In the cold state of Minnesota, Buddy often needs to wear sweaters when he goes outside. Unfortunately, dog sweaters and coats can cost upwards of $30. So when David had some sweaters he was getting rid of, I decided to try my hand at re-purposing them and making Buddy a new sweater. I figured it was a win-win situation because if it didn’t turn out, it didn’t cost me any money!
Step 1: Use your dog’s current favorite sweater/coat as a pattern. Lay the current dog sweater on top of the old “human” sweater and trace it with a fabric marker, giving yourself an extra ¼ inch for the seam.
Cut out the pattern making sure to cut through the top and bottom layer of the old sweater. Make sure that you cut on a cutting mat or a thick piece of cardboard so that you don’t ruin your floors. (I was being lazy and used my handheld rotary cutter instead of tracing and just cut around Buddy’s existing sweater.
Please ignore the “cone of shame” Buddy got neutered yesterday and keeps trying to lick his stitches.)
Step 2: Pin the two pieces together. Make sure that the two right sides are facing each other before you pin. These will show on the outside once you turn out the fabric.
Step 3: Sew around the fabric giving yourself a ¼ seam. I use the foot of the sewing machine as my guide. Leave a 2 inch opening and turn out the fabric.
Step 4: Pin the two inch opening closed, tucking under the raw edge so that you have a nice seam. Hand sew it shut using the same color thread.
Step 5: Using the sewing machine, top stitch around the outside of the sweater using a zig-zag stitch. I also used the foot of my sewing machine as a guide so that my top stitch was even. At this time, also sew closed the top part of the arm opening of the right side.
Step 6: Hand sew Velcro on the neck strap and belly strap of the sweater. Use a heavy duty needle and thread and sew around the outside edges of the velcro . (I tried using my sewing machine at first but broke my needle.)
Happy sewing! Buddy sure loves his sweater. I hope your dog does too!
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