DIY Painted Belt Tutorial

Have you ever needed the perfect accessory but couldn’t find it?? That’s when it’s a DIY to the rescue! Like painting a faux leather elastic belt – yes, it can be done:

A while back, I sewed up my Patriotic Sundress. I asked all around to borrow a wide red belt, but no one had one. I started searching stores, but nothing. BUT, I came across this wide silver belt on clearance for $2 – score! I didn’t know if painting would work, but it was worth my $2 risk. I bought 2 belts, figuring I could wear the dress with a silver belt if the painting project didn’t work out. But it did – awesomely! IT really made the outfit pop:

So – on to the tutorial!

I painted the elastic part of the belt first – it’s kind of like fabric, so I used craft paint with fabric medium mixed into it – and it worked, because it’s not “crunchy” at all.

It will take way more paint than you think – really push it down into the fabric/elastic:

You can see the difference in the area on the left where I’ve saturated it and worked the paint down in versus the area on the right where I’ve just brushed over the belt:

When it came time for the fake leather part, I just used the craft paint without the fabric medium. I have to paint a couple of layers, but it adhered and covered surprisingly well:

I thought it might have some cracking/flaking issues, so after it had dried completely (like a day) I covered it with a clear coat to seal in the color. I’ve worn the belt a couple of times already, and so far no flaking, so I think the clear coat is doing it’s job: