(REMEMBER: Click images to enlarge)
Here is a tutorial for a 16-strand belt in 3 colours. The cord is 1.4mm polyester (R14 R) and can be obtained here in the UK from English Braids. The colours are black, white and antelope. There will be no colour transfer from one cord to another as you will get with the darker coloured cords. When ordering cord you will have to phone EB and when asked, “What company?”, just say “IGKT”.
There will be no problem.
The maximum width of the belt will be about 33mm. and will be suitable through most trouser belt loops. Unlike leather belts there is a small degree of stretch, so I would advise putting more buckle pin holes in the tongue of the belt to compensate for this. More about this later. If you have never made a belt like this before it is best to consider this first belt as a trial run to find your
own personal measurements.
Belts like these can be started from the tongue, the buckle or in the middle and worked towards both ends. I will give a simple start at the tongue.
Images 1 & 2 show the equipment I use and can be easily made. The board is 360mm by 100mm It is made with 12mm cork board siffened underneath with 3mm MDF. Necessary as cork board is Too flexible on its own.
The sides are reinforced with stripwood. When sitting at the work table, the lanyard at the end of the board passes over the far edge of the table and is made fast underneath the table. Make adjustments so that when the board is pulled towards you the near end of the board will be roughly flush with the near end of the table. There are no weights involved. My ‘belly hook’ is just a small block of wood with a copper split-pin through the centre which is cut, bent and seized as shown in the photo. The hook is used for keeping the filler strands taut when making a Square Knot (SK). I have used this one and no other, since 1972.
The work itself is pinned to the board and so cannot move. When forming a SK the filler strands are secured in the belly hook. To apply tension to the fillers just lean back slightly and form the knot around the taut fillers.
The best ‘how to’ book for making belts is: Square Knot Handicraft Guide by Raoul Graumont and Elmer Wenstrom. I think it is out of print but believe used copies can be found online. If you have never made a belt like this before, measure the full length of a leather belt, excluding buckle, that you are happy with. The cord belt will be the same length. Cut 8 cords 11 times this length (4 black, 2 white and 2 antelope).
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Pin through the centre knot as shown. When forming SKs the filler strands must be kept taut, using the belly hook.
Middle the white cords and pin them as shown. Form Left Square Knot (LSK) on the left and Right Square Knot (RSK) on the right then form the centre knot.
The line of knots down the centre of the belt is the axis of symmetry. If, say, you make LSK to the left of this line then the corresponding knot on the right must be RSK. You have to be careful when using different colours. The axis cords must either be all LSK or all RSK.
Add the remaining black cords and work down to a point.
Add the antelope cords and work down to a point.
All strands are now in play. Look at what has been done so far. Each horizontal row of knots is level. If they are not, then pull down on the appropriate cords until they are in line.
Often it is easier, when a knot is below the level of the others, to push it up level with your finger rather than pull down on the cords. (Push and prod helps a lot.) In particular, when forming a knot ensure that the 2 knots above it are level so that you get that nice diamond -shaped compartment hich is bounded by 4 knots.
There is now no need to pin through a knot except where advised. Now pin in the spaces between knots straight into the board.
We are starting to come down the belt now. Take the outer strand on the left and move it across one strand only to the right and form LSK as shown.
Do the same but in reverse on the right. This will give the belt a firm edge. Complete the cycle by working down to a point.
Do another cycle and you should have 6 black knots down the centre.
Do another cycle but leave out the centre black knot.
Starting on the left do another 2 SK then form the next SK as shown. Notice that it is made in the same way as for the edge of the right hand side.
Do the same on the other side but in reverse.
Finish with the centre knot to close the hole.
Now you have to decide how many pin holes to
put in the tongue for your belt.
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Don’t copy this one as it is for my own personal use. Lay a leather belt of your own beside the one you are making and make a further 3 holes beyond the most used hole in the leather belt to allow for 2-2.5in of stretch. Make the belt the same length as your leather one.
As I said before, regard this one as a test piece for finding your own measurements. Read these instructions then use your own judgement! Carry on down the belt making pin holes with 2 centre knots between each hole until you have the number you require.
