Fringe belts are all the rage in belly dance right now. Everything from chainette fringe to beaded fringe to yarn fringe is being showcased in modern belly dance costuming. This type of yarn and crochet fringe belt that I will describe is most popular in Tribal style belly dance, however, your costumes are your own and it would be just as lovely with a Cabaret style belt and bra combo.
To begin, you will chain a few stitches-the height you want your belt to be- and single crochet across. Turn, chain one and single crochet across again. Repeat this row until you have the length belt that you desire. Two styles are popular: the two-piece belt and the one-piece belt. If you want a two-piece belt, make this crochet strip ½ of your hip measurement, and then make another crochet piece to match it. Variegated yarns look great for this base piece.
It is best to add your ties at this point. You can use grosgrain ribbon or yarn braids for your ties. If you choose to use yarn braids for your ties, use 4 lengths of yarn for each strand in the braid to give you a substantial tie. Place one tie at the bottom corner of the belt and one tie at top corner of your belt. Repeat on the opposite end for one piece belts, and repeat for both sides on two piece belts. Make your ties whatever length you desire. I like ties that are approximately the same length as the fringe is, if there is to be long fringe. If there is going to be short fringe I think it looks great to have long ties.
Now its time to add the fringe to your belly dance belt. Determine the length of fringe you want, double that length and add 4 inches. This will be the approximate length needed for each strand of yarn in your fringe. Using several types of yarn looks great, especially if you use an eyelash type yarn, smooth worsted weight yarn, and a thick and thin type yarn. My favorite combination of these three is Lion Brand Fun Fur, Caron Simply Soft and Bernat Big. Using two similar colors and one complementary (opposite) color looks the most fabulous.
To learn the fringe technique cut one strand of smooth yarn in the length you determined earlier. Fold this in half and pull the loop through one stitch on the long edge of your belt base until there is a few inches of loop pulled through. Now, through that loop pull the two free ends of the yarn, and pull tight. This is the technique you’ll used to attach all of the fringe.
Cut your lengths of yarn one or several at a time, and knot them to the belt base. It looks nice to use one length of yarn per stitch, or to skip several stitches and use several lengths of yarn at a time. The latter method goes quicker and looks just as nice. Other alternatives include fringing just the center back, or center front. Or for a very different look, use short fringe in the front and long fringe in the back. Micro minis, with only 6-8 inch fringe also look great and pop with every step.
Once you have fringed all the way around, try the belt on where you will wear it to dance in. Have a friend trim the bottom edge parallel to the floor, to give that polished, professional look. You may occasionally have to trim it again as the belt is worn more often.
Fringe belly dance belts are easy to make and very fashionable. Once you make your first one you will find out how much fun they are to dance in, as well as make!
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