Thread: Making the Egyptian style belt

I went to this lady's website.. http://www.nadyas-sewing-instruction...tel-fotos1.htm

She gives a complete step-by-step instruction of making the Egyptian belt. I want to try making this kind of belt and am up for the challenge of darts... However, I'm a very visual person and the pictures that she cuts about 6 slits on the top and about 3 on the bottom and them "darts" them completely confuse me. She explains it on her site too, but I haven't the faintest clue what she means. Can anyone explain in even more detail how to do this?? I usually watch videos because I learn from watching and doing. For some reason, I can't learn anything from just reading and seeing pictures...

Thank you so much for any advice (or video, if you find one! I searched all over!)!!

I believe you might be confused because she's not made slits in the fabric, she's taken little skinny wedges of the fabric out. Then she's butting the 2 edges of the cut-out wedge together and sewing them together (with the aid of muslin or organza to give something to sew to. The end result is a curved belt that will accommodate your backside.

Usually in a pattern you don't cut out the dart wedges and butt the cut edges against each other, but because you're working with a thick belt base this eliminates the bulk of the dart.

How many darts and how large they are will depend on how curvy you are. More curve = more dart & dart takeup.

I've used this method, tracing an exissting belt for a pattern. Caution!!! make the pattern a little longer/wider than the original belt. If you need to make alot of darts to "cup your blessing", you might find the belt to small to go around you.

She is definitely cutting into the base fabric, but my guess is that she is not just butting the edges together but overlapping them and then sewing each half of the overlap flat to the other side with a zigzag stitch. This would mean that no part of the darting would be more than two layers thick and it would explain why the new seams have a "v" shape. If you lay your right hand partially across the top of your left, it would be the equivalent of sewing through your hands so that the right index finger was attached to the top of your left hand and the left index finger was attached to the palm of your right. (At least that's how it looks to me from her photos...)

Originally Posted by Annessa

I believe you might be confused because she's not made slits in the fabric, she's taken little skinny wedges of the fabric out. Then she's butting the 2 edges of the cut-out wedge together and sewing them together (with the aid of muslin or organza to give something to sew to. The end result is a curved belt that will accommodate your backside.

Usually in a pattern you don't cut out the dart wedges and butt the cut edges against each other, but because you're working with a thick belt base this eliminates the bulk of the dart.

How many darts and how large they are will depend on how curvy you are. More curve = more dart & dart takeup.

Aaaa so instead of sewing a dart, I just cut the dart-equivalent out, thus making a wedge shape space. Then I sew something over them, like cotton or muslin?

I think it looks like she is just sewing the edges flat, but you could put extra fabric over the darts to reinforce them before attaching the outer fabric.

Thanks for the advice! I think I got a good idea now. I'm trying to save making about 5 belts before I make a decent one... Wish me luck~. :)

Has anyone actually tried making a cupped butt belt (for lack of better terms...)?

Yep, extreme darts, and the top of the belt a little higher.