Father's Day snuck up on me this year, and I found myself trying to put together a gift kind of last minute. So I did what I always do when I'm stuck: I thought about the things my dad actually loves. His kids, mountain biking, and his dog Jake. I'd already made him a bag for his bike handlebar a while back, so this time I wanted to make something for the other thing he loves: Jake.

I'd seen dog poop bag holders floating around for a while and always thought they looked like a fun, fast make. So with Father's Day closing in, I figured this was the moment. Quick to sew, a great way to use up fabric scraps, and an actual useful gift instead of another tie.

It's Basically a Mini Boxed Zipper Pouch

If you've ever made a zipper pouch with boxed corners, this is the same idea shrunk way down. You're sewing a zipper panel, boxing the corners so the pouch has depth instead of lying flat, and adding a clip so it can hang off a leash. It's a great little project if you've never tackled boxed corners before, since the scale makes any wobble a lot more forgiving than it would be on a full-size bag.

The Pattern I Used

I used the free DIY Dog Poop Bag Holder pattern from See Kate Sew. It comes with a printable template, clear step-by-step photos, and the finished size comfortably fits a standard roll of bags. The whole thing came together in well under an hour.

Materials

  • 1/4 yard fabric for the exterior (this is a great project for using up scraps or a fat quarter)
  • 1/4 yard fusible interfacing to give the pouch some structure
  • A swivel hook with a D-ring bottom (also called a lobster claw clasp) so it clips onto a leash. I didn't have any on hand, so I ordered these last minute from Amazon and they showed up just in time
  • A 5" zipper, or slightly longer
  • Basic sewing supplies: scissors or a rotary cutter, ruler, thread, sewing machine
Pattern pieces and cut fabric laid out for two dog poop bag holders, one in a tropical surfing dogs print and one in a colorful polka dot print

A Good Scrap-Busting Project

I ended up making two: one for my dad and one for my sister. This is the kind of project that's perfect for a quarter yard of something you've been hanging onto. For my dad's, I found a surfing dogs print, which felt like it was made for him. For my sister's, I used a bright polka dot print I had left over from another project. The small scale means even a busy print looks great, and it's exactly the kind of thing a leftover fat quarter is good for.

Sewing the red zipper onto the tropical surfing dogs print fabric at the sewing machine Pinning the swivel clip onto the yellow zipper of the polka dot pouch

Sewing the zipper in is the fiddliest part, but it goes fast once you've done it once. After that it's just boxing the corners and attaching the clip.

The two finished dog poop bag holders, a polka dot pouch and a tropical surfing dogs print pouch A finished dog poop bag holder showing the open sleeve in the back where you pull a bag out

The Best Part: A Hidden Note

For the actual gifting, I cut a long strip of paper into a ribbon shape and wrote a Father's Day note down the length of it. I left one end tucked into the back opening, right where a poop bag would normally be, and wrote "pull here" on the tab. So my dad pulled what he thought was a bag, and instead got a long handwritten Father's Day note slowly unspooling from yours truly. Worth the last-minute Amazon order alone.

The Gift

The clip attaches right to a leash D-ring, so it's always there and ready to go. Mine went straight from my sewing table to my dad's hands on Father's Day, and now Jake's walks come with a dispenser that doesn't look like it came out of a plastic roll from the pet store.

If you've got a dog owner in your life and you're stuck on a gift, this one is hard to beat. It's fast, it's practical, and it actually gets used every single walk.

My dad's photo from a walk with Jake, the surfing dogs poop bag holder clipped to the leash

My dad sent me this the second he got home: Jake mid-walk, holder clipped right onto the leash and already in use. That's the whole point of making something like this. It doesn't just sit on a shelf.

If you make one, tag me on Instagram @DesignsbyERB. I'd love to see what fabric you picked, and bonus points if you steal the hidden note idea.