You may have noticed from the title that this post is not inspired by anone.
I know.
It's crazy.
I have been in one of those moods today that make me feel like talking to strangers, having my picture taken in the middle of our neighborhood and creating a new invention, which I call, 'The Man-Watch Belt'. It must be because of the sun shining and the thought of only three days left of class!
Also, I am feeling a million times better than I did last week. Being sick is the pits.
To introduce the cause of this burst of creativity, I give you 'The Man-Watch'. I found it for a few dollars at our nearest thrift store. I don't know what kind of adventures this watch has been through, but it must have been enough to wear down the leather a bit and stop the digital front from working. Which are both perfect for my experiment.
Also, be warned: this post is a bit photo-friendly. I realize that I may have taken way too many pictures of the project!
Today we will learn how to turn this
↑ into this
↓.
To start out you need an old watch and some fabric. Any fabric (or even leather) will work. Also, any braiding would certainly work... but I am going to give a few steps on the 'four strand braid'. I learned how to weave this braid when I was learning how to make Hallah bread for a class project on Judaism.
Once you have four strands, bobby pin them together at the top. Spread them out so that it's easier to keep track of them. The top far right (4) flips all the way over to the left. The previous top far left (1) will then flip all the way over to the right so that they take eachother's place.
Now that the two tops have switched places, bring the first strand (4) down to the center of the bottom two. Now you need to get the previous top far right (3) to flip over and take it's place.
Again, bring the first (1) of the two top strands down to the center of the bottom two. Now you need to get the previous top far left (2) to flip over and take it's place.
Again, bring the first (3) of the two top strands down to the center of the bottom two. And now the previous top far right (4) will flip over and take it's place so that (2) can go into the center...
Once you get the hang of it you can make the weaving tighter and you won't even have to think about which strand goes where. It becomes habit. It might seem hard at first, but at least you didn't have to learn how to make it with strands of bread dough like I did.
Believe me, it looks great when it's done. It almost reminds me of a chain.
Now, I'm not commanding the use of extra appendages during this project... but I'm not condoning them either! Most of the time I need three hands, so if my husband is too busy to lend me one of his, I figure out how to make it work.
By the way - can you tell we were watching The Masters? Go Bubba!
Once your braiding is done and you have taken the watch apart, it is time to connect the two. If I had a sewing machine I would have stitched the ends of the braid together and tried to stitch them onto the leather buckle. Too bad my sewing machine is currently a few hundred miles away...
First, attach the ends of the belts to the buckles. Then cut some extra fabric and wrap them around where the two meet. This helps blend the transition from 'Man-Watch and Braided Fabric' to 'Man-Watch Belt'.
I am terribly unphotogenic, (which is why you don't see many pictures of myself during these posts). Still, it was such a beautiful day that I had to give my 'man-watch belt' a spin. It is going to find alot of use in the future!
And there you are... what better way to end than a great shot of my backside?
