If you are like me, you have your favorite belts and your not-so-favorite belts. Like the belts bought years ago that are doing you no good anymore, or as in my case, a few belts I have no use for at their current length. Because belts that sit at the natural waist are in again, and the hip-slung length is no longer as fun as it was in the 2000s.

(Courtesy of NextNewFashion.net)
A woman I met proclaimed two weeks ago, while talking up a vintage animal print cotton dress, “Women have rediscovered their waists!” She runs a nifty weekends-only vintage store up the street from me and hawks hand-painted leather bags with suede-like-butter insides and metal zippers. What I mean is: she’s an authority.
Since we’ve discovered our waists, we’ve discovered our need for smaller belts. I have a hoard of long belts from my college days in the cold Great Lakes region, where belts kept my large jeans hitched up over my boots. But they needn’t go unloved any longer.
With a few tools, you can easily transform your old belt collection into some fun, cheap, and updated belts.
Here are a few supplies you might benefit from having on hand.
- Rotary Leather Punch: You’ll be the envy of all your friends if you can add perfect new holes to any belts. I remember with chagrin times I’ve gone at belts with a kitchen knife before. Just make sure to measure carefully, because once you’ve punched, you cannot un-punch. The best part about this rotary leather punch? It’s approved by the Boy Scouts of America for some reason.
- Sturdy Needle and Heavy-Duty Thread: My project didn’t need this, but you might need to have it on hand for yours.
- Craft Knife: An X-Acto knife, a utility knife, or a rotary blade. (When it comes to rotary blades, get retractable ones, and STICK with a retractable one. Your fingers will thank you when you keep them in one piece.) You also want a ruler, or something else straight that you don’t mind getting close to a knife and leather.
- Shoe Polish: Make sure this matches the leather you’re using in your project.
- Bone Folder: I picked up the tip below from someone out there in the blogosphere, although I imagine other household objects (like this odd flat plastic tool) will to the trick.
- Craft/Industrial Glue: I don’t exactly what to call “the strongest glue you can find,” but that’s what you should have. I bought Beacon Magna-Tac 809, which promises to “bond fabric, lace, beads, glass, metal, wood, and leather.” It seems to be holding up its end of the deal: It’s clear and flexible when it dries, and doesn’t soak into porous things, so it’s pretty great for a cheap and chic DIY leather belt. Krazy Glue makes a claim to work as well.
- Awl: An awl pokes holes in leather without removing any, unlike the leather punch. It’s so you don’t have to try to resew a belt buckle onto something using a small needle for leverage. You prepoke your holes and then run the thread through to reattach a buckle or attach two pieces of leather with more glue.

(Kara Cook/EthicalStyle.com)
Use the belt and your natural waist to figure out how many holes you need to punch in the leather to be able to buckle it where you want to. I had to punch five new holes, carefully measuring to ensure they were placed the same width apart and centered. Mark the center of each hole with a pencil. I used a ruler pressed down on top of the leather to guide me as I cut the length of the belt. Then cut a carefully rounded edge eventually.
If you have rough leather, this is where the bone folder comes in handy: Take the tool and vigorously rub the rough edge of the leather to smooth it out. Then apply a bit of shoe polish to the newly cut edges of the belt to darken them. With a sharp knife and a steady hand, you can make a belt narrower, or even change its width from narrow in the back and wide in the front.
Two Belts Become One
I took a belt that was messed up in the middle and cut two 9 inch pieces from the belt. I finished their edges and, using a small piece of fabric, connected the two pieces into a square by carefully placing the glued fabric flat against the back of both of them while they were placed side by side. I centered it on my waist and lining the buckle of a belt I had shortened directly in the center of my new leather square, I glued the rectangle to the back of my belt on the buckle side only. Voila! A new belt that pays homage to the Japanese obi.
Sidenote: Looking back, I actually think I should have gone more obi. I’m currently obsessed with the Urban Outfitters Urban Renewal Leather Obi Wrap Belt ($28). The Urban Renewal line features items that are one of a kind, and “vintage, deadstock and surplus materials sourced from around the world.” I like them very much.

(Kara Cook/EthicalStyle.com)
Have a long skinny belt that will never seen the light of day again? Shorten it and attach it with the glue to the front of a wide belt that you’ve just shortened.
Or take a cheap patent belt and layer it over a matte lack belt, gluing them together.
Make a new belt by twisting black and brown leather together — it will go with anything.
Attach two or three skinny belts on a large western-style buckle.