J. Crew Style Cork Belt DIY

Any belt lovers out there? This is a simple belt diy to jazz up a plain old belt. Plus, if you already have many of the supplies it won’t cost much to do either. Even if you have to buy everything, I am pretty sure it’s still cheaper than this J. Crew cork belt (which is currently sold out).

While doing my usual window shopping online, this J. Crew belt caught my eye. I think the main reason being that I had some cork ribbon in my stash and I knew I could recreate the look for myself. So I grabbed my friend Dorothy and we went to the thrift store to find a belt. We looked for one that was flat and would be easy to cover. I spent $1 to buy that belt which you can see in pictures below.

To make this you will need most of the things pictured above. Turns out, I didn’t end up using that pen 😉

• Flat Leather/Leather like belt
• Cork Ribbon (I got this from Michaels, but I don’t see it online anywhere. It’s part of the Raw Bar collection)
• Mod Podge
• Paint or Foam brush
• Scissors
• Large Nail
• Optional: Heavy objects like books

Start by cutting a long piece of cork ribbon so there is plenty to wrap over the side edges. Then lay your belt down right side up. Brush on mod podge on most of the belt, but leave quite a few inches un-mod podged near the buckle. Then place belt on top of ribbon and let it dry really good. If you don’t let it dry, the ribbon will pop off when the belt is bended. Place books on top to help during the drying process if you want.

Next, flip down the un-mod podged ribbon so it is lined up with the rest of the ribbon. Cut down one side, close to the belt edges. Make sure to keep the ribbon even when cutting over the over lapped area. I found it easiest to make an equal precise cut this way.

Then repeat on the other side. Now all the ribbon will be the same width as the belt.

Push the buckle to the back of the belt and determine where the ribbon will need a hole for the prong to go through. Create a hole using a nail.

Place the prong through the hole. Then carefully add mod podge to the rest of the top of the belt and lay ribbon down flat.

Trim excess ribbon on the back, making sure there is enough to cover where the belt leather doubles up. Mod podge that part on as well. Agian, let it dry and use books to help keep it down during the drying process if you want.

Once everything is dry, trim any other places that need it. The end on this belt needed to be trimmed.

Take the nail and poke holes where the belt holes are.

I also painted the buckle gold since I couldn’t find a belt that would work for this with an already gold buckle. So that is an option if you want the buckle a different color. I would suggest adding a coat of mod podge on top of the paint as well to help keep it from scraping off.

So simple, right? It really makes for a cute accessory. To style this belt, we went searching on Pinterest for some belt styling ideas.  My friend did a great job putting this outfit together for it. Have a happy weekend!

-Jess