Basic Fabric Belt Tutorial

There are so many things I need to do right now, not only for my thesis (which is being a beast at the moment), but also for this blog. I should be writing up a post about the blah-pants from the wardrobe contest, and Tanit-Isis tagged me for the Beautiful Blogger award (thank you so much!) that I need to get to soon.

But instead, I made a belt.


It was ridiculously easy to make, and was completed in under an hour. This handily provided a desperately needed confidence boost that I'm not a total failure at everything I try (my thesis has been kicking me while I'm down lately). So I thought I'd do a little tutorial of how to make a basic belt that can easily be altered and embellished to suite your own style.

I don't know about you guys, but I have a hard time finding basic fabric belts that's not crazily embellished or in wild fabric. So just like any good seamstress, I decided to make my own.

I had a length of fabric 6 x 55 inches long in the cotton/linen blend material I made a pleated bag out of last spring (I used a bag tutorial from Ruffles and Stuff, a great blog that while currently inactive has some fabulous tutorials on it). I considered interfacing it, but since I wanted a belt 1.5" wide, I opted to simply fold the material so that there were 4 layers of material in the belt. This provides enough stiffness for the belt while still being flexible and soft like I wanted.

First I folded and pressed the 6" wide material in half, then fold each side so that the raw edges meet at the centre fold. By simply folding on the original pressed fold, you create a 1.5" wide strip, as shown below.


Finished off one end of the belt by opening up the folded material and folded in the raw edge to create a clean end. You do not need to do this with the other end. Then stitch 1/8th inch from the edge all the way around.


On the unfinished end of the belt, slide on two 1.5" (or whatever size suites your belt width) D-rings and fold the material over them, like below. Adjust the belt length here by pinning the folded edge down and trying the belt on, adjusting length of the folded edge until the belt is at the right length.


Stitch close to the D-rings to hold them in place. Make sure to sew fairly tight to the rings, otherwise the belt will easily loosen while wearing it.


After determining the belt length and sewing in the D-rings, cut down the folded over fabric to about 2-3 inches from the D-ring.


Fold under the raw edge and stitch 1/8th inch from the edge. Sew along your stitches along the sides to help hold down the material.


You can see the square of stitches on the top of the belt. This could easily be hidden by adding some beading or a fabric flower if you'd like. I'm still considering adding a bow or a ruffled bit of fabric over this part.



And that's it. A very easy tutorial for a very basic belt. As I mentioned previously, you could easily embellish this in any way you choose, perhaps sewing a ribbon or a ruffled length of fabric (or both!) down the centre of the belt, or adding a big silk flower at the buckle end like Disney does in her ribbon belt tutorial.


This belt is something I had wanted to make for my wardrobe contest entry, but ran out of time. There were other accessories I had wanted to make (and others that I'm discovering that would be really handy to have), and if I manage to get more of them completed, I may just enter PR's accessory contest. We'll see how much time the Thesis allows me. :)