Collar for my Doggie

Oh hey.  Remember me?  Good. 

I've made a couple things recently and I've gotta share.  Today I'm sharing the dog collar I made.  Our Border Collie, Mattie(pictured here with a very handsome cowboy I just happen to know ;)),

is such a sweetie.  She's a working dog, so she helps out when we're moving cattle.  She keeps an eye on the kids when they're in the yard and "protects" them from anything: the horses across the fence, the cat, and especially anyone who pulls in the drive.  And when they get too rowdy for her she trots off and does a little gopher chasing, her favorite hobby.

We've had Mattie since the year we got married, so she's seen a lot of changes in the last few years.  And, she's had a lot less pampering.  Which is fine by her, she's just not that kind of dog.  I was brushing her about a month ago and took off her collar.  She has such long hair I usually don't see it at all, so I was surprised that it looked like this:

It used to be red.  And not quite so dirty.  Yuck, poor little doggie.  So, I made her this:

 

I used the clasps, slider thingy, and d-ring from the old collar.  The old collar was 3/4" wide, so I cut a piece of fabric 3"X22", pressed it in half width-wise, and folded the long edges into the center crease and pressed again.  Then I edge-stitched with some contrasting thread, placed the hardware, and stitched across the width to secure it in the same manner as the original.  Cute, huh?  Much better than the old version.  The next time I do it I'll add some decor-weight fusible interfacing because I noticed it's a little floppy after a couple weeks' wear.