Dog clothes for small dogs

Dog clothes are probably not something necessary, except maybe in cold weather. But I’ve got to admit that dog in clothes are probably one of the cutest things in the world. At first, I just tried my hand on recycling Sidra’s old T-shirts into Duff’s t-shirt using this free pattern from Free Dog Clothes Pattern blog. They were finished crudely so I won’t post them here.

But then I found this: MillaMilla, an online dog PDF pattern shop that features the cutest and most adorable dogwear, and suddenly I have a new hobby. MillaMilla offers several free pattern that can be downloaded here. Right now they have a tanktop and hood pattern, but more free patterns will be added soon. This online shop is actually a Japanese pattern shop that has recently developed its English site. The Japanese site features more cute patterns and even a pattern book! They also have an etsy shop.

I ordered the book and it is delivered in just a couple of days. The book features patterns for small-sized dogs only (chihuahua to poodles and slightly differently drafted pattern for small dachshund), but the website has bigger sizes. There are 45 different variations of  tank top, T-shirt, raglan sleeves T-shirt, camisoles, shirt, coat, bandana, and belly band patterns in this book. As usual with Japanese pattern books, there are no seam allowances but the drawings show how much and where to add the allowances.

It is a great thing that I can recycle old clothes to make new ones for Duff! The blue tank top is recycled from an old T-shirt. The beetle patch is from Sidra’s shirt that I made five years ago. The shirt is torn in places, I saved the patch and applied heat and bond iron on adhesive. I use size DS (Dachshund small) for this t-shirt, it is a bit too fitted but still okay.

The camouflage pattern T-shirt is from another t-shirt that I made for Sidra a couple of years ago. This time I use MillaMilla free tank top pattern in  size DM (Dachshund medium). You can see that it has more ease than the blue one.

Here’s a striped hoodie, recycled from a top I made two years ago. I think he looks like a seal in the first picture!

This one might be totally unnecessary. A dog wearing a shirt in woven fabric? Also, a batik shirt? It is sort of Indonesian personal joke, as batik shirt is considered a formal wear for Indonesian men. The batik fabric was once a part of Sidra’s Javanese costume that he wore for a photoshoot for Sesame, a kids’ fashion magazine. I think Duff looks pretty comfortable in it!

Pattern is from MillaMilla: free tank top pattern, Dog clothes for small dogs pattern book.

Duff loves his cardboard house

It has only been three weeks since Duff came, but it sure feels like a long time! He has learned several commands like sit, stay, and down. He still doesn’t like to play with toys, but Sidra made him a cardboard house and Duff really loves it! He can spend quite a long time in it, digging on the bottom or ripping the wall.

He sleeps on his bed in our bedroom at night, and sometimes in the morning he would crawl inside my blanket to sleep. It is so cute. He loves following me, sometimes when we came home, he ignores my husband and Sidra and goes greeting me first. I think I’ve grown quite attached to this little guy.

Now for the bittersweet part. Duff is sweet and cute so it is no wonder that he has found a loving family already. He will leave this week on the 21st to meet them, along with his bed and clothes. He really likes the bed that I made for him, so it is better if he can take it to his new home. I will surely miss him, but it is part of being a foster parent. Congratulations Duff and good luck on the new journey in your life!

As he is growing, Sidra is in constant need of new clothes, especially pants. He doesn’t like wearing long pants in spring and summer, and asked me to make more knee-length pants. This is a new pair that I’ve made using a Japanese pattern book. By the way, I’ve been using Japanese pattern books for kids’ clothes since Sidra in kindergarten (110 cm), and this year is probably the last time I can use them because the sizes end at 130 cm.

I made pattern #24 from シンプル&ちょこっとデザイン おんなの子服おとこの子服, which I have used last year. It is one of my favorite pattern books. The pants has back yoke and fake back pockets with flaps. The sides of  the front pockets and flaps are sewed together with the sides of the pants. I didn’t make the fake back pockets this time.

The fabric is denim in monochromatic leopard print with rust toipstitching. Sidra said that he really loves the print!

Pattern is #24 from シンプル&ちょこっとデザイン おんなの子服おとこの子服, size 130.

Bombshell swimsuit

If you want to make your own Bombshell swimsuit , here is some good news for you!

Heather will be running a Bombshell swimsuit sewalong in her blog, so it’s like she will be by your side guiding you making the swimsuit! And you can have a chance to win a Bombshell swimsuit PDF pattern by leaving a comment in this post! I will draw a winner on Friday, June 14th! Thank you!

UPDATE:

Thank you for entering the giveaway! The winner is Ai. Congratulations!

It is starting to feel like summer here! And just in time, Heather Lou of Closet Case Files has just launched her Bombshell swimsuit pattern!

In case you haven’t followed her fabulous blog, last year she made this very flattering vintage style swimsuit. Since then she has worked on creating multi sizes pattern of a perfected version of the swimsuit. The PDF pattern is now available to buy in her etsy shop!

I’m very fortunate that Heather has kindly invited me to one of her pattern tester. I finished mine sometime last week and have been dying to share it here!

From her description of Bombshell swimsuit pattern: ‘The Bombshell is modeled on a classic 1950′s silhouette, a style that harkens back to the golden era of flattering, sexy and (dare I say) modest swimsuits. The pattern includes 3 variations in 8 sizes: a gathered bust, a halter neck, and a high waist bottom which you can mix and match with your favourite bikini top. Ruched on all sides and along the back centre seam, the Bombshell hugs your curves while providing full (but sexy) coverage. Its booty encasing seat and skirt-like front ensure your butt is covered (literally), avoiding the dreaded 4-cheek butt-bulge of higher cut suits. Fully lined, it will keep you decent in or out of the water.’

This is actually the second swimsuit that I’ve ever made. The first one is here, using Burdastyle pattern, where the bust treatment is rather similar to Bombshell view A. So I made view B, which has a pair of triangle shaped cups and halter neck.

My fabric is swimwear lycra in rust color with leaf print. The lining is soft and quick dry lycra that has chlorine durable finish. I use 6 mm wide clear elastic for swimwear, they are resistant against sea water and chlorine. All these notions are from Merckwaerdigh ebay store.

I shortened the bodice about 2.5 cm before cutting the lining to be used as a muslin. After I tried it on, it turned out that I needed to shorten it more about 3 cm. Conveniently, the pattern has two shortening/lengthening lines. Because of this, my lining has sitching lines across them but it is fine as they are inside and nobody will see them anyway. But you can avoid this by not using the lining fabric as muslin of course.

Heather has a very clever way to construct the layers of fabric, extra attention is needed when inserting the leg elastic. The instructions are quite clear though, I followed it carefully and admired the result later on! I think it looks quite good, don’t you think? I love how the skirt and ruched back details provide full coverage while making the swimsuit still looks sexy. I would say that this is truly a vintage style swimsuit! Thank you for giving me the chance to test the pattern, Heather!

PDF pattern: Bombshell swimsuit by Closet Case Files, size 4 tapered to 6 on waist and hip. 

This is for me??? Really??

As Monte has destroyed the big pillow that he used as his bed, I thought that I would make a proper dog bed for Duff. Yes I could have bought it, but where’s the fun of it?

After searching for some DIY dog bed on the internet, I found one via Pinterest that I quite like. Unfortunately the Pinterest link only pointed to the image with no explanation of the original creator. The watermark shows a username on Weibo, a Chinese microblogging service. If you are the owner of the image, or you know who owns the image, please tell me so I can give a proper credit. This is the image.

The idea of the dog bed is quite simple but clever. Everything is in one piece, you only need to shape them by stitching some lines across. The walls are then connected to each other using ribbon ties. Of course this bed is more suitable for calmer dog like Duff. I use cotton/linen mix from my stash, it is an interior weight fabric with checks pattern. Duff seems to like it as he has already lied down on it when I was cutting on the floor. I recycled the fibrefill from Monte’s pillow for the bed’s walls.

With walls up

The pillow form was made from Monte’s old pillow form fabric, filled with leftover fibrefill and cut-up fabric scraps. The case is just some old pillow case lying around. Maybe I should have made a matching pillow case,　ｂut the fabric of this pillow case is very comfortable and Duff loves it.

Pillow added

Dog bed

Now I will show you how to use the bed.

You can use it like this.

You can also use it like this.

Thank you for looking at my bed.

Duff’s pillow

The red pillow is from his previous foster parent. It is made from quilted fabric with his name appliqued on it. Except for the smell, the pillow is still in perfect condition! No bite marks and all. I think it is so adorable that he has his own pillow.

Duff is such a sweet boy! He doesn’t bite, doesn’t chew on things, does his business on the right place (except for several times when he couldn’t differentiate tatami floor with grass). He sleeps on his bed in our bedroom at night and doesn’t have to be crated.

The thing is, he doesn’t know how to play. Maybe he didn’t have toys when he was living with his previous owner. Isn’t that sad, a dog who doesn’t know how to play? I threw him a ball, he looked at the ball and looked back at me excitedly, as if he knows that I want him to do something but he just couldn’t figure it out.

I gave him a chew toy (with tasty bacon flavor!) but he just sniffed it and then looked at me. This morning I gave him a food dispenser toy, he was preoccupied for sometime but stopped when the treats were all gone.

