My mom and sis were in town over my holiday vacation and we went out for a rather marvelous lunch and some thrifting at a most favorite local thrift shop. I found this sweet little vintage fur collar there and promptly took it home to amend. By the way, I’m quite sure this is not mink as I’ve had a mink stole before (the title of this post is just for fun) and the coloring and feel is much different. I’m not sure what sort of fur this is, but it is the real deal. The original lining was in rather sad shape so I unpicked the whole thing and started from scratch. I used Casey’s clever tutorial and came out with a rather stellar looking collar which I have been pairing with a jewel necked cardi I bought some time ago. Mr. S thinks this is utterly strange and finds fur collars to be a really “dated” look. Whenever I wear it about, he inquires why I would wear such a thing and proceeds to meow at me and pet the collar…

I thought I would bring up the topic here for discussion too. What do you think about real fur? Do you wear it? Would you wear it? I had told Mr. S that “at least it’s a vintage authentic fur and not one that was tanned today.” And he asked, “What’s the difference?” To which I’m positively stumped for a reply. I’ve never really been averse to authentic fur, at least when found in a thrift store. I had never actually sewn with any either and found myself curious about how it would measure up against other fabrics. What do you say? Yea or Nay?

xoxo,
Sunni

I’ve got my sewing room all set up and surprisingly I’ve actually been sewing a little. We moved into a place with tile flooring, which is nice, but really cold. If its one thing about tile flooring that I don’t like, its that its cold. I’m of the opinion that if you are going to have tile flooring, you need heated flooring installed too. Something I’ve only seen once, but it was lovely, not to mention pricey. Through bouts of Bridget Jones’s Diary and Pride and Prejudice running on my computer, I stitched up these ballet house slippers from Heather Ross’ Weekend Sewing book. I’ve had the book for sometime now and haven’t sewed a single thing from it, though I think several of the projects are rather sweet.

The slipper pattern had to be traced off first, and since I entirely loathe this process I’ll stop by saying just that. Well, except to say that I positively abhore when you have to trace off AND add a seam allowance. Kill. Me. Now. Fortunately, that was not the case here. And hey, its a slipper, so really not bad. Right. The construction process did take quite awhile and even though I find these rather adorable, I’ll probably opt to just go buy a nice pair next time. These were a good craft project which gave me a jump start to sew again after moving, even if  I’ve got alot of projects calling my name, like that tailored coat… I added extra padding to the sole of these slippers, but still found that it wasn’t as wonderfully spongy as a cheap pair of isotoners. I was also looking at these lovelies afterwards and picturing myself in a muu muu eating milk and cookies watching several episodes of Murder She Wrote. Yup.

What’s on your sewing table? How do you feel about crafty sewing? I get the itch to do a crafty-ish project every now and then and these definitely fulfilled that itch. Would you, have you ever sewed yourself a pair of slippers? Any tips? As I work on the tailored coat (you’ll see many more random updates), I’ve got a great skirt all cut up on my sewing table. It’s time for some petersham ribbon waistband tutorials, I think.

xoxo,
Sunni

Today I’m going to be showing you how to make a belt from a belt and buckle kit. I’m a “kit” freak – I really love it when things come packaged in a handy dandy kit. It’s just one of those crazy fetishes I have. Belt and buckle kits are no exception here. I have a collection of what seems like a trillion and of course, I sell ‘em in the shop.

Because I don’t like writing and reading really long posts, I’ve decided to break things up into smaller posts and pages for you. All links for the techniques will be on this post and I’ll point them out for you. I’ve also added a very handy print-friendly button for every post and page on my site here. You’ll see it at the end of the page as you click on a desired post. Hopefully this helps you as we jump around just a little bit today, Ok? Okey Doke. Let’s get started.

