2.27.2010

Guest Blogger Suzannah's finished belt!


Hi there, Presser Foot folks!
I'm back, Suzannah from Adventures in Dressmaking here to show you how I did the ribbon part of my belt.
I took my ribbon, marked its center and the center of the belt with pins, and pinned it together.
I followed Rian's instructions and pinned the loops 2 1/2" apart...


I turned under the back edge and sewed it down (no pics of this but you'll see it in a couple steps).
I sewed down vertically where the pins where, leaving a small gap of exposed vinyl at the center of each floop.


I'm not much of a pinner, so after this step I just held things in place. I sewed down the center, flattening the floops centered on the vinyl gaps.


Whew! I was done with the machine part of this belt. I broke three needles on it. Four total yesterday, three on this belt. I was doing something wrong, I'm sure! I used a 9, a 10, and a 12 on the belt and broke all of them. Urrrrrrgh, it was frustrating. I know there's a better way.
But anyway. Next, I hand-sewed the tuck-up and tuck-down pices, rather than machine tacking. In the original picture it loooks like there's a flat button or something (the white dots), but I didn't have any of those, so I just stitched.


The steps I used for the hand-sewing were to first sew the top and bottom edges together:


Then, rather than squishing it down flat:


I gave it a little fluff and curled it back toward the center seam:


I did the same one up, one down pattern, with the exception of the middle floop, which I just tacked straight down.
Here it is!


Take a look at the back side for more of what it looks like when done:


Ta-da!
I wore a belt in this style and shape yesterday over a JCrew blouse that was a little too loose to be cute, although I don't usually belt my natural waist. But it is a cute look!
Can't wait to wear this and, when asked, say I made it!
Thanks, Rian and Kelli, for the opportunity to make and share this belt!

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