I recently made Vogue 8512, a style which definitely needs a belt. I’m one of those people who never really figured out accessories so I don’t own a whole lot of belts, and none of my existing collection went with it particularly well. Clearly a new belt was required.

I asked for advice on the blog and the consensus seemed to be that something metallic would fit the bill. Janene suggested making a belt out of metallic pleather, and it just happened that I had a scrap left over from a very scifi Burda dress I made a few years ago. There was enough to make an obi belt with piecing, even after I accidentally melted a bit with the iron. There are a lot of tutorials out there on the Internet for how to do this. I read through quite a few of them but didn’t end up following any particular one religiously.

Here it is. The straps ended up long enough that I can tie them in front and take them back around to the back which I like because when I tie them in a bow at the front it always looks messy.

I have tucked the ends in at the back here. It still looks a little messy but so does leaving them untucked, and I certainly don’t want a bow at the back.

As well as making the obi belt I also bought a silver metal belt. This particular one came from ASOS but you can find similar ones all over eBay and Amazon. I figure this is plain enough to go with quite a few of my other dresses too.

I like them both although it has to be said now I’ve tried them both at work I’ve found the pleather one is more comfortable to wear.