Fourth of July 2009 Dog Costume Ideas

Are you celebrating the 4th of July with your beloved pooch? You can involve your pet in celebrations by dressing him in patriotic dog attire! Here is an idea on how to make a patriotic dog costume at home.

Please think safety when dressing up your dog in homemade pet costumes. The costume should fit neither too tight, so your dog's movements are not confined, nor too loose, so he does not trip over the costume. Not all dogs are fineith wearing a costume, so if your dog does not like it, take off the costume immediately.

We will make a top hat and bracelets for all four paws colored in red, blue and white.

What you need:
+ a cylindrically-shaped plastic bottle (for larger dogs) or other;
+ a plastic jar (e.g. vitamin packaging for smaller dogs) for the cylindrical part of the top hat;
+ some packaging foam plastic for the top of the hat;
+ a cardboard for the brim;
+ an elastic band (to match the color of your dog) for attaching the hat to your dog's head and to hold the bracelets;
+ a patriotically colored fabric;
+ scissors;
+ a needle;
+ red, white or blue thread;
+ a glue-gun with low-melt glue (be careful not to get burned);
+ a marker.

Instructions for the top hat:

1. Cut out some plastic bottle so it makes the body of the top hat. Try to make the edges flat and even. Put one of the open ends of the bottle on flat side of plastic foam and draw a circle with the marker. Note the allowance for cutting and cut out a pill-like piece of foam. The foam pill must easily fit inside the bottle.

2. Mark a circle on cardboard to make the brim. The circle must be larger than the diameter of the bottle (the body of the hat). To draw this circle you may use a pot, a larger plastic bottle or anything else of a round shape. Cut a penny-size hole in the center of the cardboard brim. Take a piece of fabric, cover the brim from one side and pull the edges to the hole. Allow half an inch of fabric for sewing and cut out the necessary amount of fabric.

3. Cut a small hole in the center of the fabric to align with the hole in the center of the brim. Cut some elastic band, enough to wrap around your dog's head. Pull the edges of the fabric along with two ends of elastic band through that hole and sew or glue the edges together. The elastic band should make a loop that will hold on to the dog's head.

4. Cut out a piece of fabric large enough to cover the body of the hat allowing half an inch on all four sides for overlapping and folding over the edges of the bottle. Glue one edge of the cloth to the bottle (from side to side) and allow to dry well. Wrap the cloth around the bottle and glue the other edge to the bottle on top of or next to the previous gluing. Fold edges inside the bottle and glue.

5. Cover and glue the fabric over the foam pill. Stick the now-colorful foam pill inside the bottle so it forms the top of the hat. Glue the hat to the brim. You may stick and glue another foam pill (without fabric) inside the bottle for durability. This would allow larger surfaces to glue together when attaching the hat to the brim.

Instructions for the bracelets:

1. Measure the girth of your dog's paw at the spot where you want the bracelets. Decide what width you want the bracelets to be. Cut out four pieces of fabric of the following size: paw girth plus a few inches for gathering by double the width of the bracelet plus 1/2 inch seam allowance.

2. To make a bracelet, take one piece of fabric, fold it longways face inside. Sew together the sides at the long edge. Turn. Put the elastic band inside this hose and sew together ends of the band. Carefully sew together ends of the hose. Repeat for the other three bracelets.

You can easily modify this homemade dog costume for another holiday by changing the color of the fabric.