A Week of Stunt Dressing

So I don't know whether it's cheesy or hilarious (or a little bit of both) but I enjoy dressing for holidays. Not in the obvious blinged out sweater kind of way, but with a little more subtlety. But only a little. Since I did a red, white, and blue wardrobe last year for Paris, I thought it would be fun to do a whole week of stunt dressing



Oddly, nobody really noticed. One co-worker noticed my outfit on Wednesday (the red swiss dot blouse and navy eyelet skirt) and asked if I was dressed for the holiday but that's all. Huh.

You might notice a few new pieces in there. Obviously, I am way behind on reviews as usual, but most of them were made in a frenzy last week to keep up with my color theme.

One of the new pieces was a ribbon belt, shamelessly copied from Cidell's red version. I wanted a navy belt and had wanted to try the belt so I made it up in a flash and wore it that afternoon.

Supplies:
1 18 foot roll of 7/8" wide grosgrain ribbon (I used cheapie Offray)
2 18 foot rolls of 3/8" wide ribbon
Belt buckle to cover

Cut each roll of the narrow ribbon into three 2 yard sections. Pin three sections together on the ironing board and braid. I felt like I was part of an old-fashioned rope walk. The key is not to let the ends of the ribbon braid themselves in mirror image.

Don't twist the layers of the ribbon as you braid. It won't look great and you will be doubtful, but when you finish your braid, sew or pin the ends to keep it from coming undone and iron. The ironing really does wonders in getting the braid to look nice.

Then prepare the belt portion. I used three layers of the 7/8" ribbon, sewing the two side ribbons underneath the top ribbon. Cidell used a more layered look on hers. It's important to use more than one layer just so you get the proper body and stiffness.

Next, sew the braid into each long edge of the belt.

Finally, cover your belt buckle. Mine does not look particularly good (sorry, I could not get a decent picture and I am working on blogging now rather than waiting until that magical day when I have perfect pictures), but it doesn't show from two feet away so eh. I used the 7/8" ribbon and just sewed it into place.

Thread your belt over the center bar of the buckle. I hand-sewed in place because I couldn't get close enough to the buckle with my sewing machine. Turn the raw edge of the free end under, stitch, and turn under again.

Voila! A super easy yet surprisingly attractive and RTW looking belt.