Penny's Christmas Coat

Penny is a 3 1/2 year old Vizla and has very short hair so I know she has to be cold when we walk in the winter.  She loves snuggling under the blankets at night.  I've been meaning to make her a coat and told myself today is the day.

This isn't going to be a real tutorial, but I will do a basic outline, with photos, of what I did.  It's not perfect, doesn't fit her perfectly, but it's pretty close.

I also made a little cowl/snod to wear around her neck, it's in a photo or two.  We'll start with her wearing the coat and then go on to what I did.

Here she's looking all elegant and regal.  Ha, don't let her fool you, she's a total goofball.

She wasn't too sure about the cowl. I might add some Velcro to attach it to the back of the coat.

Wasn't it convenient that we had a dusting of snow today?  It did make for some cute photos.

Okay so for the tutorial.  I have never sewn with polar fleece before and it really was easier than I though.  I did test on my machine to see how it acts and tested my binding technique too.

First I measure Penny from her tail to around her chest and back to her tail and got 54".  I divided that in half for 27".

I measured around her chest, kind of to wear I'd want the coat to fit and got 27".

I cut out a double layer of polar fleece 27"x27".

With a plastic plate I rounded off the front and back bottom edges.  I also did a little shaping between the two (where the bottom strap would go) and curved it in a bit by her tail (totally no necessary).

No I just cut in a few inches at the neckline to I could drape it over her and see how close we were to fitting. Hey, it's looks pretty good already, I even impress myself at times.  Penny wasn't too impressed.

Now I sort of measured, sort of guessed on a neckline shape, and drew it on (used the plate) and then cut it out.  I also rounded off the edges since it would be easier to bind.

For binding I used 2 inch strips of a polyester knit I once bought, it's actual sport performance type of fabric, but the color matched perfectly.  Folded that in half and pressed then serged it on the backside of the coat.  I used a narrow 3-thread serge just for the fact that I should have maybe cut wider strips.

The straps are both made the same.  I sewed the Velcro on before the binding to catch the edges.  Then sewed them on to encase the raw edge.  Turned out pretty well.  The cowl is just a 12" piece of polarfleece sewn in a circle and I don't know how long it was.