At one of those everything on super clearance sales, I bought this blousey navy dress that was missing the belt that went with it. This dress was literally 4$ and will be one of those things that can be worn all through a pregnancy and beyond (should that day ever come back around) so I snapped it up and ran.

I needed something nice to wear to that conference, and I needed to give this dress a belt, so I went a little overboard with the options.

The first thing I sewed was just a satin ribbon belt. I had a big long length of satin, so I cut it long enough to fit around my waist with plenty left over for a tie, sewed it into a tube, turned it inside out and sewed the ends closed. Really simple, and it made this simple jersey dress kind of fancy.

But I had so much more fabric, I had to keep going.

This belt is made from some of the home decor weight Amy Butler fabric. I cut it to fit my waist, and then twice as wide as I wanted the finished belt, and ironed on some stiff interfacing. Then I sewed the right sides together to form a tube, turned it right side out, folded the raw edges in on each edge and sewed all the way around as close to the edge as I could get. This is the method I followed for every belt.

Then I added some big silver snaps as closures.

I’ve had this fabric in my stash for ages and ages and the colors just worked perfectly. It’s more home dec weight fabric, and by now I can’t even remember what I had in mind when I bought it.

I whipped up some covered buttons and positioned the button holes so it would fit me snugly, but not tightly.

With the success and ease of those belts, I decided to be a little more adventurous and try to replicate another belt I owned.

This picture cracks me up. I was trying to smooth out my skirt before the timer went off and I ended up looking all super posey. Maybe that’s the secret to my whole modeling dilemma. I need to take pictures by accident.

Anyway, I’ve had this awesome faux snakeskin fabric for years and years and I’ve been rationing it for only the perfect project. I bought this other belt where one end kind of folds under the other end, so I bought a unique closure and tried to replicate it.

I started by making the belt part just like every other kind. Cut, interface, make a tube, sew around the edges. Then I cut two more pieces of fabric and sewed them into tubes thin enough to fit through the closures. My fabric pieces measured about 6 1/2″ x 2 1/2″.

Thread one end through the closure and sew securely. Sew the other end securely to the belt. Repeat for the other side.

I got the placement of the closure right just by trying it on and then pinning it in place. Then when you put it on, you overlap the ends of the belt on top of each other, and then bring the closure tabs together. The construction couldn’t be simpler, even though the description isn’t.

I don’t know why I haven’t seen more homemade belt tutorials. They’re so easy they’re addictive. I’m going to wear this dress down to the threads before I put a dent in my new belt rotation.

In the early 80’s my mom used to wear a headscarf all the time. I guess it was just a trend, maybe one she hung on to a little longer than advisable, but it was one of those things that imprinted on me as a classy grown up thing to do.

Now, I’m just grateful that I can occasionally go one more day between showers without looking like a total greaseball. That extra half hour is precious some days.

You’ll need two pieces of fabric. Cut one piece for the ties to measure 3″ x 34″. For the scarf part, cut a piece of fabric to 15″ x 15″ and then cut it diagonally across the middle. Hem both short edges of the scarf fabric.

Pin the center of the scarf fabric to the center of the tie fabric, right sides together, and sew with a 1/4″ seam allowance. Iron the seam towards the tie fabric, then continue to iron 1/4″ of the tie fabric towards the wrong side.

Iron a 1/4″ of the other side of the tie fabric towards the wrong side.

Fold the tie fabric in half by matching the 1/4″ edges you ironed. Sew as close to the edge as you can steer. Sew across the bottom of the ties as well to completely close them.

This is a project you can crank out so fast, and one that uses so little yardage, it’s tempting to make one in every color. I may never need to wash my hair again.

When you work with teenage girls as long as I have, you get a whole lot of graduation and wedding announcements in the mail. The timing worked out just right so that in moving back here, we were able to attend the wedding of one of my really special girls, Breanne.

I always find wedding gifts a bit of a challenge. I often want to make something, but I run the risk of getting their taste wrong or cluttering up their newlywed apartment. I want to stick to the registry but it’s just so unimaginative. I want to get something practical but it’s just so boring. When I got married, there were so many things I got that I just went, “What did they expect me to do with this?” and so many other things I returned thinking I’d never use them, only to go back out and buy them myself once I learned more about cooking or housekeeping or entertaining.

So this has become my solution: something practical, with a touch of homemade. Kitchen towels with a monogram.

And since I have so many weddings and graduations to deal with, embroidery is not an option. If you’ve ever done a freezer paper stencil, this project is self-explanatory. But if not, here’s how I did it:

I designed the image I wanted to print on my towels, and then printed it out the paper side of a piece of freezer paper cut to fit through my printer.

Using an exacto knife, I cut the letters out, making sure to save all those little interior pieces of the O’s and E’s. Iron them onto a blank floursack handtowel, centered and about five inches up from the bottom. Those little interior pieces can be a little bit tricky to stick in place, but you don’t need a ton of heat. Even the very tippy tip of the iron will do it.

Paint with a fabric or acrylic paint and let dry.

To add a second color, make a second stencil. Iron as before with the shiny side down so that the melted wax will stick to the fabric.

Paint again, and allow to dry. Then peel off the stencil. Follow the paint manufacturers recommendations for heat setting the image, but it’s typically ironing the painted section with a dry iron.

I made a stack of seven of these and just tied them up with a big bow. I think it’s got that sentimental factor that new brides love, with the practicality that she’ll thank me for later.