Commemorative Belt

That's Clever! : Episode HCLVR-137 -- More Projects »
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Project by Molly Mast from Ann Arbor, Mich.
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Molly Mast balances her creative side by working part-time at her family's shoe store that was founded by her grandparents over sixty years ago. The shoe store isn't the only legacy her grandmother left her. When she was eight-years-old, her grandmother initiated her sewing training. She expresses her creativity by combining her photography and sewing skills to create photo belts from old car seatbelts. She demonstrates how to make such a belt and embellishes it with photos to commemorate a southwest road trip.

Materials:

seatbelt buckle
seatbelt material
thread
sewing machine
fusible webbing
gel medium
lighter or barbeque flame starter
scissors
photo fabric transfer paper
images
computer with image manipulation software
inkjet printer
iron

Steps:

1. Obtain old seatbelt buckles from cars at a junkyard. Cut out the buckles from the rest of the seatbelt. Wash the buckles and let dry.

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Figure A
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Figure B
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Figure C
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Figure D
2. Measure the desired length of the belt and add about six inches on each side (figure A).

3. Using scissors, round off each of the ends.

4. To prevent fraying, heat each seatbelt end over the flame of a lighter until they melt a little bit (figure B).

5. Feed the sized belt through one side of the buckle from front to back and pin it back onto itself (figure C). Repeat on the opposite side.

6. Using a zigzag stitch, on the back side of the belt, sew along the curved edge to attach the end to the belt and secure the buckle in place. Repeat on the opposite side (figure D).

7. Choose images to decorate the belt.

8. Resize the images in an image software program on the computer so that they are 1/8 inch smaller than the height of the belt.

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Figure E
9. Lay out all of the resized image files so that they can be printed on one sheet of photo fabric transfer paper. Print the images with an inkjet printer onto the sheet (figure E).

10. Let the images set for 15 minutes.

11. Iron images to set the color.

12. Spread gel medium over the entire sheet of images. This seals the ink and gives the images a nice smooth, shiny finish.

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Figure F
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Figure G
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Figure H
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Figure I
13. Let the gel medium dry or use a hair dryer to speed up the drying process.

14. Once dry, iron fusible webbing onto the back of the sheet of images.

15. Trim the images leaving a 1/16 inch white border (figure F).

16. Peel the white fusible webbing backing off the backs of the images and position them on the belt facing up.

17. With a white piece of paper on top of each image, iron them into place (figure G).

18. Stitch around each image on the inside of the white border with a straight stitch on the sewing machine (figures H and I).

E-mail: molly@mollymast.com
Website: www.mollymast.com

Also in this Episode
That's Clever! : Episode HCLVR-137
•Window Art Frames
•Funky Ceramic Wall Vase
•Commemorative Belt
•Carved Clay Oval Platter