Struggle Bus!!!

O…..M…..G……!!! Guys, this past week was no joke in my sewing world, it’s truly been a struggle for me, but not in the usual way, I didn’t lose the desire to sew, I just couldn’t figure out how to sew something and boy oh boy, is that frustrating!!!

So last week I told you that Jeff was helping me with a project, heck, that’s not even right lol, he wasn’t just helping me, he was doing all of it pretty much, except for the sewing lol!

Ok so you have all heard me say that I’m always trying to find the perfect harness for my pugs and lo and behold, I found it, well…almost! Let me explain! So there I was on YouTube searching “dog harness vest sewing pattern”, as I quite often am and I’m not sure if you’ve ever noticed this but if you search for something on there, it shows you your options and then on the right hand side, it shows you even more similar results. So I found one video, clicked on it, then noticed on the right hand side there was another one that looked interesting so I clicked on it, then noticed another one….and so on, and so on, and so on lol! Pretty soon, I was so far into the YouTube universe, I was sure I was lost, but then….just as I was about to click the “x” to get the heck out of there, I saw it….a video showing almost the exact harness I’ve been searching for!!! I almost couldn’t believe it, I immediately wondered why my previous searches hadn’t showed it to me? I clicked play and almost immediately realized the reason….it’s in Portuguese lol!!!!! Apparently in my excitement, I didn’t notice that the written description was not English lol! Even though I am not bilingual, I watched the video, which you can find here, and was quite happy to see that the the sewist was showing quite clearly what each step was and I was confident I could just follow along with her! I also found an app on my phone that would translate the written parts for me so off I went, starting by downloading the free template provided, which was way to small for my sweet barrel-chested puggers so I followed the instructions on how to measure your dog. Then using the template as my guide, I attempted to increase it to fit the size requirements I needed, and you’ll notice here the very important word “attempted” lol!!!! I finished my paper pattern, pulled out some old fabric and made the very first prototype….and it didn’t fit at all lol! Back to the drawing portion I went, added a little here, took away a little there, cut out another one and it didn’t fit again. This went on for a few more hours, no that wasn’t a typing error, I meant to write hours lol!!! Finally, feeling quite deflated, I gave up for the evening, not saying a word to anyone!

The next evening I begrudgingly went back to it but I already knew it wouldn’t work but I also knew why….my brain doesn’t work that way!!! I’ve always said that I can sew almost anything that comes with a pattern, and once I’ve made something, I could alter it slightly but to make a pattern from scratch? Nope, not happening, that is beyond my brain capacity, which is why I have such respect for good pattern designers! So anyways, I sat there for a few minutes, contemplating my next move…..throw it all out and just once and for all, just give up my search or, and this one was a big leap…..ask for help…..from Jeff lol!!!!! It’s only a big leap because he’s not a sewist, he’s certainly not a pattern designer, but there’s one thing about him that I knew would be able to help….he’s a very calm and practical thinker! So I called him to my sewing room and I just said, “I need help” to which he laughed and said, “I can’t do that” but perhaps it was the look of total defeat on my face that prompted him to figuratively roll up his sleeves and say ok, let’s do this! With our model Minnie standing on my desk wearing one of my latest attempts, he began the process. He’d analyze what we needed to do, figure out how to execute that, he’d draw lines on the material to show where to cut, he’d get me to sew on scraps of material in places that were lacking and finally, after many, many attempts, it was done! We had gotten pretty close to perfection, and one thing that is firmly cemented in our brains, which of course, we already knew but now it’s 1000% confirmed….PUGS HAVE WEIRD BODY SHAPES lol!!!!! And due to this weirdness, I’m sure that’s the reason you can’t find this kind of harness sewing pattern specifically for pugs loll!

So, finally, I’m excited to share what we came up with, drumroll please, designed by Jeff and sewn by me, we have a Pug Harness, modelled by Norman and Minnie of course!

I’m actually laughing because I feel like I gave you such a buildup with the whole story and now I’m looking at the pictures thinking, “they just look like a regular harness” lol!!!! And I guess they are, it’s just that they had to be adapted to fit their necks and their barrel chests, but still be snug enough to be secure…..a lot of requirements from some fabric lol!

So now the project details:

• Baseball fabric is from Lens Mills
• The interior pink and black material is a mesh I found on Amazon years ago
• For the closure, I used a 2″ Hook and Loop tape that I’ve also had for years, can’t even remember where I purchased it from or what I was going to use it for lol!
• I used our 1″ Webbing and our D-Rings

I’d say we’re still tweaking a couple of things but we’re both very happy with the results so far. I’m still deciding if I want to put a buckle on the webbing as I’ve seen other harnesses that do that, but I’m just not sure what the purpose of it is lol! I had it on there but couldn’t figure out if it’s truly needed or not…..do you have thoughts on that? To give you more insight, I’ll show you a picture from the original pattern so you can see what I’m talking about…

I don’t mind the look of it so if one of you can tell me what I’m missing, why I need to add it, I’ll gladly do it lol!

So far the harnesses have only been worn around the house and in our backyard so the real test will be when we take them for a walk and once we’ve done that, we can see if there’s anything else we need to alter. And then finally I can add a few things to give them some pizzazz!! There was only one word I understood from the videos and that was “fru-fru” lol, and that’s what I’ll add to Minnie’s, a little fru-fru lol!

A huge thank you to my hubby, I honestly couldn’t have done this without his help! And Minnie and Norman for being the perfect weirdly-shaped-barrel-chested Puggers!

And that my friends, is a wrap! I’m actually exhausted from all this sewing, even though it was all worth it, it’s still a lot, and a bit of an emotional rollercoaster lol!

As for you struggle bus…..I’ve completed my current ride with you so you can head on down the road to a different stop please and thank you….peace out!!! And don’t stop at any of my sewing friend’s houses, they don’t need that nonsense either lol!

Cheers friends!

Shawna