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Embroidery Term: Prewound Bobbin

How to Make Your Own Embroidered Ribbon Belt

July 26th, 2008 in patterns & designs, embroidery

Jennifer Stern, contributor

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Heres my embroidered ribbon belt on a pair of my vintage jeans!

Fuse interfacing to the wrong side of the ribbon.

Here's my embroidered ribbon belt on a pair of my vintage jeans!

Photo: Jen Stern

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My sister is the accessory queen in our family. She saw these cute ribbon belts in Ann Taylor, for $36, and decided that she wasn't going to pay that much for two pieces of ribbon and a couple of metal rings. So, she called me up and asked me if I could help her make some. They were fun to make and really took no time at all. By the time you've got them together, you've also created the perfect foundation for embroidery. Let me show you how easy it is to create your own embroidered ribbon belt.

What You'll Need:

2 pieces of ribbon 4 inches longer than your waist measurement
2 pieces of fusible interfacing the same length and width as your ribbon
2 metal rings for the closure
Embroidery designs small enough to fit on the width of your ribbon
Embroidery threads
Soft tearaway stabilizer like Ultra Clean and Tear from OESD
505 Temporary Adhesive Spray
Topstitching thread to match your ribbon

Start by trimming the two pieces of ribbon straight across both ends. Check to be sure they are exactly the same length. Fuse the interfacing to the wrong side of the ribbon. If you're using reversible ribbon like I am, fuse the interfacing to opposite colors on each ribbon so that you end up with two different colors to work with when you're putting the belt together.

Test a scrap of ribbon to see if the fusible interfacing adheres well. If not, use spray adhesive to hold the interfacing onto the ribbon.

Pin the ribbons right sides together at one end. Stitch across using a 1/4-inch seam allowance.

I'm not big on pinning, but some ribbons can be very slippery, so it really helps to pin them together before you sew.

Check that the sides of the ribbon are even with each other. When you fold the ribbon in half at the seam, the ribbons should lie directly on top of each other.

Press seam allowance open.

Slide the two metal rings onto one end of the ribbon. Nestle the rings into the seam that joins the two pieces of ribbon. Pin the ribbon together just below the rings to hold them in place for now. Pin the opposite ends of ribbon together, checking that the ribbons are not twisted. Sew the ends of the ribbon using a 1/4-inch seam allowance.

Attaching the rings to the ribbons now creates a nice clean finish. There are no raw ends to deal with.

Lay the belt flat on a work surface. Pin the ribbons together to hold them in place. Starting just below the metal rings, topstitch along the edge of the ribbons.

Start and stop as close to the metal rings as you can.

Hoop a soft, heavy tearaway stabilizer like Ultra Clean and Tear from OESD. To make it easy to line up the ribbon in the hoop so that the embroidery design will stitch out straight onto it, draw placement lines right on the stabilizer. I drew cross-hair lines connecting the center markings found on the side of my hoop. Position the ribbon along the vertical center line. Pin the ribbon to the stabilizer at the top and bottom ends of the hoop.

Because we are making a reversible belt, we want to avoid using adhesive spray to keep the ribbon in the hoop.

Position the hoop on your embroidery machine. Import your design and position it on the screen so that it will stitch out on the ribbon. (I wish I could give everyone cool tips on how to move the design around on the screen to get it to embroider where you want it. Every machine has an easy way to do it; it's just that there are too many different machines and models for me to give specific info on them all. If you're unsure how to get the design exactly where you want it, send me a comment and I'll try to help!)

My embroidery came out nice and straight because I lined up the ribbon with the placement guides I drew on the stabilizer.

When you're finished embroidering, take the hoop off the machine. Gently tear the ribbon off the stabilizer without removing the stabilizer from the hoop.

There will be a hole where the embroidery design stitched.

Cut a thin strip of stabilizer and use temporary adhesive spray to adhere it to the underside of the hoop. Spray the strip, not the underside of the hoop...ask me how I know that? One time I sprayed the bottom of the hoop (a little too much) and the hoop stuck to the machine while it was embroidering—the fabric popped out of the hoop, and it wasn't pretty.

Patching the hole with a strip of stabilizer saves a lot of stabilizer!

Do not move the position of the embroidery design on the screen. Use the outline of the hole you patched as a guide to position the ribbon for the next hooping. Line up the last embroidery motif on the ribbon with the top end of the hole (which represents the first motif in the next embroidery). Then smooth the ribbon down next to the guide line, which will be running parallel to the hole. Pin the ribbon in place as you did for the first embroidery. Stitch the design.

When the second embroidery is finished, gently pull up the stabilizer and repatch the hole to embroider another design.

Keep embroidering until you've stitched along the entire ribbon. Clip all your threads, carefully removing the bits of stabilizer from the underside of the belt. Enjoy!

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Comments (2)

JenniferStern writes: How are you LnZ???? well I hope. My sister is 35 and she can't get enough of these belts. Maybe after a little more yoga I'll like them too!!! Posted: 9:18 am on August 9th