It’s part of our ritual every morning during the week. C loves to helps his Dad put on a belt just before my husband heads out the door to work. Today my 3-year-old big boy announced it was time he had a belt of his own. So as soon as Baby Q’s nap time hit, off we trekked to the sewing machine. And in 20 minutes, C. had his very first big boy belt. Here’s the step by step of how we did it.
SUPPLIES:
I’m a big believer in using what I have on hand. So initially I was thinking preppy grosgrain ribbon belt with D-rings. But alas, no ribbon the right size or color, so I used a strip of fun fabric instead. But just remember, you can be as creative or as simple with this as you wish. This tutorial is just a foundation.
- Scrap of fabric long enough to accomodate the length of your belt.
- Piece of batting just as long as your fabric
- Pair of D-rings (available at your local sewing store)
INSTRUCTIONS:
STEP ONE: Prepare your fabric. I pressed mine with a hot iron and lots of spray starch.
STEP TWO: Determine the length and width of your belt. We wanted our finished belt to be 1.5 inches wide and 27 long.
STEP THREE: Take your width measurement and multiply it by 4. That number is how wide you need your fabric to be. So ours is 6 inches wide by 27 inches long. Keep in mind, you’ll want a belt that’s long enough to weave through the D-rings and hang down just a bit.
STEP FOUR: Cut your fabric using the measurements from Step 3.
STEP FIVE: Cut a piece of batting. That is just shy of the length of your belt and as wide as the finished belt. Out batting strip is 26.5 inches by 1.5 inches
The batting strip adds a little substance and body to your belt.
STEP SIX: Fold your fabric in half all the way down the length of the belt and iron.
STEP SEVEN: Then fold those halves in half again and iron. This is the same technique you might use to make binding.
These folded edges will meet in the middle at your ironed crease
STEP EIGHT: Now place your strip of binding inside, completely enclosed by the folds.
STEP NINE: Fold down the short ends of the belt by 1/4- 1/2 inch and iron
STEP TEN: Now fold and pin in place.
STEP ELEVEN: If you have a walking foot, used for quilting, sew (topstitch) all the way around the belt using an 1/8 inch seam.
STEP TWELVE: Now take your D-rings and place them at the end of your belt.
STEP THIRTEEN: Fold the end of your belt over on itself, careful to place the end of the belt through the D-rings.
STEP FOURTEEN: Stitch this folded end down.
You are done! Now make a bunch more!
Enjoy!
Anna