Recycle, Reuse, ReDecorate! > Dog Sweater DIY

**Disclaimer**
No, I have not become one of "those people" who refer to their pets as, "one, of my children" nor do I paint my pet's toenails, let them eat at the table, or have them written into my will. I'm simply a gal, with a little dog, with a lot of goodwill sweaters laying around. Got it?!

Okay, now that I've reassured you and myself that I have not unwittingly joined the, "I'm way to obsessed with my dog" club; check out this adorable sweater Laurie and I repurposed from an old sweater from Goodwill!

(She luuvvvs it, can't you tell?!)

This is all really her fault ya know, because every time I make her go outside, she stands by the back door with this same grimace and shivers like she's in the Arctic. I felt like she was telling me, "I'm cold! Now make me an embarrassingly cute sweater, STAT!" or maybe it's that she's now just paying the price for being such a drama queen of a dog...Whichever works for me!

This sweater was so easy anyone (including me) can do. We started off with a small children's sweater like this:

Next, we cut off the arms and cut down one of the sides of the sweater, opening it up. Next you will need to turn the sweater inside out and place it on your dogs back with the ribbed sweater bottom hem, up around your dog's neck.

I'm going to be honest, this next part is a little dicey. You will then need to tranquilize your dog (or cat!) or bribe them with bacon strips like I did; to stand still while you use safety pins to pin around their neck, chest, and front legs, essentially making a pattern. You read safety pins, right? Because one poke with a sewing pin and your dog is never coming near you, or a sweater ever again. Make sure to mark where you want the sweater to stop on their back (i.e. -before their "business").

Once you have it snugly fitted, remove the sweater (without unpinning) and trim the excess on the outside of your pins. Next you will take your sewing machine and sew around the inside of your pins and all the raw edges with a zigzag stitch. Remove pins and turn right side out.  Now you have an adorable dog sweater for a bacon breathed, crabby dog. 

Viola!

Note: Save your scraps! This recycled sweater idea would work great for dolls clothes, winter head  bands, leg warmers, coffee cozies, etc.! Hmmm.. maybe we need a post on this. Stay tuned!

~Angela

**No animals were hurt or injured while making this sweater**

Well, not physically anyway...