Ribbons!

So the last time I went to NYC's garment district without a plan I ended up suckering myself into a series of crazy purchases...as you do. This last time was getting on 2 years ago and I'm still working on planning what I will do with the fabric I bought then (along with a crazy amount from Walthamstow Market from the last time I went to London).

Some things though, I bought for a purpose. So I was in a trims shop and I fell in love with beautiful ribbon.

You know what I'm talking about. Those $7-$10 a yard embroidered ribbons. (I was being nice on myself-I stayed away from the silk.) Now I like ribbon trimmed skirts but in my world that's usually 3-5 yards of trimming and there's no way I'll spend $50 on decoration (my entire 30yd haul from NYC was less than $40). But I couldn't walk away from them!

So I bought 2 yards of 2 different ribbons and told myself I'd make them into belts. Decorative belts with absolutely no holding up function.

Both are flower motifs and both are fantastically useful. I simply hand stitched down the excess of a yard for a comfortable waist belt and then attached what are actually jewelry findings as closures. These actually, which can be found in practically any metal you wish (mine are silver). I thought the leaf would complement the ribbon design and the use of the jewelry finding would mean it would be easily removable if, say, I decided to retire it as a belt and use the ribbon as a skirt waistband. It's not looking likely but the clasps work so well I won't mess around with a proper buckle.