How to make Elastic Belts x3 - a tutorial PART 2

This is the perfect belt for the upcoming Holiday season...it may be the only thing you need to dress up some of your child's existing clothing

what you need

• small amount of heavy material that does not fray (leather, suede, mico-suede etc.)
• 1/4 yard of fabric to wrap elastic
• 1"-1.5" width elastic (cut 1" smaller then your child's chest size)
• sew on snap (I like 1/2" or larger)
• fabric flowers (I made some fabric flowers using the 'burned flower' technique, there are a ton of tutorials and YouTube videos on how to make these, so I will not explain it here)

take your elastic and material for covering. Cut your fabric twice as long as your elastic and twice the width (plus 1/2" seam allowance)

 fold the fabric in half and sew into a tube. turn the tube so it is right side out

Using a bodkin or safety pin pull the elastic through the tube, with the seam on the tube centered along one side of the elastic

When you have pulled the elastic through so the end is lined up with the end of the tube, sew it in place

continue to pull the elastic through until the end you are pulling  meets the end of the tube. Sew down this side as before

give the elastic a big stretch to help even out the gathering  of the the fabric

Using the template or you can free-hand it, cut out 4 circles from the heavy leather/suede fabric (2 larger and 2 smaller)

sandwich the ends of the elastic in between the circles. One end with the larger two and the other with the smaller two. Pin in place. Sew the circles together. I like to do a spiral stitch to cover the entire circle, this makes sure the elastic is secure and gives the fabric circles a little more strength.

Sew on the snaps, making sure that that they are on the wrong side of the big circle and the right side of the smaller circle (so when they are closed the right side of the elastic is out)

take your flowers and attach them to the right side of the larger circle

All Done! now go dress up some outfits

**these are all variations of our latest pattern - The cowl neck dress and sweater, available in our shop

be sure to post pics of your belts on our facebook page- We love seeing what you create with out tutorials :)

~Christine