Holiday Jester Collars

My dog, "Skeeter".

These fun little grooming salon embellishments for the holidays, birthdays, or just for fun, are super easy, low cost, and really loved by clients!

Supplies Needed:

Assorted ribbon

1" wide elastic banding

optional:

hot glue or craft glue

assorted small decos to glue onto the ends of each ribbon tassel; foam cutouts, jingle bells or pom-poms work well

First, choose some ribbon! Try choosing at least 3 colors or prints of ribbon that compliment each other. You can choose just one color or two colors, but the more variety the better if you want to use less ribbon. You'll find that if you use all one color, you will need to tie on a bit more ribbon to make the collars really look full.

It makes a nice collar to have some ribbon that is 1" wide, and some that is 1/2", but ribbon of the same width works great, too. Be sure to use ribbon with no wire in it. And tulle works nicely as well.

Cut yourself a sturdy rectangle of cardboard. The length of the cardboard should be about 4 inches shorter than the length of the collar when finished. On each end, cut a slit about 1" deep that you will use to slide the knotted end of the elastic thru.

Cut a length of elastic long enough to fit comfortably over the dog's head and on its neck without being at all tight. Tie a single knot at each end of the elastic. Slide the knottend end of the elastic into the slit which you cut in the cardboar. Now stretch the banding across the board pretty snug. Tie another knot in the other end where needed to keep it tight, and slide that knot thru the other slit on the opposite side of the cardboard. When stretching the elastic banding across the cardboard, by pulling it fairly tight before securing it, the collar when removed, will pucker and be nice and full.

Now cut your ribbon! For large dogs cut the ribon in about 12" segments. For medium dogs, cut it about 10". And for smaller dogs, about 8" works nicely. This will make a nice drape around the neck and not hide the collar if the dog's hair is longer.

Now slip the lengths of ribbon, all laying flat, underneath the elastic banding. Simply pull the ribbon ends up and tie a single knot to secure the ribbon onto the elastic. Be sure that the ribbon is knotted closely to each other so that you can get a very full and thick collar.

Once you've knotted lengths of ribbon to cover the entire elastic except an inch or two on each end, remove the entire collar, and tie or thread stitch the ends together: DONE!

Also, as an added detail, you can also glue your embellishments onto the end of each ribbon after you've tied it onto the elastic and before taking it off of the cardboard.