the bow that is about 4" long.

I few small changes to her bow.  One variation being that I sewed the loops together rather than hot glueing them. I am sure that you could make a hot glut gun work, but it is awfully hard to stitch through hot glue.  I also made two separate loops that were secured by stitching. Rather than looping the bow on each side I made a top loop with a small overlap, cut and stitched it.  I made a slightly larger bottom loop, cut and stitched that.  I stacked them on top of one another, and centered them over the stitching on my belt (the ring attaching stitching).  Next I stitched down the center of the bow and through the belt, making sure to backstitch at the beginning and end of the stitch. Once my bow was securely stitched to my belt I took a scrap piece of material and wrapped it around the center of the bow, and hot glued the overlap.

That is it.  A simple faux leather belt just for you.

Click here to see which great linky parties I'm participating in today.