Dapper Dog: The Story Behind Basil's New Collars

Basil wanted to pop in today to show off a couple of his favorite new collars — and ask if you like his latest fashion statement?

You might remember, he made it a 2015 goal and resolution to try and add a few new styles to his growing collar collection. We like to joke that he has a different collar for each of the seasons. We've got one for Halloween, Holidays, and the rest of the year.

Basil's holiday season collar has been a longtime favorite — it's made from a red tartan pattern and gets, by far, the most compliments when he has it on.

Over the holidays, my mother brought us over a handful of ribbons in different tartan patterns she'd picked up on a recent trip to Scotland. She told us they'd reminded her of Basil's holiday collar, which is funny, because the red version of her ribbon was the exact pattern of his collar.

The tartans (which is another name for plaid) she gave us came in names like Menzies, Campbell and Royal Stewart. Call me naive, but I didn't realize there were different meanings to the plaid patterns, so it was fun to look up and learn about. I love the fact that Basil's been sporting the "Royal Stewart" — the best known tartan of the royal House of Stewart, the personal tartan of Queen Elizabeth II, and one of the most recognizable tartans over the past several holiday seasons and we knew nonetheless. How very classy of you, Basil.

We'd originally gotten his red plaid (ahem, Royal Stewart) collar from Bonnie Cecil of Uncle Barkley on Etsy. She makes all sorts of different dog collars and accessories from patterned ribbons, so we reached out to see if she'd be open to making a couple custom collars from the Scottish ribbons mom had given us.

Bonnie was awesome, letting us know she'd be thrilled to make the custom designs for Basil. We mailed her the ribbons and within what seemed like the same week, a parcel arrived with Basil's name on it containing his fancy new collars:

Aren't they just stunning? We were so tickled she was able to make them from our own ribbons and love the story behind it all. It's also opened up the idea that custom dog collars can be made from any ribbon we happen to have, find or like.

Thanks, as always, for popping in today to see what we're up to. Basil is grateful you cared to read about the latest collars in his growing collection and wants to know which seasons you think would work best for each?

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