Back to the First One!

Hello my friends! Here we go again, it’s time for me to share my latest sewing adventures with you, and since you’re already reading this, I’m assuming you’re excited to learn what I’ve been up to lol!

I’ve taken a break from sewing baseball projects, but just for a little bit as I have one that I’d like to get started on but….I’m scared lol! It’s something new for me and I’m definitely suffering from fear of the unknown but hopefully soon I’ll just get over myself and just make that first cut!

Until then, I went back to revisit something that is an ongoing “issue”……dog harnesses! Any of you that have been here for awhile might remember that I’ve made a couple of different versions over my blogging history, and you also might remember that the last time I posted about the “latest version”, I said that I had pretty much perfected what I was wanting in a harness….so what the heck do I need to say today? Wellllll…..here’s the latest update, and I’ll include a pic of the latest “almost perfect version” to give you a reminder….

Ok, so super cute, right? But it turns out that they weren’t so “nearly perfect”, I mean they were good, pretty close to what I wanted but it turns out that the wearers had one very big issue with them, which you can kind of see in this picture….

…it’s right there at the back, underneath those two pieces of webbing is the culprit…..VELCRO!! I used a 3″ wide piece of velcro for the closure and let me tell you, that noise of pulling the 2 pieces apart sent the puggies running in fear! As soon as you get the harnesses out, Minnie is normally instantly excited because she knows that some kind of adventure is about to happen! After hearing that velcro noise a couple of times, she would run away! This was no good at all, so pretty quickly we were back using the original ones I made for them!

Now those original ones have held up amazingly well, and we’ve put them to lots of good use, and they’re probably 3 years old-ish! They wear them to doggy-daycare every week, where they go swimming in them sometimes and they get washed quite a lot!

All of this is to say that this maker-Momma decided it was time for some new duds for these puggies! I headed to the fabric stash and picked out lots of fabrics, because honestly, if I’m going to make them new harnesses, why not make them 5 new harnesses…each lol! You all know I dont enjoy batch sewing but for some reason I’m ok with it in this case! These harnesses are a pretty quick sew and once I’m done all these, I won’t need to make any more for awhile!

This is the pattern I use from Pugs & Kisses on Etsy. It comes in multiple sizes and includes lots of pictures and information in the pattern.

I usually use cottons for the exterior, although I’m determined to do minky at some point! I have done sherpa as the lining for a winter version I made but I think a minky exterior would be amazing so I’ll definitely try! Now for the lining, the designer suggests fleece or a “spacer mesh”, which I had no clue what it was but once I googled it, I knew thats what I wanted! The only place I could find it was on Amazon so I went ahead and ordered a few colours years ago when I first made this harness, and after making all these harnesses, I’m almost out so I will be searching out more soon! I’ll share a pic of what it is in case you’re unfamiliar too, and if you already know what it is AND you know where I can order it, please share with me!

The other items you need are webbing, a side release buckle, a D-ring and a strap slide, all of which I had on hand thankfully!

Soooo…wanna see one of the completed sets modeled by 2 of the cutest puggies?!? Ok, ok, I hear you loud and clear lol…..

Ta daaaaaa lol! There they are in their Minnie Mouse sets! Sets because yes, I like to dress them in coordinating harnesses lol! We quite often call Minnie, “Min Mouse” so of course I had to buy this fabric when we had it, which was ages ago lol! I used the Minnie Mouse Bow print for Norman’s which looks “manly” enough for him lol!

I’ve got a few other sets down already but once I get them all done, I’ll share some more pics with you so stay tuned for all that cuteness!

That’s all for now my friends! I hope you’re finding ways to stay cool if you’re experiencing the same heat wave we are! My sewing room is nice and cool so that’s where you can find me! Cheers!

Shawna