DIY: How to Make an Equestrian Surcingle Belt

Olivia   December 4, 2017   40 Comments on DIY: How to Make an Equestrian Surcingle Belt

Lately, I’ve seen some cute surcingle belts aimed at equestrians. My thoughts upon seeing them went like this:

  1. Oh, those are cute.
  2. OMG, they want $40 for them?
  3. They’re 2″ wide so they wouldn’t even fit through the belt loops on breeches.
  4. $40!
  5. I can make that myself.

And you can to!

What you need:
1 1¼ x 1¾ “Fashion Buckle” – This is the surcingle  type buckle
2 1″ Adjustable Slide Buckles
1 Roll of 7/8″ Ribbon
48″ of 1″ Cotton Belting
Thread(s) to match your ribbon
Pins

DIY Do It Yourself How to Make a Horse Equestrian Surcingle Fashion Belt

I wear a size 34 breech and used 48″ of cotton belting to make the belt. I probably could have used 42″ and been fine. If you have a much smaller or larger waist, you may want to change the length of your belting and ribbon, but this belt is completely adjustable and will fit smaller and larger waists (the final belt can be as small as 26″ and as large as 46″ which is approximately size 22 to size 46).

  1. Start by cutting your ribbon to be a total of 6″ longer than your belting. Then pin your ribbon to the belting with 3″ of ribbon overhanging on each side. DIY Do It Yourself How to Make a Horse Equestrian Surcingle Fashion Belt
  2. Using a sewing machine, sew the ribbon to the belting. Make sure to keep your stitching as close to the edge of the ribbon as possible.DIY Do It Yourself How to Make a Horse Equestrian Surcingle Fashion Belt
  3. Switch your thread colors if you need to and sew the other edge of the ribbon to the belting.DIY Do It Yourself How to Make a Horse Equestrian Surcingle Fashion Belt
  4. At this point, your ribbon should be sewn to the belting along both long edges as shown below. Note how close the stitches are to the edge of the ribbon. DIY Do It Yourself How to Make a Horse Equestrian Surcingle Fashion Belt
  5. Slip the belt through the surcingle buckle making sure the front of the buckle is facing forward when the belt is upright.DIY Do It Yourself How to Make a Horse Equestrian Surcingle Fashion Belt
  6. Then flip your belt over and slide the hanging ribbon through your slide buckle as shown:DIY Do It Yourself How to Make a Horse Equestrian Surcingle Fashion Belt
  7. Wrap the ribbon snugly over the center bar of the buckle and pin in to the back side of the belting. DIY Do It Yourself How to Make a Horse Equestrian Surcingle Fashion Belt
  8. Sew the ribbon to the belting. You can just use the one color of thread here because this section of the belting will be hidden in the final belt.DIY Do It Yourself How to Make a Horse Equestrian Surcingle Fashion Belt
  9. Slide the rest of the belting through the slide buckle. This side of your belt is now done. DIY Do It Yourself How to Make a Horse Equestrian Surcingle Fashion Belt
  10. This next part is a little complicated so I have a lot of pictures. First insert the other side of your belting through the second slide buckle. DIY Do It Yourself How to Make a Horse Equestrian Surcingle Fashion Belt
  11. Then insert the second side of the belting through the other half of the surcingle buckle. DIY Do It Yourself How to Make a Horse Equestrian Surcingle Fashion Belt
  12. Pull the belting away from the slide buckle to make room around the central bar. DIY Do It Yourself How to Make a Horse Equestrian Surcingle Fashion Belt
  13. Wrap the ribbon around the central bar and then pin the ribbon to the belting. DIY Do It Yourself How to Make a Horse Equestrian Surcingle Fashion Belt
  14. This one is a little hard to sew, but you should be able to hold the belting apart and get it done. DIY Do It Yourself How to Make a Horse Equestrian Surcingle Fashion Belt
  15. Again, don’t worry if the sewing is a little messy, it will be hidden when the belt is being worn. DIY Do It Yourself How to Make a Horse Equestrian Surcingle Fashion Belt
  16. Pull the belt back onto the adjustable slide buckle and you’re done! DIY Do It Yourself How to Make a Horse Equestrian Surcingle Fashion Belt

I was impressed with how quick and easy this project was. I had the thread and pins and I bought all the materials with a coupon so the total cost was less than $10. If I ordered everything online in advance, I could get the costs down even more. It’s really cute too. I’ve already bought the materials to make another one in my own colors.

DIY Do It Yourself How to Make a Horse Equestrian Surcingle Fashion Belt

40 thoughts on “DIY: How to Make an Equestrian Surcingle Belt”

  8. Elizabeth

    I like that so much better than the 2″ ones I have seen! My thought process was similar as to it not fitting in my breeches belt loops and the cost. Sadly, my sewing ability is pretty much nil (and my sewing machine is all messed up)!

  13. KC Scott

    I’m just saying…you should totally make these for those (::cough cough like me cough cough::) that don’t have sewing machine…or know how to sew. That belt looks awesome!

  15. Heidi

    This is a great tutorial, Olivia! Did you know if you use a lighter on the end of the cut ribbon it seals the threads? I know you are sewing the ends down, but it does clean it up and make things a little neater to work with. Good job!

    1. Olivia Post author

      The 2″ ones would be even easier. They sell the 2″ surcingle clips for blanket repairs and you would just need to buy a strip of 2″ elastic.

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