Different dog park = swimming

So this weekend we checked out Warner Dog Park.

The easy access beach made it so Saber actually swims

WITHOUT ME AS A LURE!

She had a great time with various dogs at the park

and an ickle chocolate lab puppy!  

There was this random dog at the park that LITTERALLY 

LOOKED LIKE A CORGI ON STILTS!

 No idea what breed though.

Just a random yellow tree outside my house.

Saber's new bath technique.

Don't worry my shower curtain will protect me! 

Sorry pup, not the case!

Expect footage tomorrow.

Saber, I have a question for you...

Do you... want to... go to... the... dog park?!

View from the dogpark

Saber is on the shore and her good pal Rusty the bloodhound, who is by the way about 7 times larger than her, swimming in the water.

Appa Costume Custom pattern Pieces

Remember to click on these and save them at full size before printing.

Enjoy!

Head Pieces

Appa Spine Arrows

 Appa Tail

 Head Arrow and toes

Nearly wordless Wednesday

This is Saber in anticipation for going to the dog park.

I know I said that I would try to scan pattern pieces tonight, but I am too tired.  Tomorrow is my day off, so I will do it then.

Saber's revenge

She got daddy's Kleenex and destroyed it shortly after modeling the costume.  She also got my tiny corgi plush and ate an eye off it.

NAUGHTY SABER! 

Part 5 Final

The Legs, Body, and Assembly!!!

Cut 8 leg piece patterns as normal and cut 4 leg piece patterns without a curved top.  Sew 2 of the feet on to the ones without the curved top and then sew them in the flat area between the leg arcs when you have the body piece sewn.

Pin leg pieces like so.

Sew up the edges, making the top and bottom remain open. 

If you can align pieces on the fold, you will have one less seam to worry about and honestly, it will look a tiny bit prettier. 

Remember, this stuff SHEDS!  Be careful not to jam your machine and be aware of all the little fur bits now migrating throughout your house.  Sew along the edge of any part that is going to not have something attached to it or there will be MORE in your house.

Cut out two body pieces.

Pin them like so, making sure to not sew up the belly edge.

Sew along the top edge. 

Flatten body piece out and make your back arrows for the appropriate length.  Make sure it is the same width as the head and tail arrows.

I would give the body arrows about 4 ish extra inches in length  because the bum of this costume curves.  Cut out your brown fur.

Lay out your brown onto the white and pin it in place.

Make sure it lays flat. 

Sew it with the fur facing up.

Now for the fun part, SLEEVES!  Did I ever mention that sleeves can be counter intuitive?  Pin the sleeve as shown.  Essentially, it is right side out with the short side seam in the middle of the arc. You are going to want to sew from end of arc to end of arc.

After being sewn.

(How it should fit on your sewing machine when you sew it)

Now for the truely fun part as I seem to be missing pictures somehow.

Saber belly pic for reference.

I also hot glued grey, non silky side, circles onto the the bottom of the feet with hot glue rings round the edge for grippy-ness in case the dog ever actually wore them to walk around.

  To sew the belly piece on, pick a side and sew along  that edge.  On the other side, sew buttons in between the legs and on the "collar" piece that seems to be hanging on there. Make button holes to correspond to them so you can button the belly up. On the side of the silky belly material you sewed up  sew down the "collar" piece on that side.  The other "collar" side should be able to button into the silky belly material.  Make sure to fray check any exposed silky edges!  Sew the tail (stuffed or unstuffed) to the butt of the costume, making sure to match up the arrows.  Decide how you want to attach  the feet.  I would suggest making it so you can button them to the legs.  Taadaa!  You are now done!  How does it feel?

I apologize if my directions are a bit vague. I do not do many pattern tutorials.  I will try to scan/post some pattern pieces tomorrow.  Remember, they are corgi sized!

If you decide that you do not want to make this costume yourself, there is still time for me to get one done and shipped to you in time for Halloween. I will need the measurements from this image in order to make one that will fit your dog. Mind you, the cut off order time is October 12 to commission me one and have a guarantee of getting there in time for Halloween.  I charge $50 plus the cost of material.  So if you have a big dog, I do apologize that it will cost more.

Saber Ear flap

Plus drying off after a bath.

Appa tutorial Part 4

The Feet

Only one more part to go after this!

So, first things first.  Cut out 12 foot pieces, making sure the fur grain points down. 

Next, we are going to create the toe pieces.  I free handed the toes by drawing Appa's 3 toes so that they would fit in the top of the foot pieces like so.  If you have difficulty free handing those toes, find someone with fingers narrow enough to have 3 fit in that spot and trace theirs.

 Make sure you give about an inch below the point you want to see them.  Remember, you need space to sew the toes to the foot.

You are going to need to cut 6 brown toes shiney side up and cut them to the same size as your pattern.  No need for seam allowance.  We are fray checking and hot glueing this one.

Also cut out six silver toes in the same manner, shiny side up.

Add 2 silver stripes to each toe on the brown fabric, and little silver circles to the shiny side of the silver toes.

now you are going to want to align them in head of time so that the shiny sides are out and match up, then comes the fun part.

Hot glue the edges together.  I used a high temperature hot glue gun for this.  Make sure not to hot glue yourself.  You would be surprised how often you can burn yourself doing this.

Hot glued edges together final product.  Trim off any excess showing on the wrong side and then fray check the edges.

Now to make the Appa footie sandwich.  Take one fur piece of the foot and lay it out like the image below and position the toes as depicted.

Lay another fur footie piece on top like a sandwich.  Sew across the top edge first where the toes are and then sew up the sides.

Turn it right side out and it should look like this.

 Just a picture of the inside.

 You now have feet!  Tomorrow the body and the legs!  I have to get to bed now, work comes early in the morning, as always!