While wandering aimlessly through Urban Outfitters one Saturday morning, I eventually came across the rack of belts and was drawn to the embroidered belt of pink, coral, and yellow (shown below in blue/teal/white/black). Immediately a light bulb turned on inside my head as I realized I could easily recreate this look in colors I preferred while saving twenty bucks. Digging through my unorganized craft bin, I found two boxes of embroidered thread from a previous project and chose a black Forever 21 belt that was sold with a dress I had previously purchased. Now, I am a numbers person, but for those of you who aren’t let me add that up for you:

Free Embroidery Thread + Free Belt = Free DIY Belt Project =
A Happy Megan (and Justin)

Free DIY projects are the best since you get to re-purpose old craft items into something you can be proud to say you made without a hefty project budget. I am extremely happy with how this threaded colorblocked skinny belt turned out, follows the summer trends (skinny belt, neon, embroidered) and love how it adds interest to my basic tees and denim. What do you think of this colorblocked homemade embroidered belt? Have you DIY-ed one of your own?

The Inspiration:

J.Crew Factory Belt $54 Urban Outfitters $20

What You Need:

belt, assorted colors of embroidery thread, scissors, glue

What To Do:

Choose a spot on your belt to begin wrapping the thread. I started at the hole next to the hole I actually use to buckle the belt. Wrap the thread around the belt a couple times and tie a few knots on the backside of the belt making sure to leave extra thread in case you need to tighten the knots later.

Start tightly wrapping the thread around the belt. I found it easier to hold the string in my left hand and use my right hand to turn the belt as opposed to turning the string. I also would push the thread tighter together with my fingernail.

Continue tightly wrapping the thread until you are ready to change colors.

When you are ready to change colors, slip the string underneath the previously already wrapped string and tie two tight knots. Follow by tying on the next color. Cut off any excess string, however I left enough so I could tighten the knots later.

Continue the same process until the entire belt is covered (create a color pattern or choose a random sequence, alter the width of the colored thread, etc). I choose to wrap the first color for two inches followed by the next two colors for one inch and then the fourth color for two inches (2 inches, 1 inch, 1 inch, 2 inches, etc).