Introduction: Doggie Bow Tie

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Get your pup looking his finest by making him a bow tie for his collar!

Step 1: Items You'll Need

Here's what you'll need to make a doggie bow tie:

  • fabric swatch (at least 8 1/2" x 12")
  • ruler or yardstick
  • scissors
  • heavy interfacing
  • iron-on velcro
  • hand sewing needle
  • thread
  • sewing machine

Step 2: Measure and Cut Fabric

Measure out and cut a rectangle of your selected fabric. 6 1/2" x 12" works nicely for larger dogs (like a 5 month old Goldendoodle), but you can modify to suit your dog's size.

Step 3: Iron Your Fabric

Heat iron according to the fabric you're using, and iron it nice and flat. Be sure to remove any crimps or lines from the fabric being folded over time.

Step 4: Measure and Cut Interfacing

Measure out and cut your interfacing. Cut it slightly smaller than half the fabric you are working with, long-ways. If you cut your fabric to the size recommended (6 1/2" x 12"), cut your interfacing to ~3" x 5 1/2".

Step 5: Iron on Interfacing

Open up your fabric (if you still have it folded in half for measuring your interfacing), and lay the fabric right side down. Lay your interfacing down on the wrong side of the fabric. If you have iron-on interfacing, make sure to place it shiny side down.

Follow directions for attaching your chosen interfacing.

Step 6: Sew a Tube

Fold your fabric back in half, right sides of the fabric together on the inside, with the interfacing up. Line up the long edges, and use your sewing machine to stitch a tube.

You can use pins to hold the edges neatly together, but since it's a small item, I skipped them and just did a quick stitch.

You'll end up with an inside out tube of fabric.

Step 7: Reverse Tube

Turn your fabric tube inside out - turning the right side of the fabric to the outside of the tube. If you have iron-on interfacing, you may need to wait until everything cools down and is no longer damp.

Press again with an iron to get everything nice and flat.

Step 8: Stitch a Loop

Align the short ends of your tube, and stitch together. You will be stitching four layers together total. This will create a "loop" of fabric.

Step 9: Inside Out

Turn your new loop of fabric inside out - this will move the raw stitched edge into the inside of the loop to hide it.

Step 10: Create Your Middle

To create the middle portion of the bow tie, cut a 2" by 12" strip of fabric. This is plenty to cover 2 or 3 bow ties, so you will have some extra at the end.

Fold the bottom third of the fabric strip up to the middle. Then, fold the top third down into the middle, to meet the bottom third.

Iron down tightly, creating a nice crisp line. Flip over so the "seam" will be on the inside when you place it on the bow.

Step 11: Prep Bow

Prep bow for attaching middle strip to keep it bow-shaped.

Flatten out your fabric loop, keeping the seam in the middle of the back. Press down with the palm of your hand only to flatten - no need to iron it out any longer as we'll want to keep some body in your bow tie from here on out.

After flattening, hold the fabric horizontally, find the middle point and pinch downward. Take both outside edges and also pinch downward. This will create an "M" shape in the middle of your bow tie. The final picture featured here shows what this looks like from the back when pinched together.

Step 12: Attach Middle Point

Fold the ironed tri-fold fabric strip around the center of the bow and pull tightly. Make sure to leave a tab on one end that is at least 1" long - this will wrap around your dog's collar to attach the bow.

Using your hand-sew needle and thread, hand stitch the fabric strip closed at the backside of the bow, keeping tension on the bow so it doesn't open up while you sew.

Go over the stitch line at least twice, and be sure to bind off your thread for security.

Step 13: Fit to Collar

Wrap the shorter tab you left on the back of your bow around your dog's collar to measure how long you'll need to leave the tab. Trim off to the length you need, then do the same with the remaining longer portion of the fabric strip. Make sure to leave enough room on the longer tab to overlap the other tab, so you have a place to attach your velcro.

Step 14: Add Velcro

Add your velcro.

The easiest way I've found to do this is to cut off the size needed for both the loop and hook portions, and velcro them together. Then, stick the velcro to the outside of the shorter tab. Wrap the longer tab around and stick to the other side of the velcro. This automatically creates your attachment points.

If you have the iron-fuseable velcro, run your iron over the fabric side (not the velcro side!) to set it.

Step 15: It's Wears Time!

Final step, attach to your dog's collar, and marvel at the adorableness of man's best friend!