Turkmen Treasures Sash

One of the things I love most on Gwen Lafluer's website are the Turkmen jewelry parts. Every time I order (which is often!) I get a bag or two of Turkmen parts. My first idea was to make a necklace with them, but somehow it didn't come together. Then I hit on the idea of using the parts to enhance a plain black sash that came with a "little black dress" that I purchased a while back for a formal event. The sash was a little too long, and droopy, and I kept thinking: "I need something more interesting with this dress, something more ME."

 I made a sketch of my idea and jotted down the measurements I wanted to use.

Next, I rummaged around in my closet and found the cast-aside belt, laid it on my worktable, and placed a few turkmen parts on it. Bingo! It would be just what the belt needed.

Then I ironed the belt, measured the width, and marked the length I needed. (The belt was really long and wrapped around my waist three times!)

But wait...it was too floppy to support the Turkmen parts. I decided to line it with strips of firm interfacing and cover the white interfacing with black felt. I chose felt because it wouldn't ravel and have a raggedy edge.

Then the question was how to close all the edges: glue? hand stitch? machine stitch? I settled on hand stitching. I decided to leave about 6 inches on each end without any interfacing so that I could tie the belt shut, rather than adding a clasp.

Now the fun began, auditioning the many Turkmen parts to see what worked together best. When I finally decided on an arrangement, I taped them in place.

 I thought I would just sew them all on, but each one was a little different. Some were easy to stitch on. Others had to be wired. A couple of the flat rectangular pieces were first stitched, but the black thread looked odd on the silver pieces, so instead of sewing, I attached them with silver brads.

When I was almost finished, I realized that the wires and brads on the back of the belt might be a bit of a hazard, so I cut small black felt squares and glued them over any wires or brads that might poke into my waist. Finally, it was ready to wear!

 Here's how the belt looks on me with the little black dress:

Now, I just need a special event to wear my new belt and the little black dress...although it does look pretty good with my jeans too!