Monday, August 10, 2009

DIY QUICKIE: ELASTIC BELT ALTERATION

It's a first! Here's the first of many DIY's to come to BCC. While I love to sew, I'm not huge on exact measurements and such, so if you have any specific questions, just drop me an email and I can find the answer for you. Now, moving on...

Last week in an outfit post, I mentioned that I added a couple of snaps to a thrifted belt to make it a.) smaller and b.) adjustable. Several of you commented that it was very helpful and was going to save a couple of belts in your current closets. One of you specifically asked about shortening an elastic belt, which reminded me that I've had a waaay too big elastic belt sitting in my closet for a couple of years that I've been meaning to shorten. And I finally have the time!

So, here it goes...

Shorten Elast Belt

1. Put the belt on and pull the excess elastic in the back until the belt fits comfortably the way you plan on wearing it. Pin the excess elastic together and measure how much you need to take out.

2. Fold the belt in half, measure in from the fold however much elastic needs to come out, and place a pin on the measurement. Remember that the belt is now doubled-over, so if you need to remove a total of 6" out of the belt, measure in from the fold only 3".

3. Cut off the extra elastic, leaving 1" of elastic past the pinned measurement.

4. Unpin the belt and lay the two pieces end-to-end with both sides of the buckle facing up. Overlap the two ends of the elastic 1" and pin together.

5. Using a zig-zag stitch, sew the 2 pieces together, keeping the stitch as close to the edge of the top piece of elastic without going over. Flip the belt over and repeat on the other edge of the overlapped elastic.

6. Voila! You should be done and have a lovely new belt to work back into your wardrobe. If not, drop me an email. We'll figure it out :)

4 comments:

  1. Oooohh..How awesome you posted this. I actually needed to do the same thing this week to an elastic corest-y belt and was wondering about the best way to do it! :) High five!

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  2. I also shortened an elastic belt, but instead of cutting out the excess, I folded it into an inverted pleat and sewed the pleat together.

    I was afraid if I cut it that I'd lose some of the structural integrity.

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  3. Kasmira - I thought about doing it that way and I think it works just as well. I took so much out of this belt that the excess in the back would have driven me bonkers. I also overlapped about an inch, so that it would be super supported. I think both ways are great solutions! Thanks for sharing :)

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  4. i need this! my belt is pinned with a safety pin right now!

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