Two Dress Belts

[tossik]

Just finished two simple dress pant belts. both are 1-1/8" wide. Brass hardware. No dyes are used on both belts, just oils. Saddle stitched the keepers. Kept the holes 1" apart with 9 holes total (middle hole is customers size).

Let me know what you think

[Basically Bob]

A nice clean look, for sure. Here are some thoughts, perhaps ideas for you to consider ... (Not criticism) .

I make plain belts with no tooling & buy "belting" that is colored on the back. No bleed from the dye.

For a dress belt, i would finish the edges, including the loops.

Rather than using rivets, I stitch the buckles on & use it as a selling feature.

[Basically Bob]

Here's a photo of one, to show you the stitching.

[tossik]

Nice belt Bob. I like horizontal stitching. I will use that on my next belt. Mine are vertical stitches right now. I did not use screws or rivets. I Left the tan edge raw (with a little waxing) and the dark belt is burnished, so it is polished edge. I did not want to use any dye on the belt. And purchasing a prefinished belt with finished back kind of defeats the purpose of doing everything yourself and having the product hand made, no?

[Basically Bob]

Thanks Tossik,

The stitching traditional "British" style and since my stitching and assembly methods are heavily influenced by Valerie Michael's book, that's what I use. It takes a while to get comfortable with stitching the belt loop in but it gets easier after a while. I don't feel that it is the best way, but rather, just the method I have decided to use.

In terms of dying the leather, I am quite comfortable with purchasing a pre-dyed product ... I don't buy belt blanks. Rather, I have my supplier cut strips 6" wide from a side for me and then I cut them to the appropriate width, depending on the customer's order. I like doing this because it gives me consistancy and the colour is stable so I don't worry about colour transfer.