After making my latitude/longitude belt last week, Boo needed a belt of her own. I dye some cotton webbing and made a little nesting doll repeat to make this cute D-ring belt for her. This is an extension of my 30-minute belt tutorial and I’ve added a download of the mini nesting dolls if you would like to make one of your own!
Note: The result of this project will only be as good as the quality of transfer paper you use. The Dharma Trading Super Soft Transfer paper is the only brand I use…..it leaves no plastic look or feel and the pigment actually becomes part of the fabric. I just checked and they have it back in stock too!
I started with cotton webbing/belting and used iDye to change the color…instead of putting it in the washing machine I just used a bucket making sure all the dye was completely dissolved before I added my belting. I like to leave the belt to “bob” and soak in the solution because I think it adds some marbling/distressed texture but if you don’t like this effect just make sure to stir often and keep the belt submerged in the dye solution.
The color ended up slightly darker than I expected…..
….so I gave it a quick dip in a diluted bleach/water solution:
Like my other belt tutorial I printed off the images onto transfer paper and cut them into strips:
I ironed them on according the directions….one after the other….
until my belt was full of cute little nesting dolls:
Add your D-rings as in the original tutorial and you are finished! Another simple gift idea!
Nesting Doll Repeat
Copyright © 2010 by Ashley Hackshaw/Lil Blue Boo. All rights reserved. This nesting doll repeat and individual nesting doll images are for personal and home use only. Please email me at ashley (at) lilblueboo (dot) com for more information. Thank you for respecting my copyright! View copyright information here:
This is adorable and turned out great – am LOVING the purple color.
I would of never thought to make a customized belt like this- what a great idea!
You have fabulous timing! I just finishing making my daughter a belt yesterday (posting my own tutorial on it tomorrow) and have another set of D rings that I was deciding what to do with. These nesting dolls are super adorable, so I'll definitely be making her this belt!
I love this idea! Thanks for sharing. All of your tutorials are great! I will be working on a belt this weekend!
Love it! I can't wait to make one, but I still plan on making a plastic belt with rice bags one of these days. I have everything set aside, just no time to make it.
Thank you for sharing your creativity! You come up with the greatest things. I am going to make this for my daughter. Thanks for sharing your designs as well! 🙂
You NEVER cease to amaze me…your productivity, your creativity, your willingness to share with all of us! Thank you!!! You kick serious booty!
This is such a cute belt!!! 🙂 I think I may have to try it! 🙂
This is precious. I love everything about it.
That is so cute! Thanks very much for the download too!
Such an adorable belt! And such an incredible gift idea 🙂 May I ask how you determined the right length for the belt? I was thinking a little long would be good to grow into, but long tails are never a good thing in preschool.
This is Fantastic! I know the perfect girl to make it for and her b-day is coming up! Thank you! — I do have 1 question. When I downloaded from scribd there were lines runing through the dolls both horizontal (cutting lines, I'm assuming) vertical?? Is this right? THX!
should have said "and vertical" 😉
Ok, I'm stating to think I should have left this one to the pros! When I print the download (which wouldn't print when I downloaded only if I went straight to print?) my image on the 2nd and 4th rows left side have little dolls actually overlapping the normal dolls, that is, it's all messed up and looks nothing like the actual image on the screen. Has any one else had this issue? Is it on my end? Also, is there a way to shrink the overall image? My webbing is a tad bit smaller than the image you created (mine is 1 1/4 and I think this is 1 1/2). I'm thinking of scanning and shrinking it and then only cutting the good dolls to make the belt. But this seems like a lot of work! Sorry for my ineptness!! Thanks for any help.
Karen, I uploaded a new version with the dolls fixed. This should work. When you print try printing at a smaller % instead of 100% to shrink the images.