DOG BANDANA SEWING PATTERN

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As a young girl my nana was always crafting, she taught me how to hand sew , however I’ve always wanted to learn on a sewing machine to make cute things beyond what I could by hand. A few years ago my hubby found me a nice used one at a garage sale, it belonged to an older lady who’s family had bought it for her but she passed before she could really use it, somehow I felt the presence of my nana in that story and brought the sewing machine home and self-taught myself- with the help of the internet.

Our puppers are a huge part of our family and there is just something about a doggo with a bandana on that makes me smile. The cost of store bought ones and the way they go on and off frustrated me so I set out last year to come up with a pattern for homemade ones, ones that didn’t have fasteners or needed tying in a knot, ones that I could customize with fabrics of choice and that didn’t cost a ton.

I practised with thrift store fabrics, even pillow cases have enough fabric for these. All cotton or flannel I find is the best for these. I make them all the time for our fur babies as well as family and friends and am sharing the pattern and instructions with everyone here today.

Save and print the pattern of choice on 8.5 x 11 standard paper on landscape mode but do not size to fit option. Click on the patterns and they will open in a new tab, right click to save.

For the 18/19 inch one you will have to do some taping to get the right size.

Cut out both pieces then tape the smaller piece to the bottom of the large one pushing it up and under until the outer edge and angled edge meet perfectly to form your triangle pattern.

should measure roughly 11inches wide by 10 inches high.

Once it’s cut out/taped together you can then trace it onto cardstock or a piece of cardboard if you like.

Step 1: Trace or cut around the pattern placing the on fold edge on the folded fabric edge.

Cut one outer fabric in the pattern of your choice and one inner fabric in a solid colour. Both pieces in solid fabrics work too,and if you use different colours it becomes reversable (2 bandanas in one)

Step 2: Once you’ve cut the outer and inner fabric fold them out and they should look like a bandana shape.

Step 3: Place the outer and inner fabrics together, with the outer fabric’s right side facing down. Pin together if you’d like.

Step 4: Sew all the way around the bandana starting in the middle of the top edge, leaving about a 6 inch gap at the top for turning later. If sewing by hand sew approximately half an inch from the edge, on a sewing machine I use the foots edge against the fabrics edge as a guide.

Step 5: Cut away the extra fabric from the edges, this helps to get a nice flat edge once turned inside right. DO NOT CUT THE EXTRA FABRIC AWAY FROM ABOVE THE 6 INCH OPENING.

Step 6: Flip the bandana inside right; I use an old drum stick to get the edges and corners poked out good. You can use a knitting needle or even scissors, just be careful to not rip through the fabric. Once it’s flipped nicely, use a hot iron to flatten the edges down good.

Step 7: Once it is ironed down well, sew all the way around near the very edges of the bandana.

Step 8: Measure the top of the bandana. You will need to know how wide it needs to be for your dog, remember dog’s neck size plus 3 inches for the finished bandana opening. See pictures below: measure top width and minus finished opening measurement from it. Example top measures 20 inches and the finished opening needs to be 19 inches, the number you need for the next step is 1 inch.

Step 9 : Once you have your number from step 8 you overlap that amount with the top edge ends ( see pictures) and pin in place. Your forming a neck opening

Step 10: Sew the overlapped parts, starting at the top edge and working your way around (see pictures)Basically you want to make sure the top overlap is tacked to the under flap securely.

If you need a larger neck opening use the pattern here as a guide, tracing around it to get a larger triangle.

You want to increase the top width but make sure you come down 1.5 inches from the top then angle down to meet the bottom (either making it the same size or a little longer, I’d say the pattern for the 19 inch opening would work just fine as is if you just increase the 11 inch edge accordingly for most bigger dogs) (remember the pattern is half the width it will be once cut, a 11 inch pattern will be 22 inches once cut and unfolded)

As a guide I measure the dogs neck ( snug but not tight) and add 3 inches for a finished opening meaning the width of the pattern should be the neck measurement plus 5 to 6 inches ( my patterns are 6 more inches because for the larger opening your overlap stitched area will be smaller and then wider for the smaller size, it makes no difference and is best when needing various sizes for younger to older dogs and for making to sell or as gifts, 1 pattern 2 sizes) when sewing it shut as mentioned above it’s the neck measurement plus 3 inches dont forget.