My kids love accessorizing their toys. So when they were younger, they would constantly ask me for this or that thing for this or that stuffed animal. It was during this time that I figured out how to make a toy dog leash and collar in a very quick and easy way so that I could make a bunch at once.

**PLEASE NOTE that this collar and leash set are to be used ONLY FOR TOYS
and not for living animals!**

Basically, the collar is just a sewn strip of fabric with snaps on the end, while the leash is a longer strip with a small loop at one end (to slip the collar into) and a bigger loop at the other end with snaps to slip around your wrist or to attach to table legs, chairs, etc.

Perfect for imaginative play and making children’s games all the more real to them!

Is there a child in your life that have a special stuffed animal? It doesn’t have to be a dog! If so, let me show you how to make a toy dog leash and collar!

Materials:

• 6 cm-wide fabric strips (about 130 cm long in total should be enough)
• 2 sets of snaps (to be applied with snap pliers* or sewn by hand) or velcro
• flexible measuring tape*
• Quick Turn tool*
• iron

I highly recommend you cut the fabric strips with a rotary cutter*, quilting ruler*, and self-healing cutting mat* to make them perfectly and quickly.

Measure around the neck of the stuffed toy and add 4 cm to that. This is the length of the collar strip. Note: wireless dog fence collar won’t be supoorted with this tutorial. So for example, my dog’s neck measures 25 cm + 4 cm = 29 cm. Cut the leash strip 1 meter long, or piece together strips by sewing the short ends together right sides facing until you have one strip that is long enough. If you use velcro instead of snaps, add a couple of extra cm at least to each strip to allow for more overlap.

Note: I actually made a mistake when cutting and cut strips only 4 cm wide, so I sewed them with just a 5 mm seam allowance and they were hard to turn right side out. So if the proportions of my collar and leash look a bit different from yours, that’s why!

Ok, let’s get started sewing!

Sewing the collar and leash:

1. Iron the strips flat. If you have pieced together strips to make a longer one, iron the seams open.

2. Fold the strip in half, right sides facing, and press.

3. Sew with a 1 cm seam allowance all around the open edges, leaving an opening about 6-8 cm long in the center. If you have pieced together strips, don’t leave the opening where they are joined.

4. Use the Quick Turn tool* to turn the fabric right side out.

5. Iron the strip flat.

6. Topstitch all around the 4 edges of the strips, close to the edges.

Finish the leash:

7. Fold one end over 4 cm and stitch the end in place (where the arrow closer to the 4 is in the picture above).

This is the loop that the collar will get slipped through.

8. Fold the other end of the leash over by 10 cm and apply snap closures or sew on velcro. This is the handle. When it is opened up, the snaps will be 20 cm apart.

Finish the collar:

9. Apply a snap closure to the ends of the strip so that they just overlap.

Slip the collar into the smaller leash loop, and your kiddos will be ready to take their little stuffed puppy for a walk!

There is something about accessorizing stuffed animals that makes them so much more exciting to kids, even if they’ve had them for years! It’s as if their creative possibilities suddenly increase exponentially!

This is one of the collars that I originally made for my daughter about 7 years ago. I decided to make an adjustable velcro closure with a longer strip of velcro loop so that the collar could be widened or tightened to fit different toys.

And don’t think you’re limited to accessorizing just stuffed dogs! Any animal could use a leash, such as teddy bears, plush cats and stuffed beavers! As you can see above, “Beavy” enjoys taking a walk with her human owners!

Wasn’t that easy?! Now that you know how to make a toy dog leash and collar, you can make them for all the kids you know! So fun!

If you want your kids to join in on the fun with a super quick and easy no-sew dog collar, check out this oldie-but-goodie tutorial of mine to make an all-upcycled dog collar out of an old T-shirt sleeve and a bottle cap!

Don’t forget to Pin this super easy and fun tutorial!

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