As I promised, I made another toy leash, correcting the mistakes from Part 1. Notably, I used belting instead of a thin ribbon. The belting feels the same as a dog leash to me, so it’s plenty thick and sturdy.
In Part 1, I put snaps on both ends. This time, I added a clip to one end and a snap on the other. The idea is I can clip a lightweight teether to my son’s clothes. This particular leash style may not work with heavy toys, because of the clip. It’ll yank and pull on the child’s clothes. However, you can clip it to the fabric part of a stroller, sling, etc. Check out Part 1 for info regarding snaps on both ends.
For this leash, I purchased a pack of suspender/mitten clips and a yard of belting in a turtle print. This belting print usually costs several dollars a yard, but I purchased a remnant for $1 that just happened to be exactly a yard long! I didn’t end up using the velcro pictured below. That’ll be for leash Part 3! I decided to use snaps instead.
Hmmm maybe I should’ve just cropped it out of the photo…
I noticed that one end of the belting appeared to either be treated with something or possibly burned or glued? Either way, whatever had been done to it, kept the edge from fraying.
I decided to use this side to attach the toy to my son. I threaded this edge of the belting through the clip and folded under about 1/2″ of belting. Then I sewed the belting down as close to the edge as possible.
Make sure you sew over the area several times to thoroughly secure the belting together. I may have gotten carried away with this process:
Now to the toy side.
This end was fraying. 🙁 I don’t have a serger and zig zagging the edge of the leash proved disastrous when sewing my first leash (see Part 1). I decided to just go with it…tuck it under, sew the sucker down, and hope the fraying doesn’t move past the stitching.
First, I folded under a teeny bit of belting and tried to sew as close to the edge as possible. FAIL.
That didn’t go so well. How did I fix the problem? With scissors!! I just cut the end off and started over. =D
This time, I tucked under 1/2″ of belting and sewed about a 1/4″ from the edge. Then I added the snaps. If I had heavy-duty metal snaps, I probably would have placed the left snap (see below) closer to the belting’s edge. As it was, I didn’t think the plastic snap was deep enough to fit through two layers of belting.
Ta da! That was easy.
I plan to buy another yard of belting, cut it in half, and make two leashes- each 1.5′ long. One leash will have velcro on both ends, and the other leash will have snaps on both ends. Options are good.
The finished leash:
