Happy New Year!!!!
It seems like every year I start off wanting to sew and blog more. I get new quilting stuff for Christmas that I'm excited about and work slows down for me in January. Then, I get sick/depressed/busy again, forget all about blogging and last year I actually didn't get a lot of sewing in. It was a crazy year. I have 6 drafts saved up from January of last year that I didn't get to post because I didn't have the pictures ready and never got around to them. I think this will be my year to change all that.
At the end of 2015, I finally got to sew something other than mending! It finally got cold here in DFW after Christmas so my daughter and I had to make our dogs sweaters. We used Simplicity 3939. I bought it on sale for under $2 a few years back. It's for smaller dogs.
I've used this pattern before. I tried to make view B with 4 legs in a medium but it turned out too small for Frederick, my Jack Russel Terrier. It was too short along the spine even though it was fine in the chest/neck area. It also made him walk funny. This year I made view D without the ribbing. I replaced them with fleece because it's extra warm and my dogs will chew up these sweaters eventually, they always do.
My daughter made view B for Princess with modifications. She drafted out the rear pant legs because she needed the length. She added extra to the chest because the pattern was too tight there originally and shortened the leg length so it was harder to chew on. And on both we changed the order of construction. The pattern instructions say to sew up the chest seam then insert the legs and collar but we put the legs and collar in flat (stretch the collar to fit), sew the legs into tubes then sew up the chest/collar seam in one go. Its easier in that order. We also skip the hemming and the dogs don't mind the shortcut.
We got a medium and large coat out of less than a yard of fleece that we got at the end of the season last year for 60% off I believe. This is a great pattern for fleece scraps and cheaper than buying doggie couture and then they chew it up. I use a lightweight fusible interfacing on the backside of my pattern so it will last a long time. Last winter I think we had to make 3-4. Hopefully this year, they'll last longer.
Happy sewing!
At the end of 2015, I finally got to sew something other than mending! It finally got cold here in DFW after Christmas so my daughter and I had to make our dogs sweaters. We used Simplicity 3939. I bought it on sale for under $2 a few years back. It's for smaller dogs.
I've used this pattern before. I tried to make view B with 4 legs in a medium but it turned out too small for Frederick, my Jack Russel Terrier. It was too short along the spine even though it was fine in the chest/neck area. It also made him walk funny. This year I made view D without the ribbing. I replaced them with fleece because it's extra warm and my dogs will chew up these sweaters eventually, they always do.
My daughter made view B for Princess with modifications. She drafted out the rear pant legs because she needed the length. She added extra to the chest because the pattern was too tight there originally and shortened the leg length so it was harder to chew on. And on both we changed the order of construction. The pattern instructions say to sew up the chest seam then insert the legs and collar but we put the legs and collar in flat (stretch the collar to fit), sew the legs into tubes then sew up the chest/collar seam in one go. Its easier in that order. We also skip the hemming and the dogs don't mind the shortcut.
We got a medium and large coat out of less than a yard of fleece that we got at the end of the season last year for 60% off I believe. This is a great pattern for fleece scraps and cheaper than buying doggie couture and then they chew it up. I use a lightweight fusible interfacing on the backside of my pattern so it will last a long time. Last winter I think we had to make 3-4. Hopefully this year, they'll last longer.
Happy sewing!
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