craftyteen

clothes

|| heart tshirt || pink belt ||

ribbon belts
~using one ribbon~

Materials:

about 2 1/2 yards of grosgrain ribbon
2 d-rings
sewing machine
something to make the belt thicker or more sturdy. If I'm feeling cheap I might use masking tape, or I buy this white stuff that comes in a roll at the sewing store. (I think it might be called interfacing)

Steps:

Fold the ribbon over, and measure it around you to make sure its long enough. It should go around you once, with about six inches left over.
At this point, there are different ways you can go. If you're using tape to reinforce the belt, then first sew up one side, then cut the tape so its about 1 cm less than the width of the ribbon. Then it can be slipped in between the ribbons. After that, sew up the other side. It's better if the needle doesn't sew directly on the tape, because then after awhile the needle will become sticky and will create problems. If you're using the interfacing, then before you start sewing, pin one to two layers of it in place between the ribbon. If you're not using any reinforcement, then just go on to the next step.
Align the two sides of the ribbon together, and slide the d-rings into place at the top.
Start sewing at the top, with a line parallel to the d-rings. Then proceed to sew down the side. When you reach the bottom, cut the thread and start sewing again at the top of the other side.
After that, tuck in the bottom edge, so its smooth. Then sew that up.
The belt is finished now. If its a little wrinkled, you can try ironing it.

I'm going to try and have detailed pictures up soon for the making of the belt. Hopefully that will make the directions make more sense. Below are pictures that I took awhile go of a belt I made. (click on the pics to make them larger)

	Sewing the belt.
	Close-up of sewing the belt.
	Close-up of d-rings on belt buckle.
	Me wearing the belt before I had to give it away as a gift.
	Final product with a rainbow bow tied around it to look pretty.
	From left to right, the belts were made using: 1)polka dotted grosgrain ribbon, masking tape, d-rings. 2)two inch wide white grosgrain ribbon, one inch pink checkered ribbon, two inch wide interfacing, d-rings. 3)plaid pastel ribbon (not grosgrain, but I'm not sure what its called), belt material (often used when making belts with those rhinestone clasps), d-rings. 4)two inch wide orange grosgrain ribbon, one inch yellow grosgrain, d-rings.
	This is the box I store all my ribbon belt supplies. Basically its just a bunch of ribbons, d-rings, rhinestones, and belt buckles.

This is the newest belt I've made, its pink with white polkadots.

	This a picture of the ribbon, (the color is off, its more pinkish like in the other pics) and the d-rings.
	This is just an out of focus closeup of the beginning when I started to sew it.
	This is a closeup of the end of the belt, which I made pointy and triangular instead of squarish. This was more difficult to do because the ribbon kept fraying so it looks slightly messy. I made the triangle shape by folding the sides to make a point.
	The finished belt!