DIY Dog Couture

Designing clothes to fit dogs is a challenge and one size does not fit all body types. The function of the dog clothing has to suit the activity and the environment where the dog moves and grooves about town or country. 

My 13 lb. Silky Terrier, Ziggy is longer in the body with sturdy broad shoulders, shorter legs, and yet tiny everywhere else. Trying to find him a jacket that covered his back length and fit him properly through the chest was difficult to find in stores.

Ziggy LOVES to be FASHIONABLE & most of all LOVED!

We adopted an older dog named Ziggy (4.5 years old) from the Atlantic Small Dog Rescue. I could see right away he had not been socialized much outside of the home. Ziggy was wound up pretty tight when he arrived at my home and with too many unsettling changes to relax, I needed to let him run. I know dogs from years of looking after OTHER PEOPLES dogs that once you get them outside to run and sniff and allow them to unwind their stress, eventually they will calm down. 

Read about my dog fosters here.

I let Ziggy run wild and free of leash which took about 3 months of crashing through the wilderness, deliriously discovering his dog greatness while his lack of coordination would have him flip and fall often but with no problems, shake it off and get back up and try again. 

We also were getting to know each other while building trust which apparently had been hard to do with him in the past. Think there was so much human confusion in understanding what he was trying to say and believe me he has LOTS to say!  

I decided to put a kitty bell on his collar so I could let him go nuts but keep an ear on him while he was exploring the woods. I had only to whistle for him and Ziggy would come back with crazed eyes of sparking pure joy and wonderment. I would cringe seeing him crash and smash his way through the bush, and was thinking I would need to design him a suit of amour out of tin cans!

I used up every scrap of 100% wool by tying pieces to the corners of the felted squares looking like an old quilt.

Ziggy has since come to discover that being a dog is pretty fun and after a few months of crazed freedom in the wilderness of Seaforth Nova Scotia, he has since calmed down to a dull terrier roar and is super happy to live in Doggy Disneyland! I promised Ziggy he will get outside to run every single day and be allowed to roam freely to connect with nature, for the rest of his precious life! 

WINTERS COMING!  I needed to make some warm clothing for him and it had to be prickle proof, warm, and wet proof...and of course it's got to be country funky!

Felted Knit Slippers with SKULL button.

After making knitted felted slippers for Christmas gifts, I wanted to use up my scraps of yarn and make some kind of patchwork jacket that would work well for our wilderness and keep Ziggy warm.

I started knitting scraps of wool into squares and making enough to cover the whole body. I was guessing how this was going to turn out every inch of the way. Once I knitted a bunch of little squares, I washed the finished squares in hot soapy water to felt (shrink), which they did then crocheted the squares together to make a shape that would fit him. 

The hot water washed the sweater again, shrinking the crochet, and now it's a solid piece of shaped fabric. To add straps for his neck and belly, I created crocheted toggle buttonholes with acrylic mix wool which does not shrink and keeps its size after washing. 

For a more firmly fitted jacket to stay snug, I added Velcro to support the wood toggle buttons keeping it secured on his body when he is pursuing the wild pheasants. 

Felting the wool makes it a very durable jacket that is wet proof, dirt proof, and easy to put on. I can layer this coat over a thinner sweater for a super warm winter outfit.

HOW TO FELT Wool: Felting wool is trial and error and to judge how much the wool felts, I suggest making a sample square before knitting a felted project so can calculate approximately how BIG to make the original knit. After shrinking a 5"x5" square, calculate how much has shrunk. It can be shrunk even more with more hot washing but once you get the right size, there is no amounting of stretching to get it to become bigger. I wash his jacket once in a while in cold water in the machine but take it out and stretch it to mold it back to a nice shape and let it air dry for a couple of days.

Every brand of wool will shrink differently and it must be 100% wool to fabric felt. I like making felt and for his winter sweater, it will become more water-resistant, durable, resistant to prickly underbrush, and keep his body warm with the ability to shake off the snow and dirt easily and then hang dry. 

Ziggy chewed the wood toggle button by his neck, the first time he wore it. He thought what a great idea to add something to chew on while he waits for the humans to get geared up for the walk!!! ..ahhhh sew another one on!

Ziggy shaved and mat-free for spring tick season!

When a dog has long hair, wearing any kind of jacket will mat the hair eventually to a tangled mess. Needless to say, by the end of the season, he had to be shaved to the skin to remove his hair mats. When he is trimmed to the skin like this and he comes screaming out of his groomers' shop hyper...I sing to him "Looking GOOD in his SKINNY JEANS".  Also, it's tick season, and short hair is a must and we find several ticks on him every spring season.

