My good friend D.S. Weber gave me a very pretty woven band with bamboo yarn (green and navy blue) and silk yarn (orangish blended colour). The cool part is that she wove it herself!!
I held on to it for a while because I had to make something special with it. This special thing had to be something that I actually use because special things deserve to be used - not to be put away in a box in a closet.
See how pretty it is.
I came up with an idea. I wanted to make a belt with this.
I first had to decide what to do with the issue of this band being a little bit stretchy and maybe too soft to work as a belt. After thinking about this issue, I decided to add a nylon webbing on the back as a stabilizer.
This was a perfect time to use a belt buckle that I bought in Nippori, Japan. The one-inch webbing fit perfectly. I cut it into the length I needed (it took me a lot of courage to actually cut this!!!) and sewed on the band onto the webbing using a professional sewing machine (above). Then, I found a black leather in my stash and made the edge pieces to sew them onto either end of the band using an industrial sewing machine. I learned a lot about sewing with leather in the process. The internet is full of tutorials, and I learn so much from them.
Here is the belt.
Then, I found out that there is enough woven band left for me to make a neck strap for my keys. So, I used a little bit more of the same black leather to attach a lobster clip on it. This time I did not line the band with anything. Because it is woven with bamboo and silk yarns, it feels very soft around my neck.
I now have a matching set of a belt and a key strap.
D.S. Weber is a multi-talented novelist (romance adventure). I read her first book this spring and loved it! I enjoy both romance and adventure, and her book is full of excitement and characters I love. (Is it just me, or so many characters in TV/streaming shows and books these days are not all that likeable or relatable?) Her next book will be coming out soon, too, and I can't wait... Her Instagram is here.
D.S. and I get together when we can manage to do so and have conversations on a wide range of topics. Our interests are so vast, and our topics of conversations fly wherever our curiosities take us. We also make things together.