DIY: Leatherbelt

OK, I'm back from Austria and going to start blogging on a regular basis with the first tutorial:

I really like the idea of skinny belts, especially if knotted. But therefore they have to be a little bit longer than my regular belts, because I want the end to hang loose from the knot. I recently found a black thin leather-belt on EBay with the right length and purchased it for 1,50€. But then I needed (well, not really but I wanted) a brown one, too. Though I found one at H&M, I wanted mine to be longer and as I was on a very tight budget last month, I decided to not buy it…

When I was a child, I was a bookworm and I owned a crafts book from the seventies. I don`t have it anymore which is a huge loss. But I remember this tutorial for a braided looking leather belt which I reproduce hereby for you.

But first I needed the material: leather. I’ll just say it- I like leather… in shoes, in bags, in whatever. I love my leather-jacket and whenever I have to buy belts, shoes, bags and so on, I’m more likely to go for the leather version of it. I feel like I get a better usage out of those things because leather is more durable and lasts longer. There you have it. And I eat meat. Don’t judge me.

And I like to craft things out of leather but when I buy the material I usually go for second hand clothes that I can cut up or scraps from furniture companies. So I purchased this great suede leather skirt in a cognac color from EBay for ONE Euro! I was very pleased and when it arrived I went right to it with my seam ripper and took it apart. The leather is very soft, in a good condition and pretty thin so it was perfect for my project- easy to bend and easy to cut.

That was a lot of rambling so let’s get finally started on the tutorial. It’s pretty easy and requires no sewing.

What you’ll need: 

- leather but you could also use felt, pleather or any thicker fabric that won’t fray and hold its shape

- Cardboard for the stencil, a pen, probably a ruler or you are really good at free-hand sketching

- Scissors

- Buckle, I used a brass-buckle I had in my stash

- Craft glue

You start by drawing your shape on the cardboard. It should look like the pointy 8 on the left of the pen. It looks similar to two even triangles that overlap at one corner. Mine was 6cm long and 3cm wide but you should measure the width of your buckle and use that as a guide. I ended up making mine wider than my buckle but that only worked out in the end because the leather I used is so soft. Otherwise it would be very hard to thread it through the buckle. Furthermore you should draw a leaf-like shape, as that will be the closing piece of the belt.

Cut out your stencils and draw the shapes on the backside of the leather (closing piece x1, 8-shape as often as you want to, if you use my measurements each piece will add ca. 2cm to the length. Cut them out and you can start to put your belt together.

If your buckle has a thorn you need to snip a small hole into the middle part of one of your pieces. Push the thorn through the hole and fold the piece in the middle, wrong sides facing. (Excuse the blurry pictures, but you’ll get the point.)

Now follow the steps shown in the pictures over and over until you reach your desired length.

Finally push the leaf-shape through the last leather piece, glue the wrong sides together and you are done!

Taadaah:

That was easy, wasn’t it?! Now put on your favorite outfit, throw on the belt and enjoy your new accessory.