Easy Belt Tutorial

I wrote this post for The Sewing Rabbit originally, but I'm posting it here now for your enjoyment.  This is such an easy and quick little belt to put together, you can whip up in under 10 minutes.  I did all three in about 30, and that included the embellishments!

If your daughter is anything like mine, she loves accessories.  Miss has been carrying purses around she could walk.  It’s been close to 4 years now!  She also hasn’t been able to keep her pants up since she’s started walking, so I devised a plan that could be both fashionable and functional.  Crazy, I know!What’s really fun about this is how versatile and quick they are.  You can whip these puppies out in under 10 minutes!  Your daughter can help.  Miss and I will show you how to make this little bit of waist bling.

What you’ll need.

• 2 1 inch D rings
• ribbon about 1 inch wide (just make sure it fits inside your D rings)
• ric rac or other embelishments
• hot glue gun or fabric glue
• thread

To start with, measure your child’s waist.  I’ve found that what works best is to add 10 inches to that measurement, double it and then cut that amount from your ribbon.  That way your ribbon is doubled the entire length of the belt.  This is easy to do if your daughter has an itty bitty 19 inch waist but, if your daughter is 6 and has a bigger waist, or your working with scrap ribbon, make sure you have enough ribbon to go around the waist and at least 12 inches of extra.  Ok, now that we’ve done our math, let’s cut our ribbon!

Apply fray check to the ends of the ribbon or heat seal the ends to keep them from unraveling.

Thread the ribbon through both D rings.  Pin your ribbon as close to the rings as you can get to keep the rings from sliding around.  You can keep pinning the length of the ribbon if you’d like.  Some ribbon can get slippery.  It’s totally up to you.

For this next part, I put on my zipper foot.  You don’t have to use one if you don’t have one but the closer you can get to the D rings, the less they’ll slip around.  Now, sew down the width of your ribbon a couple of times, being sure to anchor the beginning and ending of your stitches.  Because the D rings are thick, you won’t be able to pivot and keep sewing, so you want to make sure this stitching doesn’t come undone.

Next, turn your belt and put the presser foot down as close to rings as you can get.  Sew down the length of your ribbon.  Turn where the second layer ends and sew the width, turn again, and sew back up the other side as close as you can get to the rings.  Again, make sure you anchor your stitches.

Now, thread your belt through and admire your handiwork!  Isn’t it lovely?  Isn’t it beautiful?  It’s super cute as it is, but we can kick it up a notch.

Pull out your rick rack and make a rose with it.  My daughter helped me.  You just start at one end and start rolling it until it’s the size you want.  Super easy.

When you get it the size you want it, pin it to keep it from unraveling and trim the excess off.  You can either use thread to sew through the whole thing a few times or you can glue a felt circle to the bottom.  I had some felt flowers so that’s what I glued to the bottom of mine.  Now, you can glue it to the front of your belt, making your cute belt even cuter!

I made three of these.  I like using grosgrain ribbon the best.  Satin ribbon tends to pucker.  They’re all very, very cute.  Miss decided to show you how she and her friends like to style them.

And these do work to keep pants up too, but it’s much more fun to wear them this way.  All three of them said so.

I'm moving!

We bought our first house!  This is exciting for us because we've been moving every couple of years for the last 8 years.  Things have gone awry with our rentals (owners selling, moving back in, deciding to rent to their children, fires...) so we are over the moon to finally have a place to truly settle into (we've already slapped some paint up on the walls!).

Unfortunately, that means another move.  This time, we're only moving a little ways, instead of across the state through a snow storm of doom, so things are looking up.  But, that means that sewing frenzy of procrastination needs to come to an end and I need to actually pack for my move next week.  Yeah, I said next week.

I'll be gone for a bit while I get things sorted out and put away.  Try not to miss me too much.

Last night I packed up most of my sewing room.  All of my fabric is in boxes.  All of my sewing notions are tucked into littler boxes inside bigger boxes.  All of my patterns are taped up and filed with all the other boxes against the wall.  I shall be wearing black until all is unpacked and I can back to what I love.

Lily Bird Studio Birthday Dress

I've sewn many patterns by Lily Bird Studio.  I love how well they're written and I love how well they fit.  I haven't blogged about all of them but I hope to do so in the future.  You've already seen a couple versions of her summer blouse in pink and cream.  I've also sewn her cuffed shorts and a couple of dresses.  I own most of her patterns outright :)

Did you know that one of these fabulous designer's patterns made it to the final four for the flip this pattern tour by Frances Suzanne?  Voting is still open!  Go take a look at all the wonderful designers and vote.

This is the birthday dress.  It is offered in infant sizes in one pattern in 0-24 months and older girls in 2T-8.  I love that this is available for such a large range of sizes.  

The dress has a button placket in the back, flutter sleeves, a lined bodice, empire waist, and sweet narrow belt.  The pattern also has a bottom ruffle, but I chose to leave it off to showcase the print on the dress.

The pattern has you use a narrow hem to finish the edges of the sleeves, but I chose to line mine with gold shot cotton to add some color and to match the belt.  I used the same fabric to line the bodice.  I thought it added an unexpected flash of color to the inside and it made me happy.  I usually use muslin batiste for my linings so I was branching out.

I sewed this up in a 2T and it fits beautifully with no alterations needed.  I did add a thread chain on both sides to hold up the little belt because it kept slipping down to her waist without it.

A perfect summer dress for my fun loving girl!

1. Pattern : Birthday Dress by Lily Bird Studio
2. Fabric: Aneela Hoey Meadow Daisy and Kaffe Fasset Shot Cotton in Squash