Make an easy scrap fabric DIY dog toy for your best friend this Christmas (or any time of year really!).

If you’re a parent you’ve no doubt experienced the age old problem where you buy your kid a brand new toy which they enjoy for approximately 15 minutes (if you’re lucky). Then it gets relegated to the bottom of the toy box never to be seen again whilst they have hours of fun with the box it came in.

It’s a similar story with puppies. You buy them a basket full of toys to keep them from eating your shoes, your hair brush, the kids’ lego or the phone charger and they chew on them for about 30 seconds before going back to something far more interesting. The more you don’t want them to chew on it the more interesting it becomes!

I noticed our little dog has a fascination with our recycled fabric rug. She loves to grab at the scraps of fabric and pull at them – not cool! I like my rug and want to keep it thank you very much.

Seeing how interested she is in it gave me the idea of creating a DIY dog toy in a similar fashion. It took no time at all to make from our basket of fabric scraps and was such a hit I decided to make one for all the dogs in our family. Note: they are not all OUR dogs, but my Mum & Dad’s, my sister and her partner’s pets too.

We did get ALL THE DOGS together for a mega dog playdate one day, here is a picture of them so you know who I’m talking about. 

Aren’t they cute? I know, they couldn’t care less about Christmas and would be just as happy (or even more happy) with a box or a piece of gift wrap to tear up, but I decided to make them all a scrap fabric chew toy anyway.

How to make a scrap fabric DIY dog chew toy

You will need

• Fabric scraps
• Pinking shears (zig zag scissors)
• Scissors

How to:

Cut your fabric into long strips. The ones I cut for a small dog toy are approximately 10cm x 50cm. There is no set size though, the bigger your toy the bigger the strips will need to be. 

Roll the strips into long tube shapes, and tie them together securely at the top.

Braid the three strips, then tie securely at the other end, and trim the ends if needed.

Trust me, your dog is going to love it!

Now if you want to add a cute bone-shaped dog gift tag like mine I’ve created a free printable template. You can either print it directly onto coloured card stock, or print onto ordinary paper and then trace the shape onto card stock.

Here are the printable dog bone tags.

Scrap fabric DIY dog toy

Print

Make a simple scrap fabric dog chew toy

Prep Time 5 minutes

Active Time 5 minutes

Total Time 10 minutes

Difficulty easy

Materials

• Fabric scraps

Tools

• Scissors
• Pinking shears

Instructions

1. Cut your fabric into strips - minimum size 10cm x 50cm but for a larger toy you'd need longer strips
2. Trim the top and bottom with pinking shears
3. Roll the strips into tubes and tie together at the top
4. Braid the strips tightly, then tie together at the base. Trim if needed.

That’s the dogs sorted, now what shall I get the guinea pigs?

More Christmas gift ideas

• Make a small gingerbread house for somebody special
• Do you know anyone who’d like some peaches and cream bath bombs?
• Shannon from Oh Creative Day has shown us how to make some cool foil-printed arty gift tags
• Felt flower hair clips make a nice handmade gift for girls (or their friends)
• Cereal box bookmarks are a nice handmade touch you can add to a book gift

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