I’ll be making up the most popular selling belt and buckle kit in my shop. The interesting thing about this particular kit is that you have to use the prong and eyelets in order for it to work. Let’s go over what’s typically included in a belt and buckle kit first. You should have the following:

✂ Belt Backing
✂ Premade or hand cover buckle
✂ Adhesive pattern for hand cover buckle
✂ Prong
✂ Eyelets
✂ Eyelet Washers (optional and included in Fashionable Stitch kits)

If you have a kit that has a hand cover buckle included, you’ll need to cover the buckle in a fabric of your choice. Get whimsy and cover your buckle in a coordinating print or textured fabric or you can leave it simple for a true vintage feel. You can find a quick how-to for how to cover your buckle here. You’ll also need to add the prong too.

Let’s move onto the belting. You’ll need to cut the piece of belt backing to your waist measurement ( I measure over the clothes I’ll be wearing the belt with) plus 6 – 8 inches. I’ve been opting for the 6 inch side of things. Next you’ll need to cut a point on the end (or any other shape you desire – round, blunt, 3-cornered, etc.). If your belt backing is wonky from the packaging, have a peek at this tip to see how to get it to ship-shape up. Put this aside.

Cut your fabric. I typically chop this off the end of a piece of fabric on the cross-grain – but you can go with cross grain or straight grain. You’ll need to cut a rectangular piece that is 2 times the width of the belt backing + seam allowances (example: for 1″ wide belting, cut a 3″ wide piece which would allow for a 1/2″ seam allowance) and that is also 2 inches longer than the length of your belting.

For the purposes of this kit, whose application involves the use of the eyelets, I’m going to show my favorite way of sewing the fabric for the belt. For fabrics that are lightweight and fray crazy, definitely have a go at the sewing application for the Anything-But-Basic Belt. Otherwise, pin your fabric, right sides together along the lengthwise edge with the belt backing nestled inside. Stitch down the lengthwise edge with your zipper foot sidled close to the belt backing ridge. Take out your belt backing, mark the pointed end with chalk and then stitch that in place. Now, for a belt with eyelets, I like to keep the seam to the side instead of running it down the middle of the inside of the belt. It just makes the eyelet application that much easier, especially if you’ve chosen a medium to heavy weight fabric.

Once the fabric has been sewn, grade your seam allowances, turn the fabric right side out (a loop turner or bodkin is especially useful in this situation) and then insert your belting. And just so you are aware, this step might take you some time because inserting the belting is like a stuffing a pincushion – not hard, just time consuming. Let’s keep going.

Bonus Tip: Once you’ve got the belting in the fabric and all is situated, its a great option to topstitch around the edges to keep the fabric from slip sliding around over the belting. Take a cue from the Anything-But-Basic Belt and use a contrasting handstitch too!

Now its time to add the buckle. Along the raw edge of the belt, you’ll need to fold the belting back approximately 1.5 – 2 inches and then cut a small wedge into the middle of the fold. This cut is for the prong. I also like to dab a bit of fray check around this cut, just for added durability. Just so you are aware, and just in case your wedge looks a bit amiss, this part won’t show when you wear your belt. Once dry, slide the buckle into place with the prong into the hole. Fold under the fabric’s raw edges and stitch the belt into place. Bonus Tip: Add a jean rivet or nailhead to secure this section in place instead of stitching! You can also add a belt carrier to finish out the buckle area. The one you see here is just a strip of fabric that’s been sewn into a tube, turned right side out, topstitched and then attached to the belt by hand.

Almost done – can you believe it? All that’s left is adding the eyelets! Yay! For a tutorial on how to maneuver eyelets, jump over here. I highly recommend reading it, especially if you’ve never applied an eyelet to a belt before and/or if you’ve not had good luck with eyelets in the past.

Once the eyelets are applied, you’re ready to model and fashion your new belt. And there you go! That’s the Belt Kit Belt friends!

xoxo,
Sunni

There are typically instructions that come with hand-cover belt buckles but, just in case there aren’t with yours, here’s a short tutorial on how to cover a hand cover buckle. The first part of this tutorial assumes that you have the adhesive pattern still intact – if you don’t, don’t worry! I’ll be showing how you can cover a buckle that didn’t come with an adhesive pattern (or the pattern is much too old to use) in the second half, down at the bottom.

