Make Your Own Awesome Leather Belt - thanks Martha Stewart!

This fashionable leather belt achieves the look of a very expensive one -- for a fraction of the cost.

Tools and Materials
Measuring tape
Leather
Utility knife
All-purpose cement
15 grommets
Grommet tool kit
Ruler
Jax solution
Plastic spoon
Belt buckle


Leather Belt How-To


1. Measure your waist over your clothes with a measuring tape.
2. Cut two rectangles of leather that measure the size of waist plus 2 inches by 3 1/2 inches. Cut the two rectangles a little bit larger, since it is difficult to cut a big piece of leather perfectly. Using all-purpose cement, glue rough sides of these two leather strips. Stick together back-to-back and trim down to your true measurements.
3. Making the belt extender: Measure the crossbar of belt buckle. Ours was 1 3/8 inch. Make a smaller double-sided rectangle strip the same way as before so that it will measure 1 3/8 inch by 12 inches.
4. Using a plastic spoon, drop brass grommets into jax solution to give them an antique patina. Remove after 2 seconds and let dry.
5. Using your grommet hole punching tool, create 11 holes on top of the extender piece, each spaced 1 inch apart down the center. Fasten 7 grommets in 11 of the holes.
6. For the piece of leather that holds the buckle, cut one more strip of leather exactly 1 3/8 inch by 12 inches. Punch a hole in the center of the strip. Glue rough ends of the strip leaving one inch on each side of the hole free of glue. Pass the ends through the belt buckle.
7. Stick the prong of the belt buckle through the hole of the strip. Fold the strip in half onto itself, matching up the ends of the rectangle. Enclose the buckle.
8. Center the buckle to one edge of the larger rectangle and secure with glue and 4 grommets. On other end of the rectangle, center your extender piece 8 inches from the edge with the unfinished hole on top of the large rectangle. Glue area where the two pieces will be connected (about 4 inches).
9. Punch four holes through both layers. Put grommets through front and secure to back.
Resources
The 2.5 ounce chap hide leather is available from tandyleather.com, or you can go to any leather store and buy scraps from the "scrap" bins. The grommets and grommet hand tool used can be purchased from dritz.com. We used a 3/8-inch brass 8CT (9mm) grommet. The belt buckle (style # 37231, in Antique Brass) is available from M&J Trimming. The Petronio's all-purpose cement glue is available from instantshoeshine.com. Jax Brown Brass, Bronze, and Copper Darkener can be purchased from metalliferous.com. Martha also used a Fiskars clear ruler and a Breakaway blade knife.
From The Martha Stewart Show, April 2007