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Braided Belt Tutorial Sew,Mama,Sew! Blog

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Braided Belt Tutorial

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Kelli from Presser Foot joined us on the blog before with her tutorial for beautiful fabric flowers, boutonnieres
and more. You can tell from her tutorials that shes not only a talented sewist, but shes also a fabulous
photographer (its her day job).
For more information on the dress Kelli is wearing below, see her post on Presser Foot (she made it, of
course). Kelli used leather cording and rope with her sewing machine for her belt, but you could also use the
same technique with your favorite fabrics. Have fun!

Materials:
about 12 yards of leather cording
about 12 yards of rope
rubber bands
belt buckle
leather machine needle
thread and needle
strong scissors (like kitchen scissors)
flat hair clip or barrette
* The finished belt is about 1 yard long. If you want yours longer you will need to compensate with the length
of your leather and rope.
* If your machine cant handle leather you will either need to make the belt out of all rope, fabric or hand
stitch all sewn pieces.
Step 1
Cut six pieces of leather cording at 2 yards each. Cut six pieces of rope at 2 yards each. Divide into four
groups of three pieces each as shown. Wrap the tops with rubber bands and gather up the bottoms with
rubber bands to make it easier to handle (you will let this out slowly as you braid).

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Step 2
Gather the tops of the four groupings and put them under something heavy. It needs to be heavy enough that
you can put some resistance on the cords and they wont come loose. I used a basket with some heavy
books in it.

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Step 3
Creating your four strand flat braid. Each grouping is numbered one through four from left to right. Take
group one and put it over group two.

Take the same strand and put it under group three.

Take the same strand and put it over group four.

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Continue with the next grouping going from left to right. This time you will use the leather grouping which is
now in position 1 (but was formerly number 2).

Its that simple. Keep weaving the furthest left grouping over, under, over. You will know you are doing it
right when it makes a sort of striped or candy cane affect. After every five or so cycles stop and tighten.

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Keep braiding until you are the desired length. If you ever need to stop and take a break add your hair clip to
keep all groupings in their correct order and the braid nice and flat and tight.

Step 4
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Once your braid is the desired length place your hair clip at the end. With your leather needle in place,
machine stitch a straight line across the braid. (If your machine cant handle the leather you can also hand
stitch, but you may need a set of pliers to assist).

Cut your first edge about 2 inches to the outside of your stitch line.

Step 5
Get your buckle (you can get these at a craft store, but I just used a thrifted belt and cut off the buckle). Put
the rob of the buckle through the middle of the braid closest to the stitchline.

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Fold the remaining edges over the buckle and secure to the back of the belt. You can either do this by
machine or needle and thread. I found that it was too thick so I used needle and thread to secure it to the
back. Dont worry if this doesnt look perfect. When wearing the belt this will always be covered.

Front

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Back
Step 6
Fixing the end Try on the belt to make sure that it is the right length. Mark your desired end point. Take
your two leather groupings and cross them in the middle. Stitch over the place where they cross.

Clip the leather close to the stitch line.

Take your two rope groupings and tie a knot right over the ends of the cut leather.

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Flip your belt over and cross the two leather groupings on the back of the belt.

Stitch in place. Clip close to stitching once secure.

This is what the end of your belt should look like:

Front
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Back
And now we are finished. Its perfect for throwing on over that spring dress or skirt.

Front

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Back

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 18th, 2011 at 11:13 pm and is filed under Tutorials & Projects.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently
closed.

12 Responses to Braided Belt Tutorial

1. KJ@letsgoflyakite responds:
Posted: May 19th, 2011 at 3:46 am
This looks lovely! I have always wanted to make something like this.
2. lizajane responds:
Posted: May 19th, 2011 at 3:59 am
Whoa, this is very cool! I love the combination of the leather and rope.
3. Ellen @ Black & White & Loved All Over responds:
Posted: May 19th, 2011 at 6:48 am
This is fantastic! There are so many options for using different colors and customizing the look of this. I
have a ton of purple leather cording and have been wanting to do a braided belt with it but couldnt
think how to approach it. Thanks so much!
4. Seanna Lea responds:
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Posted: May 19th, 2011 at 8:56 am

Nifty. I should be able to do something similar with yarn scraps.
5. Somer responds:
Posted: May 19th, 2011 at 9:40 am
So nautical, I love it.
6. Fanane responds:
Posted: May 19th, 2011 at 11:33 am
so thank you for your explanation. There really useful information.
7. Estela responds:
Posted: May 19th, 2011 at 12:13 pm
WOW!!! I have a pair of shorts that would look great with it. I may have to try.
8. Beth T responds:
Posted: May 19th, 2011 at 2:29 pm
Nice use of contrasting textures.
9. Nathalia responds:
Posted: May 20th, 2011 at 11:02 am
Thank you for sharing, this belt is sooooo beautiful!!
xox
10. Christine responds:
Posted: May 20th, 2011 at 2:00 pm
Great tutorial.
11. Hanil responds:
Posted: May 23rd, 2011 at 8:29 pm
Thanks so much!
12. Rebecca responds:
Posted: June 3rd, 2011 at 10:04 pm
Great tutorial! I have a ton of rope that will be perfect for this!
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