Leash Friendly-Safety Breakaway Collar
and Handmade Strap Keeper
Feel free to use collars made with these instructions for personal use or resale.
The breakaway buckles featured in this tutorial are available here.
The D rings featured in this tutorial are available here.
The slides featured in this tutorial are available here.
The light weight webbing featured in this tutorial is available here.
The instructions are designed for use with a heavy weight webbing. Here are a few ideas for alternate collar straps.
Collar Strap Using Lightweight Webbing. The webbing shown in the sample collars and tutorial photos is lightweight. To use lightweight webbing, simply cut the length double the length shown in chart, fold in half and stitch together close to the edges. Fuse the cut ends. Following step 3, use fused end at adjuster buckle, so tidy folded end will show on finished collar. The hardware shown will not hold adjustment if a single layer of lightweight webbing is used alone.
Collar Strap with Fabric or Trim added to the lightweight webbing should add enough thickness for the hardware to hold adjustment. (Test your chosen combination of materials to make sure.) Here is a link to the tutorial for adding fabric or trim. Add Fabric or Trim
Cotton Collar Strap Tutorial Click here for Collar Strap made using lightweight cotton fabric and iron-on interfacing.
Leash Friendly-Safety Breakaway Collar
1. Cut webbing to length according to chart at bottom of page.
2. To prevent fraying, fuse cut ends of webbing by passing the webbing several times through flame of a lit candle. Hold webbing just above the flame in the heat glow to prevent a heavily melted, charred area. Properly fused area will be a little stiff, but no longer fraying.
3. Pass strap through adjuster buckle, threading it up through one slot and down through other. Adjust strap to measurement for chosen size as shown in last column of chart below.
Note: only a portion of the strap is shown in the photos.
4. Stitch, forming a box with an X. Stitch each line at least twice for strength.
5. Making sure strap is same side up as in photo above, add strap keeper, finished side facing you, buckle as shown through underside and D ring, flat part facing you.
6. Thread strap back through just the strap keeper and adjuster buckle, passing over D ring and buckle.
7. Step 6 finished.
8. Thread strap through other side of buckle. Add second D ring as shown.
9. Adjust strap to measurement for chosen size in last column of chart below.
Stitch as directed in Step 4. Collar is finished. Adjust to size. Call the dog.
10. IMPORTANT SAFETY STEP FOR USING WITH A LEASH
Attach leash to both D rings to prevent collar from breaking apart while in use with the leash.
Remember, collar safety is YOUR responsibility. Please use good judgment and common sense in determining appropriate use of any pet collar. Only you can determine the suitability of this collar for your pet and individual situation.
| Leash Friendly Collar Chart | |||
| Collar size measurement in parenthesis coordinates with hardware size | Fits Neck Sizes (approximately) | Cut Webbing | Length of strap from buckle to strap end Steps 3 & 9 |
| Extra Small (3/8 or 1/2 wide) | 8 to 11 inches | 16 inches | 1-1/4 inches |
| Small (5/8 wide) | 9 to 13 inches | 20 inches | 1-1/2 inches |
| Medium (3/4 wide) | 11 to 17 inches | 24 inches | 1-1/2 inches |
| Large (1″ wide) | 14 to 22 inches | 30 inches | 1-3/4 inches |
| Extra Large (1″ wide) | 16 to 27 inches | 34 inches | 1-3/4 inches |
Handmade Strap Keeper
1. Wrap webbing, (or other desired material) around two layers of collar strap. Mark edge of webbing on strap keeper. The keeper should not be too tight or too loose. It may take a couple of tries to get it the right tightness. Two layers of collar strap will be going through the finished keeper.
2. Cut off excess webbing. Remove keeper from strap. Realign ends and stitch across keeper several times.
3. Trim seam allowance to approximately 1/8″. Fuse cut edge following step 2 in collar instructions above.
4. To turn strap keeper right side out, push seam allowance into center of keeper as you pull right side out. A pencil point will help on the smaller sizes.