So he usually just follows me everywhere, sitting around me and staring at me with his adorable eyes. It is cute of course, but I hope he will be able to enjoy playing with toys someday!

Monte might be confused right now in his new environment but he will settle down in a couple of weeks just like when he was with us. Here’s a few pictures (out of hundreds) of Monte during the one month that he stayed with us. I will never forget his funny personality, his soft mouth and velvety ears. But I’m truly happy for him. Congratulations, Monte!

We also met out next foster dog at the adoption event. His name is Duff, a 3-4 years old miniature dachshund. He and two other dachshunds were bought by a 90 years old couple who let them breed uncontrollably. At the end, there were 18 dachshunds living in miserable condition. The couple could no longer take care of the dachshunds and they were brought to ARK. This is an article about the dachshunds. It is in Japanese, but there are some pictures of the condition they were living.

Duff is such a sweet dog! We took him home by train and he didn’t make a peep during the 2 hours trip. He doesn’t bite, doesn’t chew on furniture or anything, not even socks that Monte so loved! Now we can put our shoes on the floor again He is housetrained and prefers to do his business outside. He is not very strong, so walking is restricted to not more than 15 minutes twice a day.

He does whine when I leave him, even when I’m upstairs and Sidra is downstairs with him. Unlike Monte who gets along really well with Sidra from the start, Duff is slow to warm up to other people but me. However I think it is still normal since he’s only been with us for a couple of days. He has a rough past so maybe he needs more time to feel comfortable in a new environment.

Days with Duff begins!

More about the dachshunds (article in English).

Vogue 8901

I wanted to make a quick summer dress project and after browsing at my pattern stash, I found this Vogue 8901. From the pattern envelope: “Dress has no side seams, close-fitting, lined bodice extending to side back, pleated skirt, side front seams, narrow hem, and invisible back zipper. B: lined skirt. C: bodice front cut on crosswise grain, back hook & eye closing, and zipper for skirt only.” The bodice of the dress is overlapped on the side and the skirt is actually just pleated rectangles. Looks simple enough!

I cut view A, size 6 on bust, tapered to 10 on waist and hip. The bodice of view A is fully lined but the skirt is not. I used the lining pattern from view B because I wanted my dress fully lined. I shortened the bodice about 2 cm and made my swayback adjustments, was feeling pretty sure that those were the only adjustments I would need as always for Vogue patterns.

Well, it turned out to be one of the most difficult pattern to fit my body after my Pastille dress! I’m sure that this pattern is not that difficult to fit if you have the right body though. The overlapped no side seams thing is not for the full-busted ladies!

In my first fitting, there was a serious gap at the side seams that would make the dress totally indecent to wear. I chopped off the lower end of the overlapped pieces and fitted it again until the gap disappeared. Maybe I should have added a couple of bust darts to make it better but at that point, the bodice was already fully lined and understitched. Which was totally my fault for not making a muslin first. When will I learn my lesson?!

The fitting took several times and I kept chopping the bodice until I started to worry that I’ve ruined the dress. I finally accepted that there was no way to completely eliminate the gaping and proceeded to finish the dress half-heartedly. I added a waist stay using grosgrain ribbon and bra hook and eyes to help the dress stay better.

I can’t wear a bra without them peeking at the side, but it is probably intended as shown in the drawing on the pattern envelope. It is not really a problem as the bodice is fully lined and the overlapped side is secure enough to stay. Although I’m not sure if it will be that secure for a fuller busted lady.

Anyway the dress is done! I’m still not totally in love with the result though, which is unfortunate since I really love the fabric. The fabric is grey rayon with adorable pink and white pineapples print that I bought in a fabric store near my house.
 

Monte was quite curious to see me walking around in the kitchen and tried to follow me. He hates to be left alone so I think he was worried that I would leave since I was fully dressed. Speaking of Monte, this might be the last time he joined my photo shoots because he has found an adopter! The family is perfect for him, they have three children (Monte loves children) and they had had a beagle before who died of old age. I had done feeling sad about it and now decided to be happy for Monte. He will be leaving at the end of this week and I’m sure he will be happy with his new family!

Pattern is s Vogue 8901, size 6 on bust tapered to 10 on waist and hip.

Anyone know any good online stores for lingerie supplies that accept Paypal and can send worlwide? On the other hand, ELingeria is having a closing down sale until May 31st so you might want to stock up now!

