Tutorial: How to Make a Button-Up Belt (with No Buckle or Grommets)
You want to make a belt, but don’t feel comfortable working with buckles and eyelets yet? No problem! Why not make a belt with a button closure instead. Adding multiple button holes will allow you to adjust the size of your belt the same way standard belts can be adjusted.
This tutorial goes through how to create the design you see in the photos, but you can use the same idea to create a belt with any design.
Check out more DIY belt tutorials
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Supplies Needed:
Step 1
Make your Belt Pattern
You can can make your belt pattern look however you want, it does not have to exactly match mine (you can make a simple rectangle or make something way more complicated if you want to). However, no matter what you’re doing, you need to make your belt based on the size of your waistband.
The length of your belt will be the length of your waist plus 2 inches to account for overlap. Measure yourself in the spot where you want the belt to go around. This could be your waist, but for most pairs of pants, this will be an inch or two below your waist. (when in doubt, go with the larger number. You can always make the belt shorter late on if you need to)
You can make the width of the belt whatever you want. I made mine 1.5 inches wide.
Once you’ve decided on your belt design, do not forget to add seam allowance!
If you use my belt pattern, make sure to adjust the length of the belt based on your waist!
Step 2
Cut out your belt pieces
Cut out your belt pieces. I used scrap pieces of fabric that I kept from previous projects. You should be able to complete this with less than 1/4 yard of fabric.
Step 3
reinforce the corner and clip to the stitches
Stitch along the seamline to reinforce the inner corners of your belt pieces. Then clip to the stitching. At this point I also like to add a dab of fray check to the inner corner, but that’s completely optional.
Step 4
Sew the end pieces to the belt
Sewing these points is the trickiest part of the tutorial. You need to spread the inner corner of the arrow fabric pieces and pin it in place. Then sew the seam and pivot exactly at the point where you clipped to in the previous step.
Once sewn, press the seam toward the point of the fabric (as seen above)
You’ll also end up with little tabs of fabric poking out of the sides (as seen in the image below). You can clip these off.
Tip: If you’ve never sewn a corner like this before, I recommend practicing a couple of times to get the hang of it.
Step 5
cut out interfacing and apply it to the belt fabric
Cut interfacing based on the length of your final belt and apply it to the reverse side according to your interfacing’s instructions.
Step 6
Fold the belt in half and sew
Fold the belt in half and sew. Leave a small gap in the middle so that you can turn the belt to the right side.
Step 7
Clip corners and turn to right side out
Clip the corners on both ends of the belt and turn it out. Don’t forget to press the belt to make it flat.
Step 8
Sew up the gap
You can hand sew the gap in the middle of the belt to make it invisible, but I’m usually too lazy for that and just sew it up by machine with a matching thread.
Step 9
Add button holes (as many as you want)
Add buttonholes based on the size of the button you want for your belt. A 1/2 inch or 5/8 inch button will work best. Refer to your sewing machine manual to determine the buttonhole settings since this can vary dramatically between sewing machines.
By adding more that one button hole, you make the belt more adjustable. You can add as many buttonholes as you want.
Step 10
Sew on a button
Now all you have to do is sew a button onto the other side of the belt.
Finished!
