I thought the dog already had a new costume for Halloween this year? Yes. She does. But this idea is just so cute. Give the people what they want. What they want is more dog photos in costume.
Earlier this season I sewed Tovi, our almost-two-year-old Belgian Malinois mix a Little Red Riding Hood costume, y’know, because she looks like the wolf. Well, a week before Halloween, Jake had this idea to turn his beard into a bird’s nest. Which turned into him making an elaborate tree and nest and baby-bird costume.
So naturally, Tovi was cast in the roll of mama-bird, and will bring toys or chews to his face when he makes bird whistles. I chose to make her a cardinal costume because I had luxurious red fleece on hand, but any winter bird would have done. A cardinal is also fitting because they love to sit in the English elms that line our backyard, and I see them here year-round.
The basic construction is a sleeveless sweater, with a tail, two wings, and a hood attached as separate pieces. My machine was not being cooperative with the decorative stitch, so I used a simple zig-zag stitch in black thread in most places for some feathery detail. The cardinal’s black mask is black fleece layered on top of the red. I use a serger for added decoration and durability.
Right away Tovi loved the sweater, probably because it is warm and soft. We were conducting fittings on a cold and rainy day, and as soon as I would put the sweater on her, she would leave to go lay down and go to sleep, begrudging me to take it off of her. This slowed productivity, but I did let her wear various progressions of the sweater all afternoon.
Cute as it is for Halloween, this costume has a duel purpose I think as a potentially festive Yule outfit. Cardinals are a Christmas bird, red a Christmas color, and the fleece will keep her warm. Hopefully we will have many excuses to wear the getup this winter.