I’ve found there are two types of hand cover buckles in the world. The kind that have a middle bar and the kind that don’t. The kind that have a middle bar can be used as a buckle slide – like in the Anything-But-Basic Belt – or a traditional buckle with a prong. The kind of buckles that don’t have a middle bar are meant to be used in the traditional sense, with a prong and eyelets on the belt. For this first part, I’ll be showing you how to cover the latter buckle type, without the middle bar. Here goes:

You will need a buckle kit. The buckle I’m covering in this first part is a buckle from my shop and includes the buckle top and bottom, adhesive pattern and prong.

The adhesive pattern is double sided, so pick a side, any side and peel away the paper and stick it to the wrong side of your fabric. Trim the fabric away from around the edges. Next, trim out the inside section and clip into the slit markings on the adhesive pattern, careful not to clip past the markings.

Peel the paper away from the other side – opposite the fabric side – and carefully position the top section of your buckle onto the adhesive.

Start rolling the pattern around to the insides. I like to do the inside of the buckle first and then work my way to the outside.

Optional tip: I like to add a little bit of tacky glue to the inside edges of the buckle before adding the bottom buckle piece.

Force the bottom buckle piece into the back of the top buckle piece and gently (very gently) with a pair of pliers, squeeze the buckle together at each of the corners.

Pinch the prong onto the bar with a pair of pliers and your set!

If you’re working with a buckle that didn’t come with an adhesive pattern, or the pattern is so old that nothing sticky is left to it, you’ve got to improvise. Here’s what I do:

This is a vintage buckle from my stash that has a middle bar. So, I have the option of making it into a buckle slide or a traditional buckle with prong. As you can note here, the adhesive pattern has seen better days. Doesn’t even stick. Instead, to make this work, I use sew-in interfacing or something similar like muslin and this handy dandy Elmer’s Craft Bond spray glue. This method is a bit trickier to manuever, and I definitely suggest that if you haven’t tried this before, pick a buckle from your stash that isn’t a fancy shape, OK? Ok.

First things first. Trace the top buckle piece onto your interfacing. Now here’s the tricky part. You have to come up with how much wrap around you’ll need for the outside of your buckle and this varies depending on shape, size and width. You’ve got to measure two things. The height of the buckle (how deep it is) and the width inside the buckle. The height of this particular buckle is about 1/8″ and I’ve got a width inside of the buckle of about 3/4″ giving me a rough total of 7/8″ to work with. Now I don’t need or want to use all of that space otherwise the inside will be crammed, so I’m going to shave off 1/4″ and give myself 5/8″ to work with. So extend the outside line however much you need to in order to get a good wrap around. I did 5/8″ for mine. Spray one side of your pattern with glue and adhere to the wrong side of your fabric. Trim off the excess fabric around the outside edge.

Let’s talk about the center of the buckle for a minute. If you have a bar in the center, note that the bar doesn’t need to be and really shouldn’t be covered. So if you have a center bar, cut out that skinny bar portion and clip into the corners or curves so that wrapping the fabric into the center is easier. If you don’t have a center bar, clip out a small circle or square and clip into the corners or curves for wrapping. In the latter case, you will be covering the bar that holds the prong. Make sense? Let’s keep going.

Spray this side with glue now and position your buckle on top of the interfacing and begin rolling the edges to the inside of the buckle just like up top in the first mini tutorial. Again, I like to do the inside section first and then move onto the outside. Once finished, force the bottom buckle piece into the back of the top piece (add a little tacky glue if you like) and pinch very gently the corners of your buckle in place with a pair of pliers.

There you go friends! Happy Buckle Covering!

xoxo,
Sunni

The title of this post was originally going to be “the Basic Belt” but there are so many ways that you can dress this belt up that really, its anything but basic. However, if you make this particular belt (giving it your own whim, of course) its sort of the “belt starting point” if you will. This belt doesn’t have any really tricky maneuvers and doesn’t involve the use of eyelets or the prong. Instead, its just a buckle with a belt. Are you ready to jump in? I know I am. Let’s go!

