Simple Stockings

In the Washington Post a few weeks ago, I read a letter written by a mother who was very worried about her daughter. Her daughter's classmates spread the word that Santa was make believe. The daughter decided to believer her classmates, and the mother didn't know what to do. The advice columnist said that the solution was simple and logical. The truth is, the columnist responded, "...Santa only brings you something if you believe in him."

In order to prepare my husband, the two dogs, roommate, and myself for Santa's visit (because we still believe), we need stockings. After working on the Stockings for Soldiers project (for which a very kind fellow blogger sent me LOTS of fabric - thank you!) I found that stockings were fun and simple. I chose a very easy tutorial to follow which allows the stockings to be turned inside out without any seams showing.

I have only made one so far - the stocking is for my yellow lab, Maddie. I like it, and I will post the others once I complete each one.

This is my dog, Maddie

And this is her new stocking made with Pooches and Pick-ups fabric

Pup Sweater

My pup gets a haircut tomorrow, just as it's starting to get really chilly outside. Yesterday, north of my area, snow was already falling - and Halloween hasn't even arrived! It's probably going to be a cold winter so my short hair dog will need something to keep him warm during our early weekday morning walks. So, the easy dog sweater project is what I completed this morning, along with a few chuckles when I tried it on my dog :)  Check out the link (above) for easy-to-follow directions.

I started by measuring my dog's neck, torso, and torso length , and then divided the neck and torso width measurements by 2 (since there will be a front and a back material). I used newspaper for the pattern. I found the vertical center of the paper, then measured 1/2 of each measurement from that line, connected the neck and torso and had my pattern. I used that pattern to trace onto a sweater (the same pattern can be used for the back piece, just w/out the leg holes). The pattern's bottom needs to meet up with the bottom seam of the sweater (one less edge to sew up).

From the sweater, I cut off the neck and arm cuffs, and put them on the pooch for a trial run.

Then, I just did some sewing to attach the right sides of the front and back material and then the cuffs. Again, check out Resweater's dog sweater tutorial for detailed directions.

 True, the pooch doesn't look too excited, but come tomorrow when he's shaved down, I'm sure he'll appreciate my craftiness....

THANKS to Rhinestone Beagle for featuring my pooch on their link party!