How to Embroider Dog Collars

A dog collar, embroidered by hand, is a thoughtful touch, producing a collar that's both personal and functional. Embroidering on a store-bought collar can be challenging. The trick is not to sew through the existing collar, but to pick up the collar's threads to create your design as an overlay. Since dog ID tags sometimes fall off, collars can be practical as well as decorative. You can embroider your telephone number onto the collar. It will help bring your dog home if you become separated.

Things You'll Need

  • Collar
  • Embroidery floss
  • Needle
  • Scissors
  • Chalk
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Instructions

    • 1

      Choose a color of embroidery floss that shows up on the collar. Embroidery floss has several strands and is thicker than thread, making the numbers easy to read. Thread your embroidery floss through the needle. Knot the end of the floss.

    • 2

      Select a spot along the top of the collar, on opposite the side of the dog tags. Allow room for your area code and telephone number. Using a piece of chalk in a contrasting color, roughly write the number so you can approximate how much space you'll need for 10 digits and two dashes and how tall you want the numbers to be.

    • 3

      Stick the needle into several threads on the collar where you want to begin. Always start at the top or bottom of a number, not in the middle. Pick up a few threads at a time so your embroidery is securely attached.

    • 4

      Follow the stitches on the cross-stitch chart to make your phone number (see Resources). Remember the stitches don't have to be perfect, just readable. When you finish one number, pick up a couple of stitches with the needle and knot the thread. This stops the numbers from running together and being unreadable.

    • 5

      Make the number 4 by starting at the bottom if you have a 4 in your telephone number. Tie your knot, stitch up the vertical line, then stitch down and across the angled part. This prevents you from having to back stitch over the number.

    • 6

      Continue following the cross-stitch number patterns until you've completed your telephone number. There probably won't be space for the dog's name, but it's more important to have the telephone number to increase the likelihood of your dog's safe return.