For your Anything-But-Basic Belt, you will need:
◊ A Buckle – one that has a middle bar
◊ Belt Backing – your waist measurement plus 6-8 inches
◊ Fabric – 2 inches longer than the length of the belting x triple the belting width (I used silk dupioni for this example)
◊ Needle & Thread
◊ Pliers
◊ Sew-on snaps (optional)

Let’s start with the belt backing. You’ll need a piece of belt backing that is your waist measurement ( I measure over the clothes I’ll be wearing the belt with) plus 6 – 8 inches. I opt for the 8 inch side of things because I like a little extra hang off. Next you’ll need to cut a point on the end (or any other shape you desire – round, blunt, 3-cornered, etc.). If your belt backing is wonky from the packaging, have a peek at this tip to see how to get it to ship-shape up. Put this aside.

Cut your fabric. I typically chop this off the end of a piece of fabric on the cross-grain – but you can go with cross grain or straight grain. You’ll need to cut a rectangular piece that is triple the width of the belt backing (example: for 1″ wide belting, cut a 3″ wide piece) and that is also 2 inches longer than the length of your belting.

Let’s move onto the sewing and folding. There are so many ways to sew the fabric for a belt, but I’m going to start with my favorite way. I’ll be showing you all the other ways I know of too, so if this particular construction method doesn’t suit your fancy, don’t worry! To start, along one of the long lengthwise edges, press up 1/2 “. Now take your belt backing with the shiny side facing up and fold the fabric for the point at the end of the belt. Fold the fabric over the point by about 1 inch, then fold each side in on itself. Pin that in place if needed. Fold the unpressed lengthwise edge of the fabric over the belt backing and then fold the pressed lengthwise edge over that and pin in place as you go down the belt all the way to the end. You should have about 1″ hang off of fabric at the end. Next slip-stitch all these folds in place.

Now, I’m not going to lie and say this doesn’t take a little bit of time, because it does. But really not much. There’s a few things that I like about this method though. This method works especially well for fabrics that are fray crazy – like silk and wool. With this method, the back seam isn’t so bulky and eyelets go in a little easier and better. This method also allows you to control how tight the fabric is around the belt backing and sometimes when you do it by machine, the fabric is tight in some sections and not in others and makes the belting material go wonky.

Optional tip: Before adding on the buckle, you can topstitch around the edges of the belt. This works great to keep the fabric in place and can also be a decorative touch to a somewhat boring belt. You can do it by machine or by hand. To do it by machine, simply use a sewing needle that is for thicker fabrics and slowly and carefully topstitch 1/8″ from the edge all the way around the belt. To do it by hand, pick a nice embroidery thread and have an embroidery needle, thimble and small set of pliers handy. Topstitch by hand 1/8″ from the edge all the way around pushing the needle through all layers with your thimble and pulling the needle up with your pliers.

Time to add your buckle. Slip the end of your belting over the buckle’s middle bar, fold your excess fabric over the belting and hand stitch in place.

Optional tip: Tired of belts that won’t stay in place? Here’s a tip. Try your belt on and hold in place, pin mark the inside of the overlap belting and a corresponding section of the under belt that’s near the buckle. Add a sew-on snap to the pin markings. To be able to wear your belt over thicker and thinner fabrics add a corresponding snap piece to each side of the original snap, about 1/4″ – 1/2″ away from each other.

And there you go friends! Have fun making your Anything-But-Basic Belt! I’ll be back with more belt fun later this week!

xoxo,
Sunni

You will need:
◊ a wonky piece of ill behaved belt backing
◊ a small bowl of hot water – not boiling hot, just hot
◊ your trusty iron

Dip your belt backing into your hot water – it might need a couple dips, in fact it might could use a good soak for about 1 – 2 minutes. Once it’s un-wonked for the most part, dry with a towel and take it to your ironing station. On a medium to medium high setting and with a little steam, press the belting, from the dull side only (fabric side), until mostly dry. Allow the belting to dry fully on a flat surface and Voila! You’ve got a stick straight belting to work with!

