Extra special and extra cute! Here’s how to make rolled fabric or rolled ribbon rosettes, and how to use them to make DIY flower dog collar decorations. Look at handsome Humphrey rocking the rosettes! Make one for Valentine’s Day, or pin this to your future crafting list. They’d be super cute if you’re including your dog in your wedding or other extra special event. Making rosettes is a crafty way to coordinate outfits or to blend your fabrics and colours into other decorations, like floral dog collars, embellished leashes, and for non-dog decorations too, if you’re into that sort of thing. Haha! DIY rosette dog collars are easier than you might think, and there are both sewn and no-sew options depending on your preferences.
Rolled Ribbon Rosette DIY Flower Dog Collar Attachments
Supplies and Materials
To make a rolled ribbon rosettes or fabric rosettes, and use them to create a DIY flower dog collar like the one shown here, you will need:
- Fabric and/or ribbon
- Low-temperature hot melt glue gun and glue sticks
- Scissors
- Green felt (optional)
- Sewing machine (optional)
- General cutting / sewing supplies (optional)
I’m using a low-temperature craft glue gun (affiliate link) for securing my rosettes in their rolled positions, but you can stitch them instead if you’d prefer. The low-temp glue makes this quick work, but mind your fingers as low-temp is still hot on hands and take care to avoid getting gloopy glue on the visible portions of your rosettes.
Making Rolled Fabric and Ribbon Rosette Flowers
Choosing and preparing materials for making rosettes:
Rosettes can be made using any long narrow strips of material. The wider/thicker your fabric or ribbon, the larger the petals will seem in the finished flower. Thicker materials will “fatten up” into a broad rosette faster than with a thinner ribbon. Very thin ribbons, like chiffon, take a much longer length to achieve the same size flower as fabric or thick satin ribbon.
- Choose your fabric/ribbon materials and cut strips to size. See above.
- Optional for fabric: As shown in the gingham example below, if you want to avoid visible cut-edges (edges can be nice in rustic styles) in your rosette, you can fold the edged inwards to meet in the middle and fold in half, like making a binding. This creates to make a “ribbon” strip of thicker and more finished looking fabric. For extra security, you can sew the strip.
- Optional for ribbon: If your ribbon is prone to fraying, you can carefully seal the ends with a lighter (synthetics) or apply fray stop for easier handling. Alternatively, you can always tidy-up the ends after completion if/as needed.
Making a rolled rosette:
- Tie a knot at one end of the strip. Some people prefer to start with a fold at the centre, but I prefer a knot. It’s easy, gives a nice firm centre to build on, and keeps the starting end on the bottom of the rosette for later trim and cover.
- Twist/fold the strip away from you, and then wrap/roll it around the centre. This is what creates the illusion of petals as you build the rosette. The tighter the twist, the flatter the flower, the tighter the roll, the tighter the rosebud. All to personal taste!
- Repeat the twist-and-roll motion, periodically securing as you go. I use a little dab of low-temp hot glue hidden behind the roll, but you can stitch if you prefer. Careful – low-temp is still hot!
- When you’re near the end of the ribbon or have reached your target size, fold the ribbon towards the bottom of the rose. Secure in place.
- Trim the ends if/as needed.
As a tip, if this is a new crafting technique for you, I recommend practising a few times with a length of ribbon to get the feel for the motion, restarting if/as needed. It can be a little confusing at first, but suddenly it starts to feel second nature and the rose starts to take shape. Practice loose to avoid wasting your materials. Once you’re comfortable, then start making your flowers in earnest, securing as you go.
Making a DIY Flower Dog Collar Decoration with Rosettes
You can finish off the bottom of your single rosette by gluing on a little circle of felt to hide the ends and pretty things up, if you wish. You can also get fancy and embellish the rosettes with leaves, rhinestones, etc. For our collar decoration arrangement as shown:
- In complimentary colours, create three rosebuds: one large, one medium, and one small.
- Cut a small piece of complimentary felt and place it on a firm flat surface.
- Glue the underside of the flowers to the felt, taking care to tuck under any ribbon ends and ensure the roses are positioned tightly together. Take care, low-temp glue is still hot! Trim your felt if needed.
- Optional: Add a few stitches to ensure the rosettes are firmly secured to each other and the felt backing. If you wish, when you are ready to add your attachments, you can add a second layer of felt to cover your stitching for a fully-finished appearance on the back.
- Optional: Cut leaves from green felt. Glue them into the gaps in your rosette arrangement. We made them heart-shaped (just because!) and added a few veins with green fabric pen.
- Add collar attachments to suit your needs. See tips below.
Options for Attaching Flower Decorations to a Dog Collar
DIY Flower Dog Collar Attachments
The best method of attachment for accessories depends on the accessory and your dog. For a simple lightweight decoration, attaching a loop of elastic that can be slipped over the collar works. Larger pieces (like this wider decoration) may need several loops of firm elastic or wide Velcro. To ensure things stay in place for a very special event or with an extra active pup, you may even prefer to sew or glue the flowers onto a matching collar slide or directly onto the collar. See our post on DIY dog bow ties for more tips on attaching accessories.
Remember, safety over style, furfriends! Good behaviour to go with the good looks is not guaranteed. Just look at cheeky Humphrey rolling around in the collage above. Rascal. You can use any collar attachment method you wish, but make sure your flowers are secure. Loosing or damaging them would be sad. But more importantly, if you have a dog who’s prone to nibbling naughty things, loose accessories can be a hazard. For safety, accessories are best kept for special occasions or events with you present, just in case. Safety is always more important than style. Whatever style or attachment method you prefer, keep it safe, secure, and limit any accessories to supervised wear only.
