How To Make A Martingale Collar

Take a close look at a Martingale dog collar. Notice the two loops, a D-ring, a tri-glide slide for adjustment and two rectangle rings. The larger loop lies against your dog's throat area and the smaller loop rests on the top of your dog's neck. When the short loop is pulled, the large loop is affected. This is what keeps your dog from slipping a collar and it works unbelievably well!

Depending on where you buy retail collars, you may not be familiar with a Martingale collar for dogs. To learn more, read A Martingale for Dogs on Country Brook Design's blog.

If you are the do-it-yourself type, you make dog collars to sell to pet owners, or if you want to make a donation to your local shelter, you really should try making a Martingale using our easy-to-follow tutorial. All you need is some hardware, webbing material, and our clear written instructions below that include great photos for every step of the way. You've got this!

Figure 1: Triple Stitch

1. Stitch forward about 1".
2. Next, backstitch the same length.
3. Now, stitch forward the same length.

Figure 2: Box Stitch

1. Perform a triple stitch.
2. Turn piece diagonally ~45° and backstitch.
3. Next, perform another triple stitch.
4. Turn piece diagonally again ~45°. Close the "box" by stitching back to your original stitches.

• 2 Lengths of Nylon Webbing *
• 2 Rectangle Rings *
• 1 Triglide Slide *
• 1 D-Ring *
• Sewing Machine
• B69 sewing thread in your choice of color
• Scissors
• Measuring Tape
• Lighter
• Optional: your choice of fabric

Refer to the table above for correct measurements. Cut your webbing to length. Remember to measure twice and cut once!

Also, heat all the cut ends of webbing with the lighter so the individual nylon fibers melt together.  If you're not quite sure how to do all that, don't worry! We have a handy guide here to help you cut your webbing properly.

For directions showing how to create a designer fabric Martingale dog collar, visit our directions for creating fabric-covered webbing and follow steps 1 through 8. Once you have finished, click to close and continue to Stage One of the Martingale instructions.

Insert the short piece of webbing through the two rectangle pieces.

Fold the left end over the right end by about 3" - 4".

On the right side, sew a box stitch (Figure 2) 1/8" from the webbing end.

Insert the D-ring between the two overlapped pieces with the straight side against the webbing and the curved part pointing inside the loop.

Snug the D-ring against the first box stitch and then sew another box stitch about 1/8" from the webbing end on the left side (open end). (This creates a small channel that will allow the D-ring some side-to-side movement.)

Now, turn the loop inside-out so the D-ring is on the outside for leash and/or ID tag attachment.

You should now have a small loop with two rectangle rings and a D-ring. Place the completed loop to the side.

Insert one end of the long piece of webbing through both openings of the triglide.

Fold webbing back about 2".

Sew a Box Stitch 1/8" from the end to secure the triglide on the webbing strap.

Place the long piece in front of you with triglide and box-stitched end to your right. The raw webbing end should be on top.

Pick up the completed short loop. With the D-ring facing you, take the long piece and insert the unstitched end through the rectangle ring on the right side of the short loop.

Push the end of long webbing strap up through the "empty" slot on the triglide slide.

Bring the end to the triglide and insert from beneath the triglide, over and down through the other side of the triglide. There should now be a double thickness of webbing on the triglide.

From above, put the unstitched end of the long strap down through the remaining rectangle ring.

Fold about 2" and box stitch 1/8" from webbing end to secure. (We insert the Country Brook Design® label between the layers of webbing at this stage.)

You have just completed a Martingale dog collar, just like the ones the artisans make here at Country Brook Design. Let us know how it went; your feedback is always welcome and helpful.

Better yet, take a picture of your collar on a dog and share it with our friends on Facebook, on our Good Job! board on Pinterest.

You'll encourage other readers to try their hand at a custom collar and you'll help us spread the word about this great collar. Sounds like a great partnership for all involved.