Slip on Bandanas

I love how my golden retriever/chow mix looks when she is wearing a bandana. It just gives her a little additional cute factor, something unique. And that becomes even more unique when the bandanas are something that I hand selected fabrics for and handmade myself.


The reason I don't just cut the fabric into a square with pinking sheers and tie it on is simple. My dog is constantly going in and out of the house, she gets put on a run/line and a regular bandana often gets in the way. Also wears a training collar for walks and traditional bandanas gets in the way of that too because it makes her have 3 items go all the way around her neck. These slip on (to any collar) bandanas stay in place (on the back of her neck) because of the balance of her buckle and ID tags. They make putting on a leash. line, or training collar much easier. They work great for us I hope they will for you as well!

The measurments I used for this bandana are for my 80lb golden/chow mix, but this can easily be made for whatever size dog you need just follow my directions for the correct measurments. 

First thing you need to do is measure you dogs collar. I measured the space between where her ID tags hang, all the way around until the buckle, this was 15 inches. Then I measured that her collar has a 1 inch width.

So depending on if you want your bandana reversible, and if your fabric has an orientation to it you need to start with either a square of fabric or 2 triangles (that you sew into a suqare). On my first one I cut the corners then just folded a lip to cover the raw edge, since then I've found it easier to just fold them (the red areas in the left graphic) in instead of cutting, less work same result. Just make sure that the straight line is more than double your collar thickness.

Sew down these corners. I used a zigzag stich to help with fraying.

Fold with right sides together. Find the center. Sew from the bottom of the collar width area (1 1/2 inches  down in my case)  to the midpoint and back up making sure to stop before the other side of the collar area. I've marked it here with a red dotted line. Make sure to backstitch at the edges so that its nice an strong for turning.

You should be able to turn the triangle right side out throught one of the hole that have been left for the collar. Once you've done this you should topstich across right below the openings. I've shown it here in red dotted line. This just helps it keep its shape and makes it fit the collar better.

Now you should be able to slip your collar through the open ends and buckle it on to your pup!

Here are some pictures of my dog's Halloween, Thanksgiving/fall, and Christmas slip on bandanas.