My First Men's Accessory: Silk Tie Becomes D-Ring Belt

Friends, remember this vintage Cerruti silk twill tie I bought at the Salvation Army last week to make a belt with?  Well I made it!

It wasn't very hard and didn't take very long.  I might even do it again someday. 

After taking the tie apart, I pressed my silk flat with lots of steam.   I even sprayed water directly onto the silk with a spray bottle and the silk handled it just fine.







I knew I'd be using grosgrain ribbon as interfacing, and since the ribbon measured 1 1/2" wide, I cut my silk strip roughly 3 1/2" wide.  (The seam allowance doesn't need to be wide, and since my silk tie, at its narrowest, was just over 3" wide, this was a good thing.)  I used my rotary cutter and some weights to keep the silk stable. 

I then folded my silk strip in half lengthwise and stitched it, right sides together, along the outer edge.  Rather than worry about seam allowances, I made sure my folded strip always measured 1 1/2" -- the exact width of the ribbon.  I used regular poly thread and a medium stitch length.

Next, I turned my long silk tube right side out with the help of a smooth metal chopstick.



Then I pulled my grosgrain ribbon through.  While one layer suffices, two is sturdier.



I shifted my seam to sit at the bottom edge of the belt -- a center seam would show since the side toward your body is turned outward once you pull your belt through the D-rings to tighten it.

With my iron, I pressed it all flat.  The silk fits snugly around the grosgrain ribbon.



I stitched my D-rings to one end -- tight is better so they don't shift.



I finished the other end by trimming about 1/2" off the grosgrain ribbon at the open end, turning the silk edges to the inside, and then sticking a bit of fusible web into the edge and sealing it with a hot iron.  (I was careful aways to keep my iron at the low silk setting.)  This is a better looking finish than stitches, imo.



And voila -- a tie belt!



You'll see me wearing it tomorrow when I model my coffee ice cream-colored shirt and blue twill pants.

Here's a peek of the near-finished pants.



And that's it!

I was afraid, due to today's flood warnings, that I'd have to model my outfit under an umbrella (or on stilts), but luckily things cleared up after lunch.  My work is done -- except for entering my projects in the Pattern Review menswear contest (deadline is Thursday).

Have a great day, everybody!