DIY No Sew Halloween Dog Bandana

Hello, first week of October! I’ve been waiting for you. Halloween is one of my all time favorite holidays and this year I have a ton of projects lined up. We’re going to ease into it though with a quick costume idea for your pup. Each year I try to dress up Hunter and get his sizing horribly wrong, so I thought this year a little Halloween bandana that he can wear the whole month was the better option. I mean, look at that face!! I think he agrees 😉

As cute as this project is, please make sure to not have your dog wearing it, or any costume, unsupervised. Costumes tend to have a lot of pieces that can snag and quickly become dangerous if broken into tiny parts. Hunter is a pretty active dog and this bandana was fine for him, but you can always add a fabric backing to the “creepy cloth” to cut down on snagging potential.

You’ll Need
“creepy cloth”
scissors
light chain necklace/chain strand
fabric glue (optional)

1. Start your bandana measurements with the longest side equaling the diameter of your dog’s neck + 4-6″ for tying. From the middle of that line, mark a point as far down as you’d want the bandana tip to be. Connect this dot to the ends of the long side and cut fabric to size. I used the same measurements from Hunter’s no-sew birthday bandanas so I came in at 32″ for the long side x 22″ for the short sides. The great thing about this fabric is that it is very, very forgiving with rough cuts.
2. Here’s where it can either get time-consuming or messy (or neither). To finish the edges you have 3 choices:
   • Do nothing – Great for a quick photo but probably won’t last you more than a day
   • Knot the ends – Take neighboring strands and knot them together. Keep going all around the edge
   • Paint on fabric glue – Coat the last row with a thin layer of fabric glue, making sure where they overlap with the columns is covered well. I went with the glue option because it was a lot quicker than knotting.
3. Tie around puppy’s neck and add on a light chain necklace! I got this hollow chain from the beading section and used a jump ring to make it an easy slide-on necklace.

Quick note on “creepy cloth”. 1) This seems to be the most common term for this kind of fabric? It’s not quite cheesecloth or fishnet, but if you have a better name for it, please comment below! 2) I bought half a yard at Joann’s for around $5 then went to Dollar Tree for props and found the exact same color and weave as a full tablecloth for just $1. Think of all the bandanas you could make with a whole tablecloth!!

And can we take a moment to appreciate what a good model Hunter is? All he wanted to do was cuddle on the backdrop. 

Andddddd some bonus shots because I couldn’t help myself. Made a larger bandana to cover Hunter’s head for a Grim Reaper look and of course that’s the one he’s got the biggest smile for haha. Between setting up shots, he would run over to the bandana and wait for us to put it on. I think he’s associated it with photo treats because he gets excited seeing it now 😂

He was not as thrilled with the hat though.