Burpees For Life

How to make your own custom weight belt

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I’ve noticed since I started training in a box, that everyone seems to have the same gear;

  • A skipping rope
  • Olympic lifting shoes
  • Wrist wraps
  • Knee sleeves and
  • A weight belt

Just to name a few.

Another thing I’ve noticed is that everyone’s gear looks exactly the same, it’s not till in the middle of a WOD when you pick “your” rope off the floor and start skipping that you realise it’s not your rope because although it looks identical to yours there is a (now) glaringly obvious difference in length.

So although I had custom weight lifting shoes made because I didn’t like the colorways they were offering at the time.  (Reebok was going through a Halloween phase at the time and everything was orange or green and I wanted black) it’s been kind of a blessing in disguise as they are easy to spot in a crowd (and I may be prone to leaving them behind when I leave).

So when I saw this post on Instagram I thought “I MUST do that!”

I asked how she did it but got no reply and taking a screen shot and enlarging the photo didn’t help much either because I couldn’t see any stitching so I was unsure how she attached the fabric, but I figured I’d work it out.

I ordered the exact same Harbinger belt as above simply because it was cheap ($20USD from WODshop.com) and it had a pink strap.  However for those of you who don’t have a thing for pink like a five year old girl, you can get plain black Harbinger belts. #boring

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Now that I had the belt it was time to figure out where one gets superhero fabric from. I tried Google (not much help other than pointing me to Etsy), I asked online (also no leads) and so on the off chance I might get lucky I called into Spotlight and hunted through the entire store until I finally found what I was looking for in the quilting department.

I had the belt with me so I could ascertain how much fabric I would require. The fabric I had chosen was longer than the length of my belt so I only needed to purchase 30cm which was slightly more than the width of the belt.

Upon inspection I’d decided that I’d follow the existing seam lines on the belt. I guess it’s kind of like a crafty dot to dot “picture”, just sew along the existing lines although I hadn’t quite decided how I would finish it off yet.

I could leave the existing binding showing and attach the fabric just on the front (so it would have a black border) or fold the fabric over so it looked like the picture I had seen on instagram. In the end I went with the latter (and easier) option.

If you were a bit OCD (or a better sewer than I (not hard)) you could probably fold the overlocking under and make it look much tidier on the inside.  If I ever get sick of this particular fabric and decide to upcycle and recover the belt again, I may take the time to do that.

Here are a few more pictures showing the stitching from the “right side” it should help you see how I’ve followed the original binding seam (along the top) and the velcro seam (in the middle).

I’ve had quite a few compliments on my “handiwork” even complete strangers in the main gym take time to come over and ask where I got it and although the belt doesn’t help me be more wonder woman like, it does match my entire wardrobe .. 😉

Till next time (get crafty!)

 

 

 

 

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