Hi everyone! My name is Katinka and I am from the Netherlands. From now on I will be enriching your lives through DachshundUnited.com with fun DIYs for you and your dachshund! Let me know what you would like to DIY next and I will figure it out for you. 

My dachshund Frits loves attention (this is not uncommon for this breed). And what is a better way to get attention than looking fabulous? Don’t get me wrong: I am not saying that your doxie is not looking fabulous already, but why not add a little sparkle to brighten up everyone’s lives.

Today we will be starting out by making a bowtie for your dog. So, these are the tools you will need:

• A sewing machine
• a gluegun
• thread
• Fabric
• Scissors
• A hairband
• A pattern

The pattern for this DIY is easy as pie. On paper, make a rectangle that’s 14cm/5.5” by 8cm/3,15”. Cut this out and your pattern is done!

Now take your fabric and fold it in halve so that the pretty side is folded together. Pin down the pattern, cut the fabric while leaving an extra 1cm/0,5” for sewing. Pin the fabric together around the pattern so you’ll know where to sew and make sure to leave an opening of about 2cm/1” for turning the fabric.

Now you are going to sew the fabric. It is pretty straight forward, but just to be sure I made some pictures of my process.

Now the sewing is done for the most part we are going to turn the fabric. This is really easy, just work the fabric through the hole you have left for turning. Once you have done this your fabric will look like this:

Looks like we are getting somewhere! Now, you have two options. You can either sew the edge of the bow tie to close the turning hole and make the edges look sharp. In my case, with the fabric I chose, I liked the edges looking kind of round. Therefore, I decided to glue the edges closed with a gluegun.

After closing the rectangle, we are going to start on the second part of the bowtie: the band that wraps around the middle. For this part, take a strip fabric of about 2,5cm/1” by 7,5cm/3”. Sew it down the long side. Then turn it like we have done with the rectangle.

This is the part where the gluegun comes in, so pug it in and let it heat up! You can ofcourse also sew this part of the project, but well, I have a gluegun so why not use it? 🙂

Take the strip you have just sewn and take the hairband. Put a good amount of hot glue on the inside of the band (where the two ends meet) and press the hairband into the hot gllue. Be carefull though, do not burn your fingers! Let this cool off until the glue goes milky.

Now take the rectangle we have just made and fold it in half. Take a pencil (or something similar) and press the middle down. Lay this on the table and open the rectangle. Now you may be wondering why I find the middle like this: this way you can slide up the pencil and still glue the band under it, and no matter what your band will be center. Because believe me, bowtie looks kind of weird with an off center band ;-).

Be sure to glue the band to the rectangle with the inside (where the ends meed) facing down. Now you have glued the band to the center, it looks like this.

Now fold your rectangle. There are many ways to do this, just try a couple of ways and you will most likely find one you like most. Then wrap the band around the rectangle with the hairband facing inwards. Glue the ends together, have the glue cool off and your bow is done!

Now, the fun part begins, haha! Take your dogs collar and silde it through the ends of the hairband. Put the collar back on and your dog will look fabulous!

Of course I had my Frits model for this DIY, I think it looks adorable! Isn’t he handsome?!

 

Please let us know what you think of this DIY and if you have any suggestions, we would love to hear them! Have you made a bowtie and are sharing it on Instagram? Please use the hashtag #DUDIY so we can enjoy your creativity!

Dachshunds United is thankful for Katinka submitting this blog to us! You can contact Katinka by sending an email to info@dachshundsunited.com subject 'Katinka:...'