Here is a little sewing-for-a-dog project.

I don’t have a dog but I have friends and family with dogs. Who doesn’t? This can be a project for you, making a little gift for a dog owner. I’m making this leash for Larry, the cute dog of my friends Ina and Bert. It was Larry’s birthday last week :-), and I am sharing the HOW TO with you. I like to use fabric scraps for my accessory projects, you might have noticed this already :-). It is a fairly easy project. Anyone with some basic sewing skills can tackle this. Because you can use fabric leftovers, it won’t cost you much. You will probably just need to buy some interfacing and the swivel clasp to attach the leash to the neck band. I hope Larry, Ina and Bert will like the leash and you will make someone happy too (or yourself if you have a pup!). If you are ready to sew a lot of them, check out if you can make the volunteers at your local dog shelter happy with some new leashes.
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The total length of this leash is 6 feet and it is ¾” inch wide.

Preparations

First, gather fabric scraps. It is fun to work in matching color tones or themes like flowers or stripes or maybe in different jeans fabrics. Let your creativity flow here and think about the one you are making it for!

Cut the scraps up in 3 inch wide strips of various lengths.

The standard length for a dog leash is about 6 feet long, so that is what I am going for. Make sure you have enough strips to get to 6 feet when they are sewn together.

Cut some interfacing in 3 inch wide strips as well. You don’t need 1 long strip of 6 feet, you can just apply different shorter strips of 3 inch wide interfacing. This is another great way to use those smaller leftovers.

Clip or pin the pieces together at the short ends.

Sew them together with a ⅜ inch seam allowance. I used the magnetic seam guide to get consistent seams. Cut off the thread ends. Press open all the seams with your hot iron.

Add the fusible interfacing on the wrong side of the strip. You don’t need 1 long strip of 6 feet, you can just apply different shorter strips of 3 inch wide and overlap them a little. Make sure that you leave about ⅜ inch at each end without interfacing.

Now iron the fabric strip as if it were bias tape. Iron the strip in half and then iron the edges in toward the center.

To finish the 2 edges neatly, unfold the ironing, put the 2 right sides together, folding the strip in half lengthwise. Now you can stitch across the strip, just next to the interfacing. Do this on both short ends of the strip. Turn the strip back with right sides on the outside and tuck in the 2 folded long edges. The little blue stick in the pictures is the Magic Wand. It helps to push out corners.

To topstitch the strap, use a heavy duty needle and if you have one, attach a walking foot onto your machine as the strap can be rather bulky. If you are using a regular foot, the Bulky Seam Jumper is a great help too. You can find it in our store. It helps you to sew over the humps of bulky seams. Edgestitch at ⅛” along both long edges. I’m using stitch length 3 which is nice for topstitching.

At one end, fold the strap over by 6 to 8 inch to make the handle. Then fold the raw end under and sew a little square or rectangle on the strap to hide the raw edge and secure the handle.

Slide the clasp through the other end of the leash, fold the raw edge under and sew another square to secure it.

Your dog leash is ready!

It is easy to adapt the size of this leash, make it wider, or make it longer. There are no difficult calculations. You can even use the same method if you need to make straps for a bag!

If your dog has pulls his leash hard when you go for a walk, make sure you use heavy duty thread or reinforce the seams with and extra row of stitching or topstitch the seams on both sides.

Have a nice day!

Any questions? Just pop me an email an@madamsew.com and I’ll be happy to help.

Kind regards,

An

To download the PDF file of this HOW TO, click here