Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Papu's new winter coat

Papu has a very thin fur, so if it gets really cold, she definitely needs a winter coat. And it can get really cold quite often, because we live in Finland. You know, we have polar bears and penguins and other stuff here. But dog coats are expensive here. Like ridiculously expensive: I saw one nice that I liked, but it cost 60€ in Papu's size. That's almost more than I'm willing to pay for my own coat! Though we never planned to buy an dog coat in the first place. We wanted to make one by ourself.

And for this project we needed material. And since fabrics can be quite expensive too, we decided to be environmental and recycle an old coat. We went to a flea market with this project in mind, and we find this nice coat:


The "before" picture.

The coat cost 2€ (that's like 3 US dollars), which is already a lot cheaper than 60€. The fabric was in good condition and it had a nice silvery lining. Not to mention the fake fur and some small details we definitely wanted to keep. We had a pattern for a dog coat, but it was made for a pug so we had to modify it.


The buckle in the back was the first detail we wanted to keep.


The coat looked less warm after I cut out all the pieces.


Only three pieces and the original fur collar.


Things sewn together.


Velcro is handy. No buttons for this coat.


We wanted to keep the original label too.


Opening for the harness. Made like a button hole.

I'm quite pleased with the coat. It wasn't the easiest to sew and sometimes I had to ask my mother to help me. She's good at sewing. And it took the whole Saturday to make the coat, but I think it was worth it. It doesn't fit perfectly, but I blame those stupid fat pugs. I didn't realize that the bottom part should have been adjusted too. We tried it on, but it looked OK until it was already sewn. Though it doesn't matter so much, because Papu seemed to be comfortable in it. I actually expected her to fight against the coat, but she was perfectly OK with it from the first moment. She didn't even mind the fur collar.


She looks so proud in her new coat.

I would like to make another dog coat in the future, one that fits her perfectly. I also think that Papu might need a rain coat, because she hates the rain so much. I would also like to get a sewing machine of my own one day. I'm not (yet) into sewing clothes, but I would like to sew smaller things and make adjustments and customizations. All that cool stuff.

8 comments:

  1. That is the cutest coat! And what an adorable model to show it off, too. :) Great job!

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  2. OMG that's so cute! The coat too ;)
    I saw a dog with a cabled knitted coat today :)

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  3. You're like my craft idol now! I will build an altar for you and sacrifice yarn every night.

    Seriously, I thought you had bought that jacket! It was certainly a great find a and a real steal! Such a cool idea, the way you customized it.

    I think Papu may feel so comfortable in it precisely because it doesn't fit too snugly. The colour is quite good on her too. And the collar, so cute.

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  4. Grace & Artesanity: Thanks!!

    Elina: I'm not really as skillful or crafty as you seem to think I am. I just like to do things by myself if I feel that I can. The idea of making a dog coat was simple enough (I knew I had patterns for them) that I decided to sew one instead of buying something totally overpriced.

    The collar is actually adjustable, it doesn't have to be up like it's on the picture. There's a small metal hook that keeps it up.

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  5. That is really cool. Nice job!!

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  6. Toi on todella hienoa ja kunnioitettavaa, että teet itse. Ja aika mahtavaa koiralle, että saa henkilökohtaisesti räätälöidyt vaatteet.

    Toi taisi olla H&M:stä alunperin toi takki, muistelisin että niillä oli joskus tollainen merkki kuin Rocky.

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  7. :O Ihan pirun hieno! Ja koirakin on komea ;)

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