Woven Belt Tutorial

This tutorial is for a nifty belt. It’s made out of t-shirt yarn! If you don’t know how to make t-shirt yarn, see my tutorial. (You’ll need yarn from 1-2 t-shirts for a belt like this. My belt is 38” long.)

I have several ‘swing’ type cardigans and I wanted a belt to make them look more fitted.
Want to get started?

You’ll need two D-rings. I doubled the middle piece of the belt and tripled the outer strands to make the belt chunkier. Cut your two middle strands 2x plus  6” longer than however long you want your belt. For the outer strands, cut 2x 50” per 9” of woven belt plus 6” (so I cut three strands about 230” each).

One thing: your middle pieces should be relatively the same color as the outer pieces. It shows through a bit. Also, yes, 230” is a lot of length to work with. We can talk about how I kept that under control.
But first, find the middle of all five pieces of t-shirt yarn. Loop them all through both D-rings so they are secure.

Next, separate the four middle strands from the six outer strands. You should have three outer strands on each side. To manage the extreme length, roll each set of three strands into a ball.
Now we’re read to start weaving. Here are the pictures for the steps, followed by a description…

1. Make sure you’ve separated the strands three to each side and the middle strands are lying flat. 2. Take the strand on the left and make a backward “P”, crossing it over the middle four strands. 3. Cross the strand on the right over the tail of the left strand… 4. Then bring it under the middle group of strands…. 5. And finally through the loop of the backward “P”. Tighten everything up. Make sure that the first stitch is as close to the initial loop as possible. Make sure subsequent stitches are close to the one before.

Repeat steps 1-5 but substitute the right strand for the left. Repeat until the belt is as long as you want. Then you’ll need to finish it off. I sewed mine (use a heavy duty needle). Sew through a few times.
And you’re done!

You may think this looks hard, but it is really pretty easy. It's the same technique you probably used for making hemp necklaces about 10 years ago at camp (at least I did!)

It is a great way to create a new accessory. I had made this braided belt last year, but decided to go with a chunkier look this time! Have fun.