How to Make an Over the Collar Dog Bandanna

Dog bandannas are an easy way to dress up your dog. Regular bandannas that you tie with a knot can present a choking hazard to dogs if they get caught on something. This tutorial will demonstrate how to make a dog bandanna that slides over your dog's collar, which is safer for your pet.

Tools and Supplies

You will need a piece of fabric at least 12" square, a pair of pinking shears, pins, a ruler, a marker, a flexible measuring tape, a sewing machine and an iron.

STEP 1 - Measuring Your Dog's Collar

This tutorial show you how to make a bandanna for ANY sized dog, so for that we will have to measure the collar to ensure a proper fit.

First, measure the collar from the end of the buckle to the first hole of the collar. Take 2/3rd's of this measurement for the length of width of the bandanna. For example, with a measurement of 12", the width of the dog bandanna you will be making is 8".

Now you have to make sure that the dog collar hardware will fit through the sleeve of the bandanna. If the buckle measures 1" add 1/2" to this measurement to make the sleeve 1 1/2" so that there is wiggle room for the hardware to fit through.

STEP 2 - Marking Out The bandanna Pattern

Take your ruler and pen and mark a line that is 8" across.

To make the sleeve part of the pattern, take your buckle measurement and double it. From the BOTTOM of your sleeve mark, find and mark the center of the bandanna. From your center line mark, measure down the width of your bandanna and mark it off. Now make connecting lines from that mark to the bottom of the sleeve measurements.

STEP 3 - Cutting Out The Pattern

Cut out the pattern that you have just made with pinking shears. You can use regular scissors, but the pinking shears cut a zig zag pattern that will keep the ends from fraying.

STEP 4 - Hemming The Edges

With the iron, create a 1/2" hem on all sides of the bandanna EXCEPT the top. Use pins to secure the hem, if you need them. The top doesn't need to be hemmed since it will be sewn down behind the bandanna.

STEP 5 - Sewing The Hem

Sew a straight stitch seam, as close as you can get to the edge, all around the bandanna.

STEP 6 - making The Collar Sleeve

Fold The sleeve part of the pattern in half and iron it down.

STEP 7 - Sewing The Sleeve

Now sew a straight stitch seam as close to the bottom of the sleeve as you can get.

Karen Friesecke is the author of Bloggie Stylish a new blog dedicated to recipes and free projects for dogs. Please visit Dog Bandanna Pattern to see this tutorial, complete with pictures.

How to Make a Paracord Dog Collar Using the Seesaw Knot

Paracord is an awesome cord to use for braiding! It's tough, lightweight, washable and virtually indestructible! This tutorial will show you how to make a "manly" collar for your dog using the seesaw or zigzag knot.

Supplies and Tools You Will Need

You'll need a few basic tools to make this project. A C-clamp, hemostat clamps, scissors, a lighter, a flexible measuring tape, a 3/4″ plastic snap and D-ring and paracord.

Preparing The Paracord

You need to preshrink the paracord before you use it. To preshrink the paracord, soak it in hot water for 5 minutes and then hang it to dry.To determine how much paracord you will need for your project, take the neck measurement from your dog and multiply by four. A sample neck measurement will be 18″ X 4 = 72″. So you will need TWO strands of paracord that are EACH 72″ long.

STEP 1 - Putting The Cords and D-ring on the Snap

Fold the cords in half and run each of them through the end of the snap that has the single slot. Now run the D-ring through the cords and place close to the snap. You will now run the loose ends of the cord through the loops of cord that are sticking out of bottom of the snap. Pull the cords tight

STEP 2 - Clamping the Snap

Clamp the snap down onto a steady surface like a table. This will keep the snap steady and you will be able to put tension on the cords when you are knotting.

STEP 3 - The First Knot

To make the seesaw knot, you will be knotting alternating half-hitch knots. Take the first set of cords, bring it behind the second set of cords and through the loop that you have just created. Gently tighten up your knot. Don't tighten too much or your knot work will begin to twist.

STEP 4 - The Second Knot

You will now take the second set of cords and make a half-hitch in the OPPOSITE direction. To keep going, take the first set of cord and make a knot in the same direction as you did with knot 1. Keep knotting in alternate directions until you make a knotted cord two inches less than your final measurement. Don't forget to take the snap into account when taking your measurement. Stop knotting at 16″.

STEP 5 - Attaching the Loose Cords To The Snap

Run the loose cords through the double slotted end of the cord and leave a one inch length of cord from the end of your knotting work.

STEP 6 - Finishing The Cord Ends Part 1

Take one cord from each set, run then around the front and through the top of the loop that you have created on the back side of the collar.Lay the cords that did not make the knot flat against the backside of the collar. Tighten the knot as much as it will go.

STEP 7 - Finishing The Cord Ends Part Two

Find where a set 1 cord passes under a set 2 cord. Pass the hemostat clamp underneath the set 2 cord, grasp the set 1 cord with the hemostats and pull through. Repeat this with the second set of cords. Do this "back knotting" one more time. Now stretch the collar out with your hands and trim the cords as close as you can to the collar.

STEP 8 - Melting The Cord Ends

*NOTE* hot plastic is dangerous and can burn you very badly! Use caution when melting the cord ends!!

Take your lighter and place the flame as close as you can to the cut cords. You really need them to get nice and hot. When the cord ends turn brown and get bubbly, take the flat side of your scissors and press the hot cord onto the collar. You might have to have another pass with the lighter if the cords haven't fused properly.

Once the melted ends of the collar have cooled, you can put it on your dog.

Karen Friesecke is the author of Bloggie Stylish a new blog dedicated to recipes and free projects for dogs. Please visit Seesaw Knot Dog Collar Tutorial to see this tutorial, complete with pictures.

How to Make a Christmas Collar For Your Dog

With Christmas around the corner, why not make a cute Christmas collar for your dog? Since this collar is made with an elastic band, you can also make it for a cat, ferret or rabbit. This tutorial will show you how to make a holiday pet collar with ribbons.

Tools and Supplies

The supplies needed for this project are pretty minimal. You will need any kind of fabric ribbon, some elastic (like the kind used on sweat pants), bells, a pair of pinking shears and a flexible measuring tape. You don't really need the pinking shears, but they do scallop the edges of the ribbon to prevent them from fraying after they have been cut.

STEP 1 - Measuring Your Dog

Measure your dogs neck in a spot where you would like the collar to sit.

STEP 2 - Cutting The Elastic and Adding The Bells

Cut about three or four inches more elastic than you need. Now string the bells onto the collar, you can use as many as you want. Take your dogs neck measurement, subtract one inch, measure out the elastic and knot it closed. Trim the excess elastic.

STEP 3 - Cutting The Ribbon

Ten inches should be okay for a medium sized dog.. A smaller dogs collar will probably be fine with five inches. Cut the ribbon you have and place it into piles if you have different colours of ribbon.

STEP 4 - Knotting The Ribbon Onto The Collar

Secure the ribbon onto the collar with a very simple knot. Keep adding ribbons to the collar, using the colours randomly. Occasionally check the spacing of the ribbons and move them around if some spots on the collar are too sparsely decorated.

Karen Friesecke is the author of Bloggie Stylish a new blog dedicated to recipes and free projects for dogs. Please visit Christmas Dog Collar to see this tutorial, complete with pictures.