Walking Belt! Updated with the verdict :)

A friend (thanks Kristina!) pointed me to this awesome website, Make It and Love It, that was so full of projects I couldn't wait to try.  So many of them were right up my alley--I especially love the repurposing tutorials.  This project can be found here, in the baby and toddler tutorials.  I seriously couldn't quit rummaging around through this site--so many great ideas!

Anyway, this is the first project I decided to tackle.  I had all the materials on hand, it sounded simple enough to complete in one evening after the kids had gone to bed, and I had been killing myself walking all hunched over while holding Little Sister's hands, since she doesn't have quite the balance to walk on her own yet (and ALL she wants to do lately is practice walking around!)  And I did get it done in one evening, and I am very happy with the results:

The directions say to use a sturdier fabric, and this corduroy was all I had, so I dressed it up
with some of the hubby's grandma's quilting scrap fabric.

It would have been even quicker to make if I hadn't wanted some pretty :)

the back view--you can see the velcro closure here and
the loops for the tall person's hands.  My only suggestion
would be to put on more (or heavier-duty) velcro--it feels
like it could pull apart, even though it hasn't.

So the only question left was, would it work?  Would Little Sister go for it?  This is how she usually feels when practicing walking:

Pure joy.  Photo cropping due to extreme view down my shirt.

So the first go with the walking belt was...less than joyful.

This doesn't quite capture how upset she was with me.
I was having trouble getting the remote to snap the picture
at precisely the most dramatic moments.

But, as with most things, if I let Little Sister take her time and get used to something, she adapts pretty darn quickly.

Whoa there!

She doesn't hate it!  And I'm standing up straight!
 (thanks for snapping these pics, Jess, so I didn't have camera remote control problems.)

So all in all, I would say it's a success!  She'll probably love it just as soon as she doesn't need it anymore.

EDITED TO ADD:  After only a couple of days, she loves it!  And what's more, I love it.  If your kid is on the verge of walking, it is totally worth the time to make this thing.  Even if Little Sister only uses it for a few more days, I do not regret it.  Not only do I love being able to stand up straight while I help her walk, I feel like she's balancing a lot better on her own using this rather than holding my hands.  And she likes to hold something in her free hand while she's walking, which she couldn't do while grabbing my hands.  So, verdict:  LOVE!  Make one!  (Jill, you can have mine when we're done with it :)