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Finish the tongue with 2 centre knots below the last hole. Here starts the design which is a classic chevron pattern made with overhand clove hitching rather than the more traditional underhand hitching. I prefer this method for this type of closed design as it gives a nice beaded effect. Take the outermost strand on the left and CH to the next strand on the right. The photo shows the knot open.
I prefer this method for this type of closed design as it gives a nice beaded effect. Take the outermost
strand on the left and CH to the next strand on the right. The photo shows the knot open.
Here is the Knot fully tightened.
With the same hitching strand, CH to the next strand on the right.
Proceed like this until you have made 7 CHs.
Left side finished.
Similarly on the right make 8 CHs with the outermost strand and that is a cycle complete.
Proceed like this, hitching with the outermost strands only.
After the next cycle is done you will notice that the next hitching strand will be black.
Every strand will take its turn as a hitching strand.
Here’s how the design looks.
Note the position of the 3 bottom pins (2 green and 1 white). This is the ideal placing before the start of each cycle. In this case they are placed between the black ‘bars’
Work your way down the design and stop when you are about 20cm from the end of the belt.
You can estimate this by laying your leather belt alongside. Don’t include the buckle in your measurement. This is the point where you have to use your own judgement.
The design has to finish with a black chevron with white above so that the cord layout is the same as for the tongue. Ideally, the design will finish about 15cm from the end of the belt. The pattern repeat is 4.5cm so you should be able to get within about 2cm of this either way.
Carry on down until you get as close to the 15cm cut off point as you can and then revert back to square knotting as for the tongue.
estimate this by laying your guide belt alongside.
Now proceed to work holes as you did for the tongue but with just one square knot between holes. The extra holes are there for two reasons:
(1) You can shorten the belt by a small amount, should you need to do so, by passing the buckle pin through one of these extra holes and
(2) if you decide to use a larger buckle which has the pin bar in the centre of the frame, then you may have to have the keeper further up the belt clear of the buckle.
Incidentally, this leather belt was made by my late father, Andy, who was a shoemaker.
Now work down to a point until you have 4 centre SKs below the final hole.
Position the belt horizontally, separate the cords as shown and form LSK also as shown.
Work down diagonally from right to left. Notice that in the edge knot, which is not fully tightened, you don’t have to make a crossover as for other edge knots.
This is the only exception. Also, make all knots LSKs.
Work down until you have 4 diagonals, all LSKs.
Now turn the belt around. Work down the diagonals as before but with all RSKs so that each ‘arm’ is the mirror image of the other.
Now turn the belt over so that the reverse side is uppermost. Notice the different square knot pattern on this reverse side. Bring the two arms across to the centre. We will now form the ‘keeper’ (belt loop). The photo shows an LSK with the 4 antelope cords, the first knot to be tied. This part of the work will be congested, so I will show the knots open before tightening.
Bring the arms together, pin securely, and tighten the first knot. Pull down firmly on the fillers and ensure this knot is really tight. You will find that the cords are obscuring one another so just take your time and you will get them sorted out.
The photo shows the next two knots to be formed, LSK and RSK. Tighten these knots.
Here are the final three knots shown loose, two LSKs and a RSK. Also notice that the two outermost black cords on each side play no part in the proceedings. Tighten these last three knots.
This photo shows the keeper formed, although there is still a bit of work to do.
It would be a good idea at this point to remove the pins and make sure that the tongue of the belt passes through the keeper!
We will now form 2 ‘bars’ to finish the keeper. I will show my own method.
Take the outermost black strand on each side and lead them up out of the way. They are the ones parallel with the belt. Now take the black strands which are now outmost, cross them over the remaining strands as shown and form an underhand clove hitch (CH) with the next strand (white). Notice that the CH is formed around 2 parts of filler. When forming the CHs, hold both parts of filler and pull to the right. This keeps the filler coming from the left taut, enabling the CHs to be made neatly.
Lefthanders will find it easier to work in reverse. Also, leave a big enough bight, as shown on the right, to allow a hank to pass through.
I will show here the order in which to make the CHs.
Pull missed cords up out of the way.
CH the 2 whites.
Miss the next black. It is shown pulled up out of the way to the left.
CH black.
CH antelope.
Miss the next antelope.
CH the remaining 2 antelopes.
CH black.
Miss the remaining black.
CH the 2 whites.
