Chanel Inspired Belt Tutorial

Kylie Minogue, I want your Chanel belt.  Somehow I doubt you're going to give it to me so I'm going to make my own version.

Yes, the pregnancy has gotten to my brain and I now think I'm witty :P

Left:  Kylie Minogue in Chanel Pearl & Chain Belt

Right:  My DIY version

I don't know why my mannequin looks crooked after I told her repeatedly to stand up straight.  Ok, seriously, I need to lay off the sugar and just calm down.  Breathe...

See tutorial after the jump!

What You'll Need:

• A black belt of some sort - ideally not the typical kind where you have a large buckle and the end slides through (the added end portion may make it look clunky since you'll be adding 3 attention-getting embellishments)
• Loose pearls preferably in cream (around 10 mm looks nice)
• Chain (can be purchased by the yard in craft departments or in bulk at stores like Michaels)
• 2 jump rings
• 4 crimp beads
• Pearl stringing material - you can use silk or something like Beadalon
• Basic jewelry pliers

1.  Model your belt (or put it on your trusty mannequin) and determine where you want your embellishments to fall.  I decided to attach at the center buckle and then about the 3/4 mark of the belt.  If you use an open-weave belt (like I did) you won't need to do anything special.  If you are using a leather strap belt, use a leather hole puncher (like this one) to make 1 or 2 small holes for your dangle attachments.

2.  Make your measurements depending on how much dangle you want.  Start with the shortest strand and then add about 2-2.5" to each subsequent strand.  You can prototype with some ribbon at the lengths you want to make sure the dangling looks appropriate.  My dangles (to accommodate the belly bump) were 16.5", 19", and 21.5".

3.  String 2 strands of pearls - the 1st for your shortest dangle and the 2nd for your longest dangle and create small loops at each end of your strands using a crimp bead.  (See detailed instructions here)

4.  Cut your length of chain to match your middle dangle.

5.  Attach all 3 dangles (in order) to your jump ring and add to your belt in the pre-determined spots from Step 1.

And you're done!

I also want to make a chain version of a similarly styled Chanel belt but I'll save that for another day :)