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Aug 13, 2013

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!

13 comments:

  1. This looks great! I'm always surprised by how well blues and browns can combine. My current favourite pairing is bright copper brown with inky navy, but I suspect that your reveal tomorrow may make me see the virtues of a subtler approach...

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  2. Very nice refashioning. Looking forward to photos of the complete outfit.

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  3. Silk fabric harvested from ties can actually be laundered in the washing machine and put in a dryer set on low heat. The resulting fabric just needs a light pressing. Wonderful stuff.

    Great strategies on the belt!

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  4. Awesome! Great repurposing for a tie.

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  5. That fabric looks fantastic.

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  6. Such a clever boy. I need to follow your example, stop looking at machines and sew more. ( I just added two Featherweight 222Ks which of course I needed like a hole in the head. But what it one to do. They say when the stock goes down . . .buy more. Not that I have any stock.)

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  7. I'm impressed! What a great idea, and the result looks really professional.

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  8. Omg... that's BRILLIANT! I have a love/hate relationship with belts... (except without the "love" part.) I'm only 5'1", and belts in stores always either visually chop me in half, making me appear even shorter, or they make an ugly bump in my shirt if I wear the shirt OVER the belt. I even bought some cheap plastic thing a few years back called the "invisibelt"...it claimed to lay completely flat under clothes but was an absolute hideous disaster in reality. And if it were to ever get accidentally exposed by my shirt getting caught on it, inevitably I'd get asked why I had a piece of shiny clear plastic tied around my waist. I even tried using cute scarves as belts, but they were bulky and added weight to my midsection. Consequently I have a whole pile of pants I never wear because they need a belt, and I just can't find one that doesn't look ridiculous. Then I saw this post! Problem SOLVED!!! THANK YOU!!! I'm going to find a width that's flattering and sew myself some super-cute belts! No more saggy slacks for this gal! You're a genius! *bowing in homage*

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  9. Oooooo, this is very cool! I have been making necklaces out of ties, now I want to make some belts, thanks!

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  10. Hey did you consider replacing stainless steel rings with those of Teflon D Rings for your belt. If you want more info on availability of these rings, contact our website http://www.darcoid.com

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