Move the missed cords up out of the way. Also, don’t let the 2 fillers twist around each other when forming the CHs.
In the photo, the diagonal cords are the ‘missed cords’ and will play no further part in this belt. Now grasp the left filler, press down with the fingertips where the pins are, and pull the slack out through the CHs. The bight on the right will disappear and the right-hand side of the bar will curl up to mirror the left-hand side.
This shows the first bar completed.
This photo shows the 2 fillers laid down alongside the other 9 hitching strands. There are now 11 hitching strands to form the next bar, all of which will be hitched with no ‘misses’.
Take the so-far-unused blackstrands over the top of the hitching strands and use these as fillers in the same way as you did before. Form CH with the first of the ‘hitchers’ and work it nice and tight to the left as shown.
Now form the first half of CH only with the next hitcher (white).
Take the previously hitched black strand, pass it over the white one and then underneath all, leading it up to the left out of the road.
Complete the CH with the white cord.
Pull on the black cord to remove the excess slack.
Perform the same operation as before. The only difference is that there are two white strands involved instead of black and white.
Complete the CH. All that has to be done now is pull on the white cord, which is leading up to the left, to remove the excess slack. What we are doing here is locking the ends, which are finished with,
inside the CHs.
This photo shows all strands hitched. The final black cord can’t be buried as the others were because
there is no following CH. We will deal with that shortly.
Pull on the left filler to remove all slack. The right-hand side of the bar should curl up as shown to reflect the left-hand side. You will find there is a bit more frictional resistance when pulling through because of the 2 extra CHs, but nothing to write home about.
Turn the belt over. This shows, hanging down, the 3 cords that were missed when forming the first bar. Cut them about 5mm from where they emerge and carefully melt the tip of one of the ends but not the whole end. Wait a few seconds and press down on the end with the finger, thus using the semimolten cord as glue. Deal with the other 2 ends similarly.
This photo shows how to bury the black cord that formed the final CH. Point the end of the cord by melting the tip and then rolling between the fingers. With a finely tapered spike or similar tool, form a space under the node of the SK farthest to the right and insert this cord as shown. Pull out all the slack.
Pass the right hand filler through the same node and then pass both ends through the node of the next SK to the left as shown. Pull both cords tight.
Pass the left hand filler through the corresponding SKs on the left and pull tight. Trim the 3 ends and secure them as described in 46.
Now tighten the hitching strands. Do this 2 or 3 times until the edge of the loop looks nice and neat. Trim the ends, leaving them a little longer than before, and stick them down.
This shows, when the belt is turned over, the finished keeper. Notice that it is still on the reverse side of the belt.
Slide the buckle on from the tongue and insert the pin through the lowest hole as shown.
Bend the loop over and it is now on the correct side of the belt.
Use ordinary household thread to seize the 2 parts of belt together as shown. I have used white thread for this. Do the same on the other side. There is no need to force the needle through a knot. Just line up the edge holes between knots and pass the needle through those.
Do similarly in the centre.
The belt is now finished! It just remains to make other keeper.
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Only short lengths of cord are needed for the spare keeper. If you are unused to working with short lengths, cut 8 cords each about 4.5ft long (4 black, 2 white and 2 antelope). Pin 2 black and 2 antelope cords about 20in down from the top and form LSK as shown. The other 4 cords will also be pinned 20 inches down from the top.
Pin the 2 white cords as shown.
Form LSK with the black and white cords. All knots in this section will be LSKs.
Form LSK with the black and white cords. All knots in this section will be LSKs.
Form SK on the right.
Form the centre SK.
Form SK on the right.
Continue in this manner, working diagonally from top left to bottom right until you have 10 SK’s on the left-hand edge and 12 SK’s on the right-hand edge as in the following photo.....
Bring the ends of the strip together, making sure that you don’t have the strip ‘inside out’.
Compare with the keeper already made. Form LSK with the 4 antelope strands. This should look familiar. Go back to ‘29’ and work through to ‘50’ to complete the spare keeper. Slide the keeper on
from the tongue and that is the belt completed!
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THE COMPLETED BELT
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My thanks to my sister, Mary Hampson, who helps me with all matters concerning the computer and who runs my blog for me. My computer skills are only average, if that! I hope you find this tutorial useful.