Getting on a roll with designing sweaters for Ziggy, I had many requests to make outfits for friends' dogs. I said no to everyone except my sister Colleen who needed a wool jacket for her  Miniature Pinscher. 

Sophie rides on the back of my sister's boyfriend Harley which can get very cold for a short hair dog. Sophie loves to wear her outfits all the time so when she got my GIRLIE 100% wool designer sweater and knitted cap, she was thrilled with the comfort and the warmth of a one-of-a-kind dog sweater. She gets lots of smiles and compliments!

DO NOT LAUGH!!!... Sophie LOVES her new warm outfit as it is cozy and vibrant like her!  Dog ears get very cold on the back of a motorcycle so I designed a fitted cap that could tuck in her ears and ties snugly under her chin so it doesn't blow off of her slick hair. I made a crochet Pom Pom tie to secure under her chin.

I wanted an easy on and off neck warmer tube that helps to cover her neck and keep the hat on the head in position, intended to keep her warm. I used my dog Ziggy as the model to design the neck and hat in one piece hoping that it would fit Sophie. I put a brim onto the cap too as it will filter some of the sun from her eyes and besides she looks pretty groovy and if she wore her bike goggles, certainly she would get ALL the ATTENTION! 

I had no idea if this was going to fit Sophie, as I got some measurements in an email and a photo of Sophie to try and judge her shape and size. I had fun making this outfit for her but it was all made without patterns. Let's just say I do a lot of ripping out till I got what I think was right for her fit.

Ziggy is such a patient model who allowed me to use him for checking out how Sophie's sweater and the hat were going to fit as I knitted. Of course, Ziggy's payment for his professional modeling services was promptly paid after each photoshoot!

I crocheted flowers and attached them to the back of the sweater and used them as a belt loop. The strap is crochet and put a pom-pom on the end of the tie to match the pom-pom hat. 

I found a pattern to guide me to make Ziggy's indoor housecoat which later was remodeled for outside winter wear! Ziggy gets CHILLY in the house at times so I thought to make this cozy sweater for him but found it to be too hot and would eventually add a turtle neck and a longer back to wear it outside in the winter. 

I added a turtle neck, crocheted a tie belt which is stitched under the belly area, and ties on top easily.  Later I knitted a longer piece to add to the body length which now covers much of his exposed skin.

I looked at a lot of FREE dog sweater patterns before finding something that I could easily custom fit Ziggy's body type. I added more to the Fringed Belted sweater by adding on a turtle neck and extended the body longer so he could wear this sweater outside in the cold winter. 

As it was with the open neck, it proved to be a bad design because he would literally walk his legs out of the neck area and the sweater would be half off of him...BACK to the drawing board! 

This is the pattern I used as a guide for knitting the Fringed Belted sweater...dog sweater pattern here...

My latest dog outfit was inspired by re-purposing items around my house and using items I had on hand. I wanted to design him an outfit that had a Ghetto Street edge! I had made a pair of old stretch denim cut-offs for myself but saved the patched bottom half of the jeans. I wanted to use it someday for a creative project. 

The bottom half of the stretchy jean legs turned out to be a perfect size that would slip over his body without any sewing! PERFECT! All I had to do to make it work as a Ghetto Jean Jacket, was to cut holes out for the legs and cut an arch underbelly to fit his boyish figure! The neck I left raw and just roll it.

I decided to make some kind of finishing trim to the leg edges and body edges too so the denim would not curl up but didn't want to use NEW trim as it's all about the worn Ghetto LOOK. I dug out a worn-out dishrag that has seen better days and it was perfectly ragged and fraying the way I like it. I cut strips, sewing pieces together to make sure they would go along the outside of the denim leg holes and the body edge of the jacket.

 Easy to just hand stitch the dish rag trim with a basic loop stitch then took another stitch called the running top stitch to make the edges lay flat and comfortable as well as give it more strength in the finishing edge. 

I save buttons from outfits that go into the recycling bin and had a nice variety of small color buttons of various sizes which I sewed on for added decorative detail. I had some old cotton thread kicking around too and roughly stitched his name ZIGGY onto the back of his styling Ghetto Jean Jacket. There is no pattern for this...I made it up as I went along and luckily he fit the pant leg perfectly.

Check out my Pinterest Collections for more:

PET STUFF including patterns:

Follow Artgirlgallery Minaz's board Pet Stuff on Pinterest.

 

BARK BARK & smiles...Minaz & Ziggy