Tutorial: Slide On Dog Collar Bandana

Recently I showed you how to make a cute felt flower dog collar embellishment for your pooch, but you might remember way back in December when I first came up with the flower idea that I told you I'd been making bandanas to slide over my dog's collar for a few years.

We've never been able to get bows to stay on our Pomeranian, Monica.  They just drive her crazy and she paws them off her head.  For awhile we tried tying bandannas around her neck and that didn't bother her, but they fell off easily.  That's when we had the idea to sew them with a little tube at the top so they slide right over her collar.  This solves the problem of them falling off and getting lost.

They stay in place and they look adorable on a boy or girl dog, so I thought you'd like to know how to make a slide-over-the-collar dog bandanna for your puppy.  It's a great way to use up scrap fabric, it only takes about 15 minutes and it's super easy.  I've made it even easier by creating the template for you!  So join me after the jump to learn how to make your own dog collar bandana.

P.S.  Did you know you can spell "bandana" with one or two N's?  Bandana or bandanna is acceptable according to Dictionary.com.  Weird, right?  Okay...on with the tutorial. :)

Supplies:

• Dog Collar Bandana Pattern (For a toy breed dog the pattern should be the correct size.  For a larger dog feel free to copy/paste the image into Word and resize as needed.)
• Scrap fabric or fat quarter

Step 1:

Use the pattern to cut out your fabric.

Once your fabric is cut, fold in the two parallel edges about 1/4 inch each.  Iron and pin.

Step 2:

Sew down the two parallel edges.

Step 3:

Now take the two triangular points and fold the fabric in half so that right sides are facing together.  Iron and pin in place.

Step 4:

 Sew down the triangular edges, but do not sew down the parallel edges. (The parallel edges are how you'll flip the bandanna right side out and where you'll later slide the collar through.)

Step 5:

Flip the bandanna right side out.  You may want to cut the tip before doing this, although I didn't and it didn't seem to make a big difference.  Once the bandana is flipped, iron the seams.

Step 6:

Sew a straight line from point A to point B (see picture below).  You can use a regular stitch, but it might be fun and cute to use a zig-zag stitch or play with some of your decorative stitches if your machine has any.

Step 7:

Sew along the top fold as close to the edge as possible (from point C to point D in picture below).  This will just ensure that the fold doesn't go anywhere, especially after washing the bandanna (which with a dog I'm sure you'll have to do!).

Now slide it over your dog's collar. And viola!  You're all done. 

Take your dog out on the town so everyone can see how cute she looks.

Or whip up a few more in a jiff! :)

Happy sewing!

--CC