Monday, December 21, 2009

Quilty Belt -- TUTORIAL

Today I'll show you how to make a "quilted" belt from a dollar store canvas belt and some fabric scraps!


SUPPLIES:
~Dollar store canvas D-ring belt
~fabric scraps (I chose Amy Butler scraps, of course!)


Step One: Cut off the D-rings and set them aside.


Step Two: Cut your fabric scraps to approximately twice the width of your belt. My belt was 1 1/2" wide, so I shoud have cut my scraps 3" long (It would have made this project much easier if I had cut them longer than 2 1/2"!) The width of your scraps doesn't matter much -- I think it looks more interesting if they are all different widths. Line your scraps up in the order you like, then stack them.


Step Three: Line up your first scrap to the cut edge of your belt, face down. Use your 1/4" foot and sew with the edges of the belt and fabric on the edge of the foot.


Step Four: Turn your belt over and pull the first fabric strap around to the front, pulling it taut. Lay your second scrap face down atop the first, lining up the edges.


Step Five: Sew all the way from top to bottom of your scraps, then


turn it right side up and press.


Continue in this manner until you have covered the entire belt.
(Yes, I am sewing it on the "wrong" side of my machine! No reason! Do it however it makes sense to you!)


This is what the back will look like.


Step Six: Lay your belt face down with the first end you sewed on the right. Using a rotary cutter and ruler, cut one edge of your scraps in a straight line parallel to the canvas belt, approximately 3/8" to 1/2" from the edge of the canvas. (If you don't have a rotary cutter, draw a straight line with a ruler and pencil or disappearing marker and cut with scissors.)

Step Seven: (Oops! No photo!) Cut a strip of fabric 1 1/2" x the length of your belt. (If you're using strictly scraps, you may need to piece this.)


Step Eight: Lay your belt right side up with the straight (cut) side on the right. Line up your 1 1/2" wide strip of fabric right side down on top, lining it up at the right. Sew with a 1/4" seam allowance all the way down the length of your belt.


Step Nine: Press as shown!


Step Ten: Turn your belt over. Press the unsewn edge of your fabric strip up about 1/4".


Step Eleven: Topstitch along the entire length of your belt where your long strip meets the scraps, pulling the fabric over tight as you go.


Step Twelve: Press the opposite side of your belt up over the edge of your belt. You will then pull the fabric strip over the raw edges you've just pressed and topstitch along the folded edge.


When you get to the end of your belt, stuff all the raw edges under your fabric strip to give it a nice finished end (hopefully looking much neater than mine!).


Step Thirteen: The other end of your belt will have raw edges. Thread your D-rings onto your belt, then turn the raw edges once, then over the D-rings.


Carefully sew along the folded edge, securing your D-rings. You may want to hand baste this first so it will stay in place. Then when you go to your machine to secure them, you may want to hand crank the entire length, as there is a lot of bulk. I find this helps avoid breaking needles! I sewed two lines of stitching to ensure it was very secure.


(Awkward self-photo of my belt!)

TA-DA!! It sounds like a lot of steps, but it really is pretty simple!

15 comments:

Brenda said...

Thanks for the tutorial. I want to try this after Christmas. Something for me.

Unknown said...

good idea thanks,I think I try

Anonymous said...

Very cute! Thanks for the tutorial.

Jeanne said...

This is great! Thanks for sharing it with us.
xo
jeanne

Lynette @ My Craft Discovery said...

This is so cute! I want to make one for my little sis! She would love it! Thanks for the idea!

Sarah said...

Some of my favorite fabrics too! I love this. I always have tons of little pieces that I don't want to throw away (especially when the fabrics are that pretty). Thanks for the tutorial (I know those take longer to make than the actual project!)

Mama Lusco said...

Very cool belt! Thanks for the step-by-step tutorial :)

Anne said...

Neat belt! The patchwork strip looks great with the jeans!

I linked to your tutorial on Craft Gossip Sewing:
http://sewing.craftgossip.com/tutorial-patchwork-d-ring-belt/2009/12/22/

--Anne

Vicki said...

what a great idea!

bbp said...

Love the idea of using the canvas belt base. Thanks for sharing.

Debbie said...

That rocks!! J Crew charges an arm & a leg for belts similar to this. Thank you sew much!!

Nishant said...

good idea thanks,I think I try

Work from home India

Valerie said...

So very cute!! Makes me wish I sewed at all.

Crafty Girls Workshop said...

That is a very cool tutorial and very thrifty too! Have you heard of French Picnic? They have a great place for crafty and thrifty blogs like yours. You might want to check them out. I saw a link to this post on Tip Nut and that's how I found you today.

Anna

P&J(or one or the other) said...

Thanks so much for this! I just made one and I love it! So cute. My only problem is that my dollar store only had canvas belts in a dark army green color, and my fabrics are light so it shows through a little. I should have backed them with something, but that is too much work for a $ project, lol! It is still way cute though!