How to Make a Taco Bellt (or any duct-tape belt, really!)

Howdy, Duck-os, and Yee Haw! Today I’m going to show you how to make a belt out of duct tape. The possibilities are endless design wise, but the one that I made today was at my daughters request; she’s a Taco Bell fan in a big way and wanted the belt to show off her obsession!

Start by pulling a long piece of tape in any color. I went with my standard cheap-o gray for the base, since it won’t show. You want to pull it as long as the desired waist size, plus 6″ or so for wiggle/growing room. Lay it out sticky side up and fold in half lengthwise. The easiest way to do this is with a fellow duck-o and have each of you hold an end of the tape nice and tight while one of you folds, but to do it your self, just stick it to your surface by rolling the tape under itself on either end. Then, starting in the middle, carefully fold in half, keeping it as even and flat as possible. A few wrinkles are okay, so long as you keep it consistent on the width of the belt.

Next, pull a second strip of tape the same length as the first and lay out sticky side up. Again, it’s easier to do this with partner, but if you don’t have one, roll it like you did your first strip. Now, starting in the middle, center your first strip down the center, leaving about a quarter inch on the top and bottom. Fold up each side, keeping it nice and even. This is easier than it sounds; stay tuned for a YouTube video for some tips on keeping them nice and straight and even. In the meantime, though, don’t stress too much. If it’s a little squirrelly, nobody will really notice. You can repeat this step as many times as you want, keeping in mind that the more layers, the more sturdy the belt. You want to limit it to about 7 layers, though, so you can get your snaps through the thickness of the belt.

After you have done your base, layout the color you want in the center, sticky side up, just like before. Lay the base down the center, and fold up the top and bottom so there is a stripe down the center. Repeat as desired.

This is the fun part! Making the ” buckle”. There are so many options out there! One of my favorite techniques is using labels from my favorite products, (Coke, Hershey’s, Taco Bell Sauce, Crush soda, Dr. Pepper, I could go on…) Just try to stick with a tape like plastic-y label so you don’t have a massive contrast between the shiny-ness of the buckle and the tape, and be sure to cover it with a layer of clear tape. I’ve also cut out flowers, clouds, hearts, and starts out of layers of duct tape. Just don’t make your “buckle” too wide unless you really stabalize it with a lot of tape. You may even consider stabalizing it with something other than tape to prevent curling. (Thoughts on this coming soon–check in the Stuck-o section in the next few weeks.)

If you want the snap to show, punch a hole through the belt and the center of your buckle and attach snap. If you don’t want it to show, attach snap to the end of the belt. Then stick your buckle on the belt over the snap with some double sided tape, and cover the back with a layer of tape. Cut out the circle around the snap on the back so that it will…snap.

Now all that’s left is to measure the belt. Add the other half of the snap to that spot. I like to do 3 or 4 of them, a couple on either side of the spot, so that the belt can be a little flexible in it’s sizing.

A couple of notes: First, if you’re doing the rainbow belt or one with more than 5 layers, there is no need to do a base. Just start with your center color.

The watermelon belt I made for my preschooler was done in reverse–The “caps” on the snaps were covered with black to look like seeds, and the “stud” of the snap was hidden underneath.

I also really like the look of the “studded” belts on the Coke and the rainbow, but it obviously takes a lot more snaps. I’ll get into more of this (and how I afford it) in my Snappy blog post later this week!

Have fun duck-os! Happy pulling!