I use my usual Pin-up Girls Classic Bra #1230 size 30D altered to 26F, with altered shape for demi-cups style (for further reading, read Amy’s post: Hack Your Bra #1 that explains how to do several types of alterations including making demi-cups style). I used the scalloped edge of the lace for the top of upper cup. Usually I stitch a piece of narrow elastic along the edge but this time I skipped the step because I want the scalloped edge to mimic the panties, with no stitching lines along the edge. They still fit well without the narrow elastic but maybe I need to add them later when the lace has started losing its stretch. Or just make another set!

The lower cups and bridge are lined with blue non-stretch lining. The back band is all white powernet, also to mimic the white back of the panties. I always add a downward hike to the back band as suggested in the Bra-makers manual by Beverly Johnson’s to prevent the band from riding up.

Let’s talk about the panties! The pattern is Lola panties by Ohhh Lulu and it’s my new favorite pattern! The pattern is for a boyshort style panties with center back seam. I usually find this style a bit too revealing around the backside but this Lola panties are just right. I made size S with no alteration, the only thing I did differently was using plush elastic for around the front legs instead of coverstitching them per the instruction. I think coverstitch will make a very clean-looking edge though and I will try them later. I’ve been happy with my usual panties pattern, but this one is just perfect!

Bra pattern is Pin-up Girls Classic Bra #1230 from eLingeria, size 30D altered to 26F.
Panties patttern is Lola panties by Ohhh Lulu, size S

I read somewhere that wearing a backpack can give the dog more exercise and sometimes helps focusing his attention. Monte is pulling on the leash a lot and easily distracted by so many smells around him. Well, he is a beagle after all. I decided to make him a saddle bag and see if it can help with his exercise.

I was inspired by this Dog hiking backpack tutorial I found in Crafster, but I made my own measurements. The fabric is camo print cotton, the same as Sidra’s school bags and pouches. It is basically a rectangle base with two pouches attached on each side. The D-ring tabs were sandwiched between each layer of the base before it was turned right side out and topstitched around the edge. My base is 20 x 41 cm.

One of the pouches has zipper and the other is a pocket with flap and velcro closure. The reason was simply because I only had one zipper in this color. They were attached to the base the way you attached a pocket flap.

Then I stitched two sets of cotton webbing with plastic buckles on each end to the base underneath each pouches. One set goes down around his body and the other goes front around his chest. I also attached a handle on the top for easier placement. Each end of cotton webbing is reinforced by stitching a box with X mark inside.

Awww look at that sad face! I think Monte was not thrilled with the saddle bag. He walked sluggishly the first time I put the bag on as if it was so heavy. In fact I just put his poo bags and some treats in it.

I took him for a walk with his saddle bag on. He slowed down and seemed to respond more to my command. I’m not sure if it was because of the bag or because he’s getting used with me though. Anyway he forgot about the bag soon and seemed happy as usual in his next walk. I took the bag out today for photos and he came to wagging his tail, I guess he thought I was going to take him for a walk! The bag also attracted people’s attention, maybe they think I’m too lazy to carry my dog’s poo

On a more serious note, I don’t think we’re going to adopt Monte or any dogs soon. Maybe we’re going to keep fostering but still not sure about a long term one. I will post more about this, but for now I don’t really want to think about it because it makes me sad. I just want to enjoy the happy time with Monte as much as possible. Time will tell.

McCall’s 6700

I’ve been busy this week since Monte came, house-training him and such, that I don’t have too much time for my sewing machine. But yesterday I really want to make something instead of wiping dog pee off the floor, so here’s a quick dress for an instant gratification.

The pattern is McCall’s 6700 from the Spring 2013 line. From the pattern envelope: “Pullover dress has fitted, mock wrap bodice, shoulder ties, elasticized shoulders and raised (seamed) waist, fitted, narrow hem, thread carriers and self belt.” This dress is designed for medium weight stretch knits and I was happy to find this floral knit fabric in my stash. It is a very simple dress so it is a good base for the lively prints.My fabric is only 2 m though, so I didn’t make the self belt.

I made size 8 with some alterations. I don’t like elastics on my waist line so I shortened the bodice about 2 cm so to raise the waistline. The skirt was shortened about 20 cm. I use clear elastic for the shoulders and also along the wrapover neckline to stabilize them. The hemline is left raw because knits won’t fray.

This pattern is marked as easy, it has only 3 pieces, front, back and skirt (the same for front and back). But eventually making the dress was not as quick as I’ve thought because of the shoulder ties! Making the shoulder ties requiring the ability to stitch on knit fabric with narrow seam allowance, and then turned the long, narrow tube inside out. I think I spent  more time turning those ties than on the dress. Is there a better way to do this?

The armholes were a bit too high on me but I guess they are still okay so I don’t have to fix it. The clear elastic does a good work preventing the gape. I think I’m quite happy with the dress! Now where’s the warm weather?

Pattern is McCall’s 6700 , size 8.