Obi belt tutorial

So this is my first sewing tutorial and it’s been a long time since I’ve had a chance to use my machine (there are too many “helpers” around) so bear with me. I tend to just figure things out and do it so I need to pause and find a way of explaining what I did. I also act impulsively at times when sewing that leads to mistakes but hey that’s how you learn.

A few years ago I saw this really cool obi inspired belt in a magazine that I wanted to recreate. I never got around to it until now. I decided that I might get more projects done if once in a while I do something for me. I went surfing the net to find some ideas. Not a tutorial per say but just some pictures to help guide the idea I had in my head. Here are some of the inspiration I found, and here and here.

So I had a clearer picture and started to figure things out. I will day that the belt didn’t come out exactly the way I wanted because in some cases I listened to my mother’s advice and in other cases I didn’t listen to her advice but I did learn from this experiment and I think it’s a rather cute looking belt.

I picked out 2 pieces of coordinating fabric.

I cut out a 42” X 7” piece from both fabric A and B

I cut out 2 42” X 3.5” pieces from both fabric A and B (giving you 4 pieces in total)

Iron all your pieces before you start working with them.

Pin fabric A to fabric B (right side of the fabrics together) of the 7” wide fabric and sew the top and bottom together using a ¼” seam, flip to the right side and put aside for now.

Pin fabric A to fabric B (right side of the fabrics together) of the 3.5”” wide fabric and sew the top, bottom and one end together using a ¼” seam, flip to the right side and put aside. Do this for the second set of coordinating material.

Iron all the pieces again. Ensure the seams are lined up.

Attach the 3.5” wide piece to the 7” piece. Ensure that the opposite print is matched when pinning. Fold the seams over on the 7” piece to close the seam and top stitch in place. (sorry my diagrams suck)

Top stitch the whole belt from end to end, I spaced my rows ¼ inch apart until the whole width of the belt is stitched. See top stitching guide below in red.

Now tie on the belt and enjoy your new look. You can tie it with the bow to the front or the back for 2 different looks. And with the double-sided fabric you now have 4 looks in one belt. (Sorry about the quality of the pictures but I had to act as model and photographer)

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Here is a close up of the 2 fabrics 

As for things I would do different is I would make the belt slightly wider. I would add interfacing to make it more stable and I would slightly offset the ties so that they lie nicer when crossing over for tying.

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial and would love to see what you created. Post back links to your creations.

Ania