Fabulous Fringed Leather Belt

OK. Remember last week I showed you this, from Gypsy Moon?

And then I showed my Bin o' Leather:

See that snap-front skirt on top? I didn't get a good photo of it laid out before I started working with it, but it looked pretty much like these:

It was very thick, soft, supple, velvety suede, but the waistband was way, way too small--I could snap it if I pulled it way up high and didn't breathe, but please. And why would I want to wear it? I couldn't think of a reason I would wear it. Ever.

But because the suede was so fabulous, it was tough to cut into it. I did, though, holding my breath. I cut off the waistband and the top of the skirt down to where I could snap it comfortably around my hips over my jeans, and then I reinforced the top with a waistband I pieced together from the cut-off leather:

outside

inside, with reinforcement  

I did this on the sewing machine. Then I cut the bottom to make it asymmetrical. Then I ripped out the seams all the way to the seam on the top part. What is that part? There's the waistband, and then there's a section below it. I don't know what that's called on a skirt. Anyway--and then I started cutting the fringe. By hand, with scissors--no rotary cutter. I cut fringe for a couple hours two nights at Starbucks. I don't have photos of that process. I reinforced the places where I ripped out the seams (by hand, with an awl, pliers, and heavy-duty carpet thread--the machine wouldn't go through that many thicknesses of leather), and then I attached conchos there, using pieces of the fringe.

I didn't like the way the snaps looked, so--this is the part I'm really pleased with--I made strips from the cut-off leather and attached them above and below the snaps and threaded on a concho.

  I'm going to have to use a little leather glue on the ties--if I tie them twice, in a knot, it's too bulky. But if I tie them only once, they work themselves loose.

So here's how it looks on Alex (overlapped and held with a clothespin, of course):

Here's the inside:

And on me--this is how I wore it yesterday:

 Snapped on the side.

 I'm really pleased with it. It's way more structured than the one that inspired me. I want to make one more like it--looser, out of deerskin--but I didn't want to cut into the leather until I had a better idea what I'm doing.

So that's the cool project this week, the one I had no intention of doing but that grabbed me. I saw the photo online and thought it was almost cool but not quite cool enough (the leather is too dark, the fringe needs to be cut up higher, the fold-over fringe, if you're going to fringe it, needs to be longer and less choppy looking. It needs a cool closure, like an antler button (I have things like this--antlers, for instance--that I get at estate sales. I don't believe in hunting, but when I found a refrigerator carton full of horns and antlers, I bought it so I could do something wonderful with them). Once I thought, "I can make that cooler," and then started seeing all the leather garments in the bin (all thrifted, most for just a couple dollars), I was sunk.

The best part, of course: the way the fringe moves when you wear this. It's very pettable--I keep playing with the fringe, running it through my fingers. It's like a belt and a toy, all in one~~

Thanks for coming by--hope this inspires you to do something cool with something you find lurking in the back of *your* closet! XO