Recycled/reversible leather obi belt

In the process of trying to rediscover my waistline, I've been looking at belts lately. I haven't worn one on my waist for a looong time and thought maybe it was time to revisit the idea.

After shopping at a few stores and searching on-line, it hit me. I have leather scraps. I have a sewing machine. I could sew one. I hadn't been down in the studio for a while so maybe it was time? I headed downstairs, opened my bin of leather and pulled out some brown and black pieces.

I measured my waist and decided I had enough scraps to make a brown and black reversible belt about 4 inches wide. Using the upper part of a black leather skirt I'd rescued from a thrift store, I removed the zipper and cut the base piece. It was the perfect place to start because the skirt already had slightly curved sides which created a good belt silhouette. I patched together a few scraps of brown leather (upholstery grade) for the reverse and sewed both sides together. I cut a slit on one side and stitched the opening, creating a large opening to slide one end into the other. I then cut and sewed the black and brown ties.

I spent about an hour cutting and sewing my belt and calculated my savings at about $80- the price of the belt I had most admired.