I adore Halloween and I love to get on to some spooky DIY! I have been pretty dark with some of my DIY’s in past years (oh how I love that Halloween lets you indulge your inner evil) but this year I wanted something more kid friendly and sparkly and fun. I had no children to experiment on so I turned to Mums fur kids Zac & Reg. And aren’t they majestic? I asked my cats if they would like a costume this Halloween but they declined.
This costume is like a time warp thing for me. When I was small we had several beautiful (and rather huge) dogs. Both Shannon (a Doberman Pinscher, pictured above with Me and the Daddy-O) and Jack (a Belgian shepherd) were big butter balls. The kind of dogs that wouldn’t hurt a fly. People were so worried about this tiny girl rolling around with these big, scary looking dogs. As if size and temperament were something that equated? If I could go back in time, I’d dress 5 year old me as a princess (what else would I wear) and one of my big dogs as the unicorns I knew they were *thbthhhhh* So I am hoping to delight a few princesses with this little DIY!
Mums fluffy ones, Zac & Reg, are rescues so I didn’t know how keen they would be to wear anything. Reg is deeply troubled by the wind blowing and moves backwards as anything approaches. Small things like a bag on the floor are deeply troubling to him. He’s a beautiful bag of neurosis and I couldn’t love him more. Zac is more easy going but is more inclined to stand up for himself. I had no idea how a costume might go down….
I weighed the costume options. Just a horn? Probably fall of in two seconds. Also, no mane. A hat that is secured over the ears? Mmm same problems. Snood…I wasn’t sure but I thought it might just be right, in terms of comfort for the doggies and cutness of look. I was right! Reggie didn’t mind too much and Zac was perplexed. I swear that Reg always looks worried, snood or not! Zac was completely unsure but was cool once he saw Mums smile. Even then, Zac was very keen to roll his off. Reg was less concerned but did have several good shakes. So in reality, these guys were only wearing there snoods for long enough to snap a few pictures. And even with those accusing eyes, I promise no dogs were harmed in any way but they may have been pretty perplexed!
I used a sewing machine to make mine but you could 100% hand sew this! Or glue because it’s one shot! If you are hand sewing/glueing, I’d just cut one trapezoid based on the measurements. I’d also forget the hemming because it’s a dog costume! It was super easy to make and I can’t imagine that hand sewing would take much more work. Obviously, how much fabric you will need will differ depending on the size of dog. I had a half metre of the silver and a quarter metre of the gold and I have lots left over. But if I bought less I wouldn’t have fitted the pattern pieces on. I also had a meter of rainbow fringe which was longer than needed but not by much. I got all my supplies at Spotlight, if you are looking for the same.
You’ll need:
- Metallic stretch lycra
- Contrast metallic lycra for horn
- Metallic embroidery floss
- Rainbow fringe
- Small piece of felt
- Hobby fill
- Sewing supplies
Start by taking your dogs measurements.
A – is the length around the head
B – is the length from A to the bottom of the neck and a bit around the shoulder
C– is the length around the neck/shoulder
I took measurements while the dogs were sitting up, so that I could make sure that measurements B & C were as long as possible and have room for the ‘mane’. Of course, getting accurate measurements is half the fun…
The pattern is dead easy! There are no seam allowances to add because we are working with stretch and want the snood to fit snuggly. You could cut this as one piece but I decided to cut two so that I could sew the trim into one seam and still have a seam to take in if I need it. I cut two pieces, per the above graphic. That’s it for the snood!
For the unicorn horn, I sort of played with paper and made cones until I was happy. I would provide a template but it’s silly because you’ll need to adjust horn size to fit the dog. I cut out a triangle shape and stitched the cone closed with a 1cm seam allowance. I turned the cone right side out and threaded a needle with the embroidery floss. I tied a massive knot in the end of the floss and poked the needle up through the cone and out the tip. Just leave that there for now.
I stuffed the cone with small bits of hobby fill until it looked sufficiently poofy. I eyeballed the size of the horn opening and cut a small circle of felt that was slightly smaller. I (by which I mean Mum) hand tacked the felt to the bottom of the horn to keep the stuffing in. Then that embroidery floss comes into play…just wind it firmly around the horn and use the needle to secure it to the horn base with a few stitches and knots. Trim and your horn is ready! Note: You may want to tack the floss to the horn in a couple of spots with regular thread – once the dogs were shaking and rolling, the floss unwound!
I put the two snood pieces right sides together and stitched down one of the B sides with a 1cm seam allowance. I then hemmed both the A and C sides because once the rainbow trim is sewn in hemming becomes difficult.
I cut my rainbow trim so that it would be a few inches longer at the C end and would leave room to attach the horn at the A end. I positioned it between the layers of the open side and stitched from hem to hem.
Turn everything right sides out and you’ll see how close you are to unicorn victory! Shiny and rainbow! Now just carefully hand stitch the horn to the front edge of the snood (again Mum with her hand sewing prowess) and you are rolling like a unicorn……
All you have left to do is quietly approach your dog with this crazy thing in your hand, get them to sit and then slide the snood onto their heads. Marvel as they are turned into a majestic unicorn, right before your eyes! Snap your pictures quickly before they try and roll the weird thing off….
Maybe you have a dog that will be cool with it. I used to dress up Shannon and put his hair in curlers (roll up his ear and put a peg on. Five year old me was strident and didn’t get that the dog just suffered these makeovers. No one call the RSPCA! My dog cruelty only extends to a unicorn snood photo op). But I am really hoping that this tutorial means a princess can go trick or treating with her dog UNICORN bestie at her side!
This was a super fun little Halloween DIY! I’d like to thank my models Zac & Reg for their participation and they have been awarded a more than generous amount of liver treats as payment for services. I thought Reg would freak out a bit and that Zac would be down with whatever but it was the other way around. I repeat that no dog was tortured in the making. Actually, Reg seemed to quite enjoy it all and was very frisky after his photo shoot. Unicorns or not they are just the cutest, right? If you make this up for the canine love of your life, I’d just die to see it…so send me pics! Happy Halloween!
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