Two ladies from the Edwardian era, both wearing belts.
After I had made my Edwardian walking skirt and its matching Zouave jacket, I had decided that an Edwardian belt was in order. It was a basic belt using a pattern from Jean Hunnisett’s book, Period Costumes for Stage and Screen (1800-1909). I had not considered blogging about this belt, as it was a quick and easy project, but it is one of those accessories that really does make a difference to the costume! You can see it in the photo below.
My Edwardian belt in action at a Picnic at Hanging Rock excursion.
Now, because I often wear this particular walking skirt and jacket ensemble for steampunk occasions (as sexy-and-skimpy steampunk is not my thing!), I decided to make a steampunk belt to wear with it too. My plan was to use a similar style and shape to my first belt, and just add black leather and silver to “punk” it up.
I really wanted a belt made from real leather, but my leather-making skills are a bit rudimentary to make something from scratch. After looking at this tutorial by Susan Dennard, I decided to try and find a leather handbag to repurpose.
Unfortunately, I was so excited about this project that, once I had found a bag at a local second-hand shop for only $4, I forgot all about taking photos of it before I started unpicking it to pieces! So here is a picture of a similar type of bag to the one I used.
My handbag was very similar to this (except black), with two front “pouches”.
Tip: Get a leather needle (a needle specially designed for sewing leather) and a good thimble when hand sewing a leather project!! The poor fingers took a beating…
Construction Steps:
Step One: I made an Edwardian belt shape using two layers of black cotton broadcloth, interlined with two layers of very firm woven interfacing (similar to buckram). The centre front points had a steel bone wedged in there to keep the front stiff. Each side of the centre backs also had a steel bone underneath the leather binding to help with stiffness too!
Step Two: The belt was bound with leather strips obtained from the handbag. In particular, the leather strips on either sides of the zips were particularly useful for this! I tried to reuse the existing stitching marks when I was hand sewing.
Step Three: I used scraps of the leather to attach some D-rings, making it easy to attach things to the belt. (I used the sewing machine to sew these, as the multiple layers of leather were proving too difficult for my fingers!)
Front view of the belt, showing the very simple shape. You can see the D-rings poking out the bottom of the belt.
The inside view of the front, showing the inside of the binding and the D-rings attached.
Eyelets were hammered in and lacing (black grosgrain ribbon) added.
Back view, showing the eyelets and lacing. You can also see some joins in the binding.
The inside view of the back.
Step Four: Now for the accessories! The thing I really wanted was to have some pouches or bags to put some things in when I’m out-and-about in costume.
I cut the two pouches off the front of the bag (if I had unpicked them from the bag, there would have been no pouch left!) and sewed the two pieces together. Luckily the tops of the pouches had some convenient rings (where the handles of the bag had been attached) that I used to attach it to the belt.
Affectionately called “my saddle bags”! Shown here attached to the belt with some clips.
Step Five: The other accessory I really wanted was a way to carry a parasol and a fan. Using the biggest leather pieces (from the bottom of the bag and the other side that didn’t have the pouches), I fashioned a tube to hold the parasol. The top of the tube was wider than the bottom, so that the parasol would not fall through.
The top of the tube was bound with a piece of leather that also had a ring attached (which was another ring used to hold the handles of the bag). This was going to be useful to attach the holder to the belt. Inside this top binding I inserted a large metal ring (7 cm in diameter) to help keep the opening open when in use. The bottom of the tube has another smaller metal ring (5 cm in diameter) in it, with the leather tube then folded over it and hand stitched in place.
The end pieces of the handbag (the sides where the zips start and finish) became a good part for the fan holder, and this piece was sewn to the side of the parasol holder. (It is a good idea to do this before you sew the tube together!)
The parasol holder, with a fan holder attached to the outside.
Finally, there was one last matching ring (that held the handles of the handbag) that I hand sewed onto the lower edge of the parasol holder. A length of chain was added to this ring to make the two attachment points different lengths. This helps make the parasol hang on an angle, kind of like a sword scabbard does.
Here is the holder attached to the belt, with the parasol and fan inside.
The last D-ring on the belt will be used for my steampunk chatelaine.
I still have a tiny bit of leather left over, including the handles, the front clasp and a few little bits left from the binding. (Maybe for another accessory later on!) There’s a few good zips and the rest is the innards!
The left over parts!
This belt will be worn at a Steampunk picnic that I am going to in a month, so I will post a picture of it in use as soon as I have one to post.
I am pretty pleased with this project! I would like to get more tools to use in leather craft and explore making some more things. I should even get my old Singer industrial sewing machine serviced, as I think it would do a great job in sewing leather! That might save my fingers too.
Now for a cup of tea!
Related Posts
Making an early Edwardian Zouave Jacket
Sources and Relevant Links
Period Costumes for Stage and Screen: Patterns for Womens Dress 1800-1909, by Jean Hunnisett – buy on Amazon
How to make a steampunk utility belt – by Susan Dennard
Edwardian Belt – by Sew Historically
Tea in a Teacup 