How to Make Pop Top Belts

For those of you who don't know, I have a past time of making belts.... out of pop tabs/tops. You know. These guys:

The belts are pretty awesome, if I do say so myself. If you want, I will try and be one of those super crafty bloggers who generously share all their creations with the rest of the world. At least I will for this one post. Don't expect me to be doing madness like this all the time. I am far too uncreative for that.

Without further ado, okay. (By the way, don't be discouraged by how much I write. I am going to be very thorough, but this is actually pretty easy to do.)

You want to find some sort of cord or ribbon with which to weave the pop tabs together. Something as thin as embroidery floss will not work. Find something durable, but if you go with pretty ribbon, don't choose anything wider than a quarter of an inch. Measure out four yards (or about four meters) of your cord. This will be a good length for anyone with a relatively normal waist size. I wear pant size 5-ish, and if I make a belt for a waist my size, I still have plenty of cord leftover if I wanted to make the belt longer. If you are ridiculously skinny or are making the belt for a small-ish child, you can probably get away with cutting the cord off at three yards, but if you need to make the cord be longer, say five or six yards, that's fine. It's always better to guess high and then be able to cut cord off at the end than to get to the end of your belt and realize it's too short and have to start over with longer cord.

Once you have your cord, fold it in half and tie a loop in the middle.

[Optional step]: Oftentimes, I like to add a liquid called Fray Check to the tips of my cord or ribbon. This hardens it like a shoelace after drying for about half an hour, and keeps the cord from fraying as you work. Just follow the directions for it on the bottle. You can find it in craft stores, and probably stores like Walmart too.

Now you need to gather your pop tabs. Start with about a hundred (You may only need 70 or 80 if you are super skinny), but start there and get more later if you need it.

Get your first tab and hold it under the knot where you made your loop.

Take the ends of your long cord and put one end through one hole of the pop tab, and the other through the other hole. Make sure the knot is still on top when you're done, and the shiny side of the tab is facing you.

Now flip your pop tab over. Now the knot is on bottom and the "rough" side of the pop tab is facing you. Move your cord out of the way so you can see it better.

Grab a second pop tab and line it up with the one you just did. Make sure the "bottom" hole lines up with the bottom hole of your first one, and the "top" whole lines up with the top of the first one. Your second pop tab should have the shiny side facing you. That's what makes the belt reversible.

Now you have a top cord and a bottom cord. Put the top cord through both top holes and the bottom cord through both bottom holes. Now when you let go, both pop tabs should stay on there.

Flip your belt over again. Repeat what you just did, except this time, put the bottom cord through both top holes, and the top cord through both bottom holes. This will make an X, and is also what makes the belt reversible.

Repeat over and over, with one side having "lines" (top cord through top holes, bottom cord through bottom holes), and the other side having "X's" (bottom cord through top holes, top cord through bottom holes.

Once your belt is long enough, tie the two cords together at the end of the last pop tab to keep the belt from loosening.

I'm sure you can figure out creative ways to tie your belt (and yes, it will hold your pants up!), but usually I just string the two cords through the loop, then tie the cords. You can figure out what works for you.

Something to note when you are trying to decide how long to make your belt is the fact that the length from the tip of the loop to the very last pop top will always be the tightest you can get it. You can always take pop tabs off later when you courageously lose fifty pounds, but if your trousers are too big and your belt is longer than your waist, the job won't get done. That's why you want a little bit of cord hanging off, so you can make it as tight or loose as you like. So yay! You have a belt!

History:
I started making belts when I was in 8th grade after I saw them at a craft show. I made them for all my friends for Christmas that year, and didn't stop. I have been making them for the last seven years. I give them as gifts, sell them for $5, or donate them (so the organization/whatever can sell them and make money.) I made one special belt last summer out of all colored tabs, and it is my pride and joy (you can see it on the right in the photo). Sometimes I teach my campers at camp how to make them (it's amazing how many ways they find to mess it up). Making belts haven't had any profound impact on my life, but it's something "unique" that I like to share.

God bless.