Children's Handmade Felt Toolbelt

When our son was two and one half he became completely and utterly fascinated by construction; the process, workers, tools, trucks and equipment. Every aspect of building compelled him. We took him to construction sites to watch, gave him a small arsenal of tools and dump trucks and were given a workbench for him to create his own building projects. The one thing that we couldn't find for him was a tool belt . No one seemed to make tool belts so small or made of  appropriate materials for young children. So we seized the opportunity for a project and created our own. My son was able to help me through the entire project from start to finish. He was completely thrilled when we were finished and was quite proud that he was able to help make, what became once of his favorite construction pieces.

Here's what you'll need:

brown paper grocery bag
1/2 yard felt
fat quarters or scraps of various colored felt (different from the 1/2 yard felt color)
velcro strips
thread
scissors


How to create your own felt tool belt:

1.) Take your child's waist measurement and take an additional measurement of approximately how long you want the tool belt to be (including pockets for the tools). You don't  want the pockets to hit their knees.

2.) Cut a brown paper grocery bag open so that it lies flat in a long rectangle. We'll use this to make a pattern. On the paper mark your dimensions then draw the shape of the tool belt including pockets. We placed two pockets in front and one in the center back. I cut the belt and back of the pockets in one piece. You can attach the front of the pockets later. It will be much easier to do it this way than to make the pocket separately and attach that to the belt.

This is the tool belt laid out flat

3.) Once you are happy with your design, cut it out and try it on your child for size and pocket placement.

The front of the tool belt with pockets on either side and "Button" closure. The velcro is underneath the buttons.

The back of the tool belt with the back (red) pocket. You can see the back of the front pockets too (blue).

The tool belt on my son. Still fits after four years! 

4.) When the pattern is perfect, use it to cut your fabric using the half yard of felt.

5.) Choose some felt, any color you like, for the front of the pocket, and sew it to the back of the pocket.

5.) Now it's time to decorate! We traced some of my son's wooden tools on various colored felt, making sure they fit before sewing them on. Add "buttons" and other embellishments.

6.) On the inside of the one side , and the outside of the opposite side, sew the velcro.

Viola ! You have your very own felt tool belt!