xoxo,
Sunni

Fellow Stitchers – meet the beltmaking hardware! Yay! I’m pretty excited to show you some really fun beltmaking tutorials. I’m really hoping that everyone gets a kick out of the belts that I’ve got planned and I seriously can’t wait to see your versions. Before any of the fun begins, you’ll need the right tools for the job. So let me tell you about what I’ve found that works quite well. I have done a whole lot of research to give you the best options out there while still keeping a few bucks in your pocket, plus I’ve found a few tricks for how to handle the hardware on belts, so here goes:

Toolkit

My biggest beef with beltmaking tools is that I wanted you guys to have easy access to getting them. Plus affordability with a professional result is really important to me. Not many of us are lucky enough to afford the rather expensive professional presses and that includes me! For the purposes of my tutorials you will need a hammer, pliers, an awl and sharp shears. I’ve also included a hole puncher in this kit which is a newer to me item but one that has made punching holes so much easier, but its totally optional because I’m also going to show you how to punch holes without this gadget. This little doo-dad punches perfect 3/16″ holes for eyelets though. It’s seriously a great investment and personally, if you plan to make your own belts a bunch, you’ll want one. I plan to carry these in the shop, but for now you can find them here (scroll down a little and you’ll find them under “individual arch punches”). You’ll need the 3/16″ size.

Eyelet Tool

You will also need an eyelet tool to go in your toolkit – if you plan to use eyelets. This is the Dritz eyelet tool (for #104 eyelets) that you can find in any fabric chain store and its the best tool for getting a rolled eyelet, in my opinion. These sell for around $3 and are used in conjunction with a hammer. These are, in my opinion, by far better than using the plier kit which costs a lot more. Promise. These yield a much better result, with a little technique which I plan to show you. Let me warn you that these say they are for 5/32″ eyelets but if you will refer to yesterday’s post on how to measure eyelets, you’ll know that this is confusing. Please note that this eyelet tool for #104 eyelets, is really for 3/16″ (in diameter) eyelets. Clear as mud? Yeah, I know, I totally don’t get it either!

Snap Pliers

I’ll be using snaps on one of the belts so I felt I should throw this tool in the mix too. These also have the eyelet plier on them too. Ha. These work fairly well for snaps with a little maneuvering.

Alright, I think that just about covers it. Hopefully I haven’t forgotten anything. Next week, we’ll start making belts! Yay! Have a very happy weekend!

xoxo,
Sunni

Today I wanted to talk about the closures on belts. I know the buckle plays a key role in this, but I wanted those to have their own post so now what’s left to talk about are these little parts of a belt that help it stay put. These can also be the part of the belt that are the hardest things to master. For now, we’re just going to talk about the items themselves and then tomorrow, I’ll be showing you the tools I use to get an expert finish. Ok? Ok.

Eyelets

Believe me when I tell you that I know a lot about eyelets, especially because the last few weeks I’ve been looking for better eyelets for my belt and buckle kits. Having finally found some that I’m very happy with, you’ll find that all the kits in the shop will now be carrying them. Eyelets and their application can be a serious pill. What’s more, you can’t unpick an eyelet if you do the application badly. It gets to stay there forever. Yup. But, don’t worry, I’m going to show you some of my tricks and tools to get these to look fabulous. Let’s move onto eyelet types and sizes, shall we? There are two types of eyelets – scored and rolled. Scored eyelets are scored along the back end of the eyelet and are found regularly in any sewing store and are fairly easy to apply. However the scoring can create a rough surface on the back of the belt which doesn’t do well if you are using something like a silk. Rolled eyelets don’t have a scoring but are smooth, and are harder to apply. However, these have a much more professional end result and are now what’s stocked in the belt and buckle kits I sell. What about size? Belting eyelets are usually 3/16″ in diameter. This said, you’ll find that if you go pick up some eyelets at your local fabric store you’ll notice that instead of saying 3/16″, the package will say they are 5/32″. This confused me to no end and actually it was not until recently that I figured out what the measurement was referring to. Eyelets are measured in two ways. First there is the diameter of the finished eyelet – in this case 3/16″. Next there is the length of the flange which is the length of the tube that goes through the hole of your belt and is then pressed into it. This is what the 5/32″ refers to. And now that you’ve had a mini dissertation on eyelets, let’s move on….

