In an effort to expand my rigid heddle weaving horizons, lately I've been tying some new things besides scarves. (This is especially good because scarf weather will be over before we know it.) In my latest post I showed how I made a bag out of a piece I wove. For this week's What's Warped Now, I'm trying something else: a belt!
Weaving a belt like this one is pretty simple-- it's the same process as weaving a scarf in plain weave, only much thinner and a bit shorter. For this one, I'm using a black Lion Cotton for the warp and a variegated black, white and grey Lion Cotton for the weft. The Lion Cotton is nice because, while it's not as soft, it works up tightly and is thicker, which makes for more structure, and that's good for a belt. The variation in the weft makes for some neat visual interest in what would otherwise be a very plain accessory.
As for fastening it, I chose a very simple D-ring. I am lucky enough to work in the middle of the fashion district in Midtown Manhattan, where you can't walk five feet without seeing a fabric or accessory store. I went to one of the many "notions" stores and chose from their seriously cool and overwhelming selection of D-rings. This time, I chose a simple one, but I think in the future I will choose funkier ones. When the weaving is done, I will attach one end of the belt fabric to the D-rings, and the belt will be ready to wear!
