Tutorial: Make a Belt from Boots!

I am so excited about this new tutorial! It's been in the works for a while. It's a belt from boots!

I have had these boots for about three years and they finally broke on me. 3 years is not bad for $10 boots, right? I should be sad but it actually made me happy because there were so many possibilities. These boots had cute buckles so I had options; should I make a cuff? A belt? A hat? I chose to make a belt out of it.

To start, position your scissor ½ inch away from zipper and cut around it.

Then cut around the ankle of the boot. What you want to do is free the whole top part of the boot from the bottom.

Do this for the other boot so you can have two similar pieces like these. 



I straightened the edges of the pieces I am going to sew together to make it easier to sew in a straight line.

I measured to make sure I cut the same amount on each side. With this detail, I had to make sure it looked symmetrical.

Now they look about the same size on each side.

There was a lot of padding in this boot so I cut the edge off so it would be easier to sew.

Here it is with the two pieces sewn together (sorry, forgot to include a pic of me doing that).

I also decided to top stitch the middle seam so it looks a little cleaner.

All this time I was seing the belt detail this way

Then I turned it around and it made sense! This is the natural shape of the waist!

I then thought it was too thick and would look even better without the extra bulk on top. I also thought the buckle detail would show off better.

This is what you have left.

I also cut away more of the padding in the back for easy sewing. 

Now for the elastic! I found an elastic from a dress that I didn’t wear anymore and I cut it off the dress. However, since the belt was thick, I had to use another elastic. You can  buy this kind of thick elastic at most fabric stores. 

If you recycled an elastic from a dress, like me, cut the elastic so you have one strip. Don't worry about measuring now

Place both strips of elastic on top of one side of of belt (belt, right side facing out).

Sew slowly, making sure elastic doesn’t slide while you sew. This was too thick to pin so I just held it tight. 

Turn it around and topstitch. 

I then put it on my waist and measured to see how much elastic I had to cut off to fit me nicely.

 I cut and then sewed on the other side and top stitched.

The end result, front and back.

I have to admit, I took the lazy yet difficult way out. I wanted to finish it so bad that I didn’t want to take the time to put in snaps, that is definitely another option.  The difficult part is then putting it on over your head. Oh well, at least you have the elastic to help you. 

I love the way it came out though!

I would love to hear your thoughts! Also, if you have any questions. Let me know.  

My First Tutorial: Make a Cuff from a Boot!

This is my first tutorial and I'm so excited! As some of you know who read my blog, I have a love affair with cuffs. I started out making fabric cuffs to give as gifts back in 2009. These were fun and easy to make. When my husband's leather coat got torn, I then then graduated to making leather cuffs.  For more about my cuff journey, read this post from 2009. 

This cuff I made from my old boot a long time ago.

My sister loved it so much that I decided to make her the same one from the other boot. I thought this was a great opportunity to take pics of the process to show you all. These are really easy to make and they open the door to a lot of possibilities.  So here goes:

Here's my boot. I re-heeled it several times but the last time I went to the shoe repair, the owner told me there was no hope. I noticed that it had such a cute design detail and I immediately decided to make a cuff out of it.

I believe these are leather uppers. The first thing I did was to cut the top off, cutting around the zipper.

  I then turned it around and cut all the excess seaming . This will make it easier to sew.

This is what you are left with at this point. Make sure you leave enough room on the top and bottom to fold in and stitch. Also note the tiny seam on the middle bottom. I decided to leave it in and just fold over which made it a bit difficult to get it on but I didn't want to lose the finished look it gave it.

Fold in and stitch the top and bottom. I have a factory machine and used a #18 needle. Make sure your machine is equipped to sew leather.

Since it already has a snap, I used that for a closure and stitched the other end.  Like I said, I left that  previous seam. This is what it looked like after the sewing. I guess you could also totally cut it but I didn't want to lose the finished look. Do you think my hand fit through it? 

Yes it did! With a little shove.

My sister and I wearing our cuffs. Now we're ready for action!

I hope this inspired you to turn those old boots into something useful. You can also look at interesting details on purses and belts. The possibilities are endless!  Tell me what you think.