While I can’t say that I’m particularly fashion-minded, I’ve had making a large belt on my mind for a while now. I think wide belts are flattering to the midsection–an area of my body that I’m pretty self conscious about. (Especially since moments of not-sucking in my stomach have resulted in me being mistaken for being pregnant on more than one occasion…so not fun).
These reversible belts are such a confidence booster! Better yet, after I made them I was able to pull out some items of clothing that I rarely wear, simply because wearing them with the belts was so much more flattering. I hope you like them and that they help you too!
When I started making this belt I had a vision of a belt with lace, leather, and a rosette (something a bit bohemian, like my fabric headbands), but I wanted a more basic plain belt too. That’s when I realized that making the belt reversible would be like getting two belts in one!
And there are so many different design possibilities too! I made a total of 3 belts, each a little bit different.
One is sleek and modern:
Another is more casual with rosettes. In fact, it’s made from an old pair of jeans!
3 belts, with 5 different possibilities!
If you want to add large flowers to your belt but still want to make it reversible, all you have to do is add snaps to the embellishments. This way the belt will sit flat when you have the reverse side showing.
Are you ready to make your own wrap belt?
All you really need is some fabric or leather. The belts above are made of distressed microsuede (the brown one), vinyl (the black one), and denim material.
I just used my regular sewing machine and needle to sew all three, but there are special leather needles which might work better for you depending on the thickness and material you are using. If you decided to make your belt out of vinyl, visit this post for some tips for sewing it without it sticking. It works so well!
***As always, if you need a bit of help with the basic sewing skills used in this tutorial, don’t hesitate to check out the Sewing 101 post for more help.
Alright, let’s get started!
First you need to measure your waist. I measured my waist with my clothes on, with the outfit that I was planning on wearing the belt with. Subtract about an inch to an inch and a half from that length. You want there to be a little bit of a gap between each side of the belt in the back. Like this:
Length of belt main piece = waist length – 1.5 inches
Make TWO long rectangles this length (and about 4 inches wide). You can curve the edge of the rectangles inward (as shown below in the next picture). These two pieces will make both of the two sides of your belt, and you can embellish them differently if you desire.
The thin straps for my brown belt is made from a long rectangle that is about 2.5 inches wide. Both of the 2 belt straps are cut as one single piece that are folded in half and sewn to make a smaller strap…but I’ll explain more about that below. You can also use narrower pieces of fabric, ribbon or leather.
For the length of each of those straps, I’d recommend getting some yarn and trying out how long you want your belt straps to be. It really just depends on how many times you want the belt to wrap around you. Do you want it to just tie up in the back? Or do you want it to go around once or even twice?
For my brown belt, each strap is (1.5 x waist length) PLUS 2 inches. My jean belt has the shortest straps, at about (.75 x waist length). How long you make your belt strap is totally dependent on your personal preference and where you want it to tie.
Here’s what you should have:
Add whatever embellishments you’d like to one side of your main belt. Add lace, flowers (with snaps!), or whatever else you’d like.
Placing the right sides together, sew along the top and bottom of the main part of the belt (I used a 3/8 inch seam allowance), leaving the ends open.
Turn right sides out and set aside.
Grab one of your narrow strap pieces and fold it in half lengthwise (right sides together) and sew (I used 3/8 inch seam allowance). Turn right side out. I use a safety pin to help with this. (You can read more about this turning trick here.)
Fold in the raw edges of your main belt piece and place your belt straps inside, one at each end. Sew the seam closed, securing the belt straps at both ends.
I continued sewing around the entire belt and straps around the edge to give the belt a more polished look (and finish off the ends of the straps as well). Then you’re done!
I think these belts would make great gifts too!
Until next time, you can find more of my projects on my blog or in my pattern shop!
Thanks so much for having me as a guest contributor on Make it and Love it!
-Jill
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