Just {Belt} It!!

This might be my most personally scary post to date. I had to actually take some photos of my mid-section to show you this project, and that scares the crapola out of me. So please be kind and don’t look too long 🙂

As you know, football season is coming up, which meant that I needed a new dress to not only wear to the game, but that I could also wear on Fridays or weekends, or just whenever. I have had my heart set on this dress from Pennington & Bailes for quite some time.

And then one day, it magically appeared on Zulily and I went ahead and bought it. It is just as cute in an XL, just in case you were wondering 🙂 However, it doesn’t come with a belt and a Polo Shirt Dress really doesn’t offer much in the way of helping with any sort of shape definition (which is why they probably shot this photo with a belted dress). There was only 1 solution to this problem – make my own!

It was really much easier than I thought it was going to be to make a basic ribbon belt and it really won’t cost you much money or take too much of your time.

You’ll need:

2 – 1.5″ D-rings (from the sewing supply section of any craft store)

1.5″ Wide Grosgrain Ribbon

Coordinating Thread

Scissors

Lighter/Open Flame

I wanted my belt to be reversible so I used 2 different ribbons. To measure the length you need I just wrapped the ribbon around my waist and then added about 10-12 inches (1 inch is for the sewing and the other 9-11 inches were for the length of “tail” that I wanted).

Once you’ve figured out the length you want cut both ribbons to size, or cut 1 ribbon double the finished length you want.

Align your ribbons, wrong sides facing, and pin it in a couple places so all the edges are lined up. If you are doing a single ribbon, fold it in half and press down the fold so that you have a crisp edge.

Then, using about an 1/8″ allowance, sew your ribbons together – making sure you back sew at the start and finish.

Next, get out your two D-rings and slide them onto your 2-sided ribbon. Decide which side you want to be the front of your belt and fold the about one inch of the ribbon over, encasing the D-rings into a ribbon sandwich. Sew down the edge you just folded over making sure you go over each seam several times to give it some strength.

And, that’s all folks! Pretty simple huh? Sorry I didn’t take any photos of the process, but I was in the zone and the project took me all of about 7 minutes to make.

I did take some before and after photos of me in the dress, but you don’t have to look on if you don’t want 🙂

src=”http://hadfield.smugmug.com/photos/825895175_xmTVA-O.jpg”
alt=”Join us Saturdays at tatertotsandjello.com for the weekend wrap
up party!” />

Comments

Lia says

August 23, 2011 at 5:10 pm

LOVE the dress!!! I kinda need it 🙂 And I love the belt you made, it looks great on you! Ok so you must tell me, the orange and blue gator ring…. where did you find it?!?!?!
xoxo
Lia

Becky says

August 23, 2011 at 8:50 pm

Absolutely cute, I’m scared of belts sometimes, but look how it “made” your dress. Perfect!

Dorangela says

August 23, 2011 at 11:37 pm

Work it girl! You look great love the dress, I missed that one!

Jaime says

August 23, 2011 at 11:40 pm

Ah the midsection. It terrifies us all, but you look cute, and that belt is so fun! Thanks for the tut!

Amy says

August 24, 2011 at 2:13 am

Eeeppppp!! So cute! I love it. I’ve been adding some new orange & blue to my wardrobe as well to get ready for football season! Can’t wait. The belt is so stinkin’ cute and you are rockin’ that dress, girl!

Kelli says

August 25, 2011 at 9:09 pm

Very cute and you’re right–the belt makes the outfit. You look all ready to root on the Gators!!
p.s. You look great, girl. Don’t worry about a thing!

Shona says

August 27, 2011 at 1:06 am

Very cute! I love the color! Thanks for sharing!

Sky @ Capital B says

August 27, 2011 at 11:41 pm

I would be apprehensive sharing pics of myself like this too, but you really look terrific! What a fun dress and your belt is awesome- better than the one in the ad photo I think 🙂 Hope it will be just what you wanted for football!

Just {Belt} It!!

Comments

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

{Facebook}

{Instagram}

{Pinterest}

Related posts:

Comments

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

{Facebook}

{Instagram}

{Pinterest}