01 November 2012

it's good to be crafty

embroidered belt

I've been seeing a lot of these fair-trade made-in-Peru embroidered belts in catalogs this year. Sundance Catalog has snowflake designs; Uncommon Goods has florals. Hand-embroidered and pretty but, at $65 to $68 each, definitely out of my price range. They're really very simply constructed—a length of cotton webbing and a buckle—it's the embroidery that's making them so expensive. But hey, we know how to do that ourselves, don't we?

embroidered belt

If you want to try something like this yourself, I'd use the lighter weight webbing (the heavyweight, like I use for my key fobs, will be difficult to pass a needle through), a heavier needle with a larger eye, and a thimble to protect your fingers. Sketch your basic design with white pencil—I don't think you need to get too detailed—freeform might yield some "happy accidents". Because you want  a lot of impact, use all six strands of embroidery floss or, better yet, wool—the kind used for crewel embroidery. I think you can do most of the embroidery in chain stitch (single rows or several rows packed closely together) and French knots. I'm not sure how to do the grommets but there's probably a tool for attaching them. Or you could do a D-ring type belt and you wouldn't need them at all.

embroidered belt close up

Some other things you could liven up with embroidery—add some flowers to a plain woolen hat or scarf or embellish a secondhand sweater with some flowers scattered across the front.

3 comments:

Genie said...

lovin it. Will give it a go...

Bunny Paws said...

Those belts are lovely, might have a go at making something similar...Just need to finish off the rest of the projects I've started first!

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