Tuesday's Tip # 34 Christmas Bandannas

It's almost here...Christmas!

I can't believe it.

November and December are booked.

Right now is the time to buy Christmas material if you like making bandannas for your customers.

I waited till November last year, and the only material left was too ugly to use.

I used to buy my material from Wal-Mart.

They used to have a nice craft and sewing section, but most of them have closed up.

I do have one Wal-Mart close to work that still has the sewing and craft department, but they don't seem to get the nice material in like they used to.

So, I went to Jo-Ann Fabrics.

Their materials is twice as much as Wal-Marts, but it still costs less for me to make my own bandannas.

They are nothing fancy, but the customers love them.

  I only found four patterns that I like so far.

I like to get one each for the girls and the boys.

Then a few more that could go on both male and female.

I buy 2 to 3 yards of each pattern depending on their price.

I also like to use pinking shears.

It puts a little bit of a fancy edge on the bandanna.

I don't bother with measuring the material.

I lay it out on a large flat surface. (I use my bed)

I leave the material folded the way it comes off of the bolt at the store.

Lay it out and take the corner and bring it down to form an even triangle.

This is easier for me then getting a ruler and measuring out a square.

Now you have the bandanna shape.

Leave the material folded while you make your first cut.

Follow the edge of the folded piece.

This is what it will look like after the first cut.

Once again, keep the material folded, and cut again at the fold.

You now have two folded pieces.

Cut again at the folds.

You now have four large dog bandannas.

You can fold and cut these again to get medium size bandannas.

Fold and cut the medium size to get small dog sizes.

One large dog bandanna will make two medium dog bandannas, and four small dog bandannas.

I make more large and medium size bandannas, because I can always quickly cut a large or medium bandanna down to a smaller one as needed.

Storing these darn things has always been a problem for me.

If I store them in drawer, they start out nice and neat, but after a day of sorting through them for the one I want, they get all messed up in the drawer.

So this year I found a different way to keep them by my table.

For five dollars I bought a skirt organizer.

It has six different sections that I can organize the bandannas on.

I can also slide the clips back and forth to accommodate the size of the bandanna.

I can sort them by size.

I can hang them by my table. 

I can pick the size I want, take off that pile, sort through them, and then clip them back in place.

We'll see how well it works out.

So, if you want to make your own bandannas for Christmas, get out to the store now before all of the pretty material is gone.

Happy Grooming, MFF