Eyelet Washers

Eyelet washers provide a backing, underneath the rolled back of an eyelet. These do provide a nice backing, but I’m still kind of hung about them myself. These are not like grommets though, just in case that’s what you’re thinking, because I thought the same thing. You know how a grommet’s backing is slightly smaller than the front (I’m talking about the holes here)? That way, when you set a grommet, the scored edge of the front flays out inside the back. Eyelet washers are different. They are like a small ring of metal that sits underneath the back of the rolled edge.

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Snaps

Snaps provide a great fastener to a belt that doesn’t have a buckle, of which there will be one that I will be showing you how to do. I like using the heavy duty kind that attach to your fabric rather than the kind that are sewed on, but it does depend on the belt. For belts with buckle slides – no prongs or eyelets – I like the sew on variety just to keep things in place.

Hopefully I’ve clarified here rather than confused, but let me know if you have questions! I’m happy to help! Tomorrow we’ll talk about some tools that make life easier and next week, I’ll be showing you some belt tutorials! Yay!

xoxo,
Sunni

Oh friends! Last week was the crux of a big project that I was working on so, my sincerest apologies for tantalizing you with hopes and dreams of beltmaking and then bum out for a week. Now, all is right with the world and we’ll really dig into those belts! Today we’re going to take a look at belting material.  There are a few different ways to go about making a belt and having the right stabilizer can give your belt a more professional touch.

Belt Backing

Traditional belt backing is on the verge of making a big come back these days, especially as fabric covered belts are on the rise. Belt backing has a polypropylene backing and then is fabric covered on one side – or one side is shiny and the other side is dull. Belt Backing comes in several different widths including: 1″, 1 1/4″, 1 1/2″, 2″, & 3″. How do you know which size to pick? Measure the length of the buckle bar or slide that the belting is meant to pass over and that’s the width you should buy for your belt. When buying a buckle, this amount should be what the size of the buckle is, for example: a 1 1/2″ buckle should go with 1 1/2″ belting. Make sense? Don’t have access to belt backing? Make your own with an extra stiff stabilizer like buckram or have a gander in the shop.

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Webbing

I’ve seen this type of belting mostly used in casual belts that include a seat belt buckle. Think straps on luggage too. Usually a cotton or polypro, this stuff is strong and can be brittle enough to make up a good belt. By the way, this is not normally a belting I go for, but after looking around at some images, especially the one above, I think these can make a great casual look. Great for jeans, don’t ya think?

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Interfaced Belts

Not all belts need to be extra stiff, right? So a good alternative to softer belts that need a little structure is interfacing – fusible or sew-in.

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Elastic Belting

Elastic belting works especially well for those clasp buckles I was blathering about in my last post. Plus, if you can find a pretty elastic, these are such a cinch. You can also go with a regular elastic and cover it with fabric instead or use a stretch lace. Kind of classy, no?

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Leatherette

I’m not exactly sure that “leatherette” is really what its called nowdays, but I had a vintage belt kit that contained this faux leather belting and that’s what they called it. You can find it nowdays over by the webbing at your local fabric store. It’s a faux leather belting and comes in several different widths, colors and types. This type of belting you can leave as is or cover with fabric.

Non-traditional Belting

Let your imagination go crazy with everything you could use for a belting. What about ribbon? Hey, who says you can’t? Petersham would be divine, don’t ya think? Vintage ties anyone? Yup. Those can make pretty stellar belts too. Just throwing out ideas. I’ll be covering quite a few tutorials and many with various items you might just have in your stash.

Happy Belting!

xoxo,
Sunni

May I also draw your attention to belt backing by the yard. I’ve currently stocked 1″ and 1 1/2″ belting for your belt making pleasure (more sizes coming soon), plus be on the lookout for lovely and unusual belt buckles – reclaimed and vintage. I have to admit, that belt supplies were one of the most exciting products I’ve decided to carry. And I do believe you are very excited too! According to the Fashionable Stitch survey – hand cover buckles and belt backing were THE number 1 and number 2 most requested items. Let’s hear it for belt making extravaganza!

xoxo,

Sunni