DIY Cat Collar

Today I am sharing a craft that is near and dear to my heart…..a true labor of love. I shared with you earlier this week that we lost our precious cat Cooper last week.

Just a couple weeks ago I sewed him two custom cat collars. He looked so handsome wearing the striped one in his final days. The striped fabric was left over from the ruffle on Sophie’s Garden Party Dress.

We’ve always had a hard time finding collars we liked for Cooper. I was surprised to discover how easy — and cheap! — it is to sew a cat collar! I wish I’d know this years ago so I could’ve made him a whole closet full of collars instead of searching for cute store bought ones. I have to admit though…this barely qualifies as a sewing project because it only has about 6 stitches!

I got the idea from this DIY cat collar tutorial but I constructed mine a bit differently. Start by cutting a piece of fabric that measures 15″ long by 1.5″ wide. Fold in half lengthwise and iron to mark the middle. Open the fabric up and iron each side lengthwise to the middle line.

Then fold in half lengthwise and iron flat. At this point, instead of stitching all the way down either side of the collar I used stitch witchery fusible bonding web to hold it together. I preferred not to have stitches visible since I was using a multi-colored fabric. The 5/8 inch stitch witchery fit perfectly sandwiched between the sides of the collar.

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Refer to this tutorial for directions on how to attach the buckle. There are only two tiny sections that needed to be sewn. The site instructs to use a zipper foot when attaching the buckle. I simply sewed a straight stitch using a #16 needle in the two places you need to tack down to secure the buckle, which worked perfectly.

The cat collar hardware, which includes a break-away buckle, adjuster, and loop for the tag can be ordered from Creative Designworks.

Here’s Cooper sporting his stylish new collar!

I had this post in progress before we lost him. The last line was, “I see more of these snazzy collars in his future!” Oh how I wish that would’ve been true….

If you make one of these for your kitty please have him or her wear it in Cooper’s honor!

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