Let’s start at the beginning. A couple of years back, I found two mismatched but similar wooden benches. While I can’t find my “before” pics, just imagine dusty old upholstered tops, one of the benches was stained dark, the other had layers of dirt and peeling light yellow paint. They needed help. So I painstakingly stripped, sanded, and refinished the legs. The whole reason I wanted to make them over was to play with the idea of weaving belts over the top. And this is how they turned out…
et voila!
Fast forward to 2013. Now, because I hoard materials like a crazy person (it’ a bit of a problem) I saved all the scraps of belts that I cut from that project, certain that I would come up with a use for them someday. I had too many for leather drawer pulls, and too few for this amazing repurposed flooring. And then it hit me: a table runner! I layered this into my Table Decor Contest entry at ICE’s Wedding Day Hooray for a masculine touch and it got rave reviews! Here’s how you can make one for yourself…
You will need:
lots of belts
a piece of woven fabric, roughly cut to the size you want your finished runner to be
(I used a leftover scrap of dropcloth from my stenciled tablecloth project!)
hot glue gun and glue sticks
scissors
pinking shears
go thrifting! See if your favorite thrift store has a half-price day of the week. Also, this is all about texture, so I recommend sticking to one color family like browns or blacks to keep the finished piece from being too busy.
Step 1: Cut your belts. This is where you’ll have to determine whether you want the whole thing to have a uniform width or staggered like mine. Cut off the buckles, so they don’t get in the way of anything you set down, or damage your table. This is also where you’ll decide if you want to cut the ends straight across, round them, or cut to a point. I mixed mine up for variety. Also, you’ll want them to be nice and flat, so place under stacks of books, or something else heavy and flat, for a few hours if they’re not.
Step 2: Lay out your belts the way you want your runner to look. Once they’re laid out side by side, you can determine what width and length to cut your fabric backing (slightly smaller all around.) Cut with pinking shears so the edges don’t fray.
Step 3: Beginning at one end, attach belts to the fabric backing with hot glue, pressing well to make sure it lays nice and flat. Be liberal with your glue, but not so liberal that it blobs up between the belts (or through belt holes!) Make sure to but the pieces up very closely and continue until all belts are adhered to the fabric.
Once the belts are tacked down, you can go back to each joint, bend it backward, and squeeze some more glue behind the belt edges to secure to the fabric.
Step 4: Because I chose to stagger my belts, some of the ends sort of flopped around and didn’t seem as secure. So I cut a few small rectangles of my backing fabric and glued belt pieces to their neighbors for added support.
Now flip it all over and admire your work!
Any questions? Drop me a line at roundaboutkacie@gmail.com or over on the Face Page!
These are both fantastic projects! I have reupholstered many chairs and stools, but I have never thought of using belts in this way. Really inspiring…thanks!
Thanks, Rooftop Creations! So happy that you liked them! Working with the belts was a lot of fun. I don’t have a tutorial for the benches, but I’m sure it’s pretty obvious to you how I did it. I just had to make sure to pull the belts nice and tight and use lots of staples, but they’re nice and sturdy.
Awesome ideas! I’m loving your blog! :)
~Jen