Hallmark designer Leslie S. can do it all. She makes fresh smoothies, creates cute plush creations and loves on her fur babies like a boss. Knowing that there are a lot of fur baby lovers around Hallmark, she asked some to join her for a few hours in a workshop embroidering dog collars. Read on to see what they came up with!
I love my dog, Izzie. That big, beautiful lug of a bullmastiff brightens my world daily, and I strive to do the same for her. Recently, I set out to surprise my girl with a new, comfy, washable, sustainable and personalized dog collar with style perfectly suited for her. It sounds like a tall order, but it was totally doable.
I started by sewing some black canvas into a sleeve for an adjustable leather collar. Then came the fun part. I grabbed my overflowing box of embroidery floss and selected a suitable, fresh color palette. The toughest decision was determining what to stitch. Ultimately, I embroidered several colorful rows of straight running stitches—sweet and simple.
Izzie seems to approve, and she rocks it well!
Because the sleeve is removable (which comes in handy for washing), I thought it’d be fun to make more sleeves and be able to switch it up every now and then. So I asked some friends with fur kids to join me in making cat and dog collars.
From bold stripes to lovely florals to hand-stitched names—the finished assortment of custom collars was pretty awesome.
A couple of the designs went beyond great aesthetic style. Allyson L. emblazed Kirby’s collar with lightening bolts to boost his moxie during thunderstorms. And Susan C. went a little rogue for a good cause—she created an “ADOPT ME” pennant for adoptable pups to wear when meeting their potential forever families.
Most importantly, each dog collar is embroidered with love and is as one-of-a-kind as the beast wearing it.
Share pics of your pets in your collar creations on Instagram—tag us @think.make.share! We’ve got more great ideas to please your pets! Check out our dog crafts and DIY cat toys—and don’t miss out on our yummy recipe for dog treats.
So appreciated the process you went through to develop your idea and that you included your friends! None of us is as smart as all of us ? How can one purchase a collar if we are all thumbs?
Love your ideas for dog collars.
I’m curious how you did this after the sleeve was sewn? Since it would be hard to access the inside for securing the thread.
I asked Leslie! Her response:
Thanks for asking! —Trish
Wow! What a wonderful idea and fished product. I love them. Upon adopting my Teddy I discovered little jackets and hoodies that were both adorable and useful in the cold winter. But, I was never happy with what I found for tags and collars. I made a couple of collars with retail sold tags but they didn’t last long. He lost his last set of tags last week. I love the personalised ones that are also stylishly study. Nice job!