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Here's a belt that is sure to impress your crafty friends. It's a belt made out of Monopoly money and vinyl.
Time Commitment: 2.5-4 hours. I did this over a stretch of a few days working on it a little bit at a time.
Cost: Less than $10. Depends on cost of vinyl, belt buckle or thrift store belt and grommets. And of course if you have the craft tools needed.
Supplies Needed:
- Monopoly Money
- Medium weight Vinyl
- Old Belt you don't mind destroying (I went to the thrift store and found a belt that had a wide enough buckle for the monopoly money to fit through and was cheap enough to take apart).
- Grommets for the belt holes
- Leather punch or small hole punch, some grommet kits come with this.
- Grommet placer
- Sewing Machine
- Clear thread
- Scissors
- Craft Knife
Directions:
1. Determine the length you will need to make the belt. I took one of my belts and used that as a guide.
2. Cut the vinyl for your belt. I cut my vinyl approximately 42 inches in length and 3 1/2 inches wide.
3. Sew two pieces of vinyl together with a straight stitch down the length of the vinyl, 3/4 inches in from one end.
4. Between the two pieces of vinyl, line up Monopoly money in the order you want. Keep the money flush against the straight stitch you just sewed. I needed 12 bills for my belt. Each Monopoly bill is 2 inches wide and 4 inches long, although I used some Monopoly Junior money which is 2 inches wide and 3 1/4 inches long. If you have some clear vinyl on the end where you can't fit another full monopoly bill, it's ok, do not cut the excess off, you will need it when adding the belt buckle.
5. Sew in between each bill with a zigzag stitch to hold each bill in place.
6. Sew down the opposite length of the vinyl right next to the bills.
7. The width of the monopoly money is too wide for most belt loops so you have to fold some of the bills over on each side to make it the proper width. Once the bills are sewn into the vinyl you should have 1/2 inch on each side of the bills. I had to fold over about 5/8" to 3/4" on each side. You want the front to measures approximately 1 1/2 inches. To make sewing easy, use pins to secure your fold.
This would be a good time to make sure that the belt will fit into the buckle you have chosen for it, also check to see if the belt fits through your belt loops (use your model belt as a guide).
Note: You can skip this step if you are making this strictly as a fashion belt and do not actually need it to hold up you pants. You can keep the normal width of the bills and just fold over and sew excess vinyl on each side.
8. If you haven't already, cut the buckle out of the belt you are sacrificing. Use that belt as a template for the hole you will be cutting for the buckle pin to fit through. Line up the two belts and trace the hole with a pen. Be sure that you leave enough room on one end to fold over and sew the buckle in place. Cut with a craft knife around the line you just traced. Sew around the hole you just cut.
9. Put the buckle in place, fold over, and sew down.
10. On the other end of the belt you can choose to just fold over the end as a hem, or you can fold two sides in towards the middle to make a V shape at the tip of the belt.
11. Use a belt as a template for the hole placement. Line up the belts, on the back side of your monopoly belt trace the holes.
12. With a small leather punch or hole punch, punch where you have just made your hole marks. Be sure the hole is not bigger than the grommet you will be placing there, you actually want it a tiny bit smaller, the vinyl will stretch a little around the grommet.
13. Place the grommets in the holes and secure them in place with whichever grommet placer you may have.
TA DA! You have completed your very own monopoly money belt. I am sure now you can think up all sorts of other types of belts you can make using other pieces of board games, magazines or photographs. And once you have the basic supplies, scissors, craft knife, grommet kit, spare belt buckles, you can make these belts pretty cheaply, since vinyl is not very expensive.
About The Author: Stella recently graduated from college and enjoys contributing craft ideas to ThriftyFun.com. If you have any craft ideas that you would like to share with Stella and ThriftyFun community, please submit them here.
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