Friday, January 8, 2016

blah blah blah axe and light saber :)






  A nicely fitted sleeve has been my makey moby dick for ages now as far as tiny chumley's wardrobe is concerned.  Each year, I find myself pulling out the pattern I yearn to perfect, and refine it more, redrawing the shoulder line and adjusting the armscye and sleeve cap, sewing fit model after fit model to test my tweaks and futz some more.

 Late last year, the sewing gods finally saw fit to allow me achieve to my goal of sleeve nirvana.  But the irony, of course, is that I now realize that sleeves, even nicely fitted sleeves that highlight a magnificent shoulder ham, are hardly something a little wolf wants or needs when he goes on his walkies.  A little wolf needs freedom of movement when he goes out in the world, an unhindered ability to move his shorty legs upwards and downwards and every which way in between, so he can be ready at a moment's notice to chase bunnies, or run away from big noisy dogs.  Sleeves are great for jammies and dress up, but not so much for a wandering weenie wolf's walkie wear.





















With old man winter finally making an appearance, this week's makey project for tiny chumley was two fold - make a simple sleek winter thermal hoodie that would allow him to walk unencumbered by bulk, and, rusty though I have been in this department, make him a new super cool winter harness that he could wear over his new cashmere duds.


 Today, a peek at part 1, Baxter's cashmere hoodie, which I made from a sleeve of a thrift store sweater for the main body, and part of the sweater's body for the hood itself, plus double fold bias binding cut from fabric I had scored long ago in the NYC garment district.  The basic concept is fairly simple and, since there are no set in sleeves, no pattern is required.  In fact, the basic concept is simply to find a cashmere sweater whose sleeve is slightly smaller in circumference than the tubular size of your pup's body.  I wanna say maybe 10-20% smaller for a nice snug fit.  Cut the sleeve off at the shoulder seam.  Then cut two slits where the arm holes should be (just cut slits, not circles else the arm holes will stretch too big).  Consider making one release cut into the cuff ribbing if the neck is tight - this will also allow for a cute turn down collar as well.  Then cut for body length as needed, and  bind all the cut edges, or leave them unfinished as I did in his first sleeve based blue sweater .
Add a hood if you'd like using a stretch stitch on your sewing machine and voila, instant winter jedi viking cashmere hoodie! :)

ps - It was cloudy all day yesterday so in the next post, a hopefully much less wordier peek at tiny chumley's awesome part 2.




hee hee, mom, speaking of jedis and vikings, next time u make me a hoodie can u please add loops so a wolf can carry a light saber and an axe? otherwise this patttern is pretty much perfect and thank u so much for making it for me:)


7 comments:

Lovable Lily said...

We think it looks perfect on you B! Tho some loops would be nice. No doggie should leave home without their Saber or axe.

Hugs,
Lily Belle & Muffin

Anonymous said...

You should sell these!

Nat said...

You inspire me. I'm totally hacking sweater sleeves this weekend :) Baxter, you look very "wolf-ish".

Anonymous said...

I wonder how many sleeves it would take for me to get the armhole in right spot and even. I laugh at the mental image. Must be hard for mom to shop for clothes. Everything is so thin and workmanship is poor at best. Oh I forgot, I bet mom buys couture. Mr B you look elegant as usual. If mom took orders for these you'd never get the walk. Beautiful as usual. Must me what that leather tool is for.
Marene&Penny

Anonymous said...

Baxter's Mom: You are so very talented! And your model is so very well behaved when modeling (or am I wrong?!).

Baxter: You are very very handsome in your new hoodie wear.

Little Klaus and his Mom

PairADox Designs said...

Such a professional sewing job as usual, you are so lucky to have a talented Mom, Baxter. I've cut up sweaters before and made dog sweaters, but they never turn out fitted as nice as this one. I did learn a long time ago to make things without sleeves though, since my dogs always pull up their short little legs inside and then they are forlorn little 2 legged doxies!

kalyxcorn said...

hee hee thank u lilybelle and muffin! i always look forward to reading your blog comments!! :)

mistermiss anonymous, fitting is always key. plus really it is so ezpz to get a base version it seems like a fun project for even the most crafty challenged to work with.

miss nat i cannot wait 2 see the results!!

miss marene n penny, a) what u do is cut the sleeve off at the shoulder seam b) slip it over penny's head and smooth to get the neck lying the way u want it (kind of like putting on a sock), then pretty much sharpie where her arm starts for the holes! what is nice with the thrist store stuff is u can pretty much experiment very inexpensively. c) mom pretty much lets the shopping gods provide from the thrift store or tj maxx/marshalls :)

little klaus and miss little klaus's mom, thank u and thank u! and snackies pretty much help with modeling if u know what i mean. :)

miss paradox designs, thank u so much! if u decide 2 try again, do try to get a sleeve that would fit snugly (or tighten the seam up with a stitch line) - it makes a world of difference if the sweater circumference is maybe 15 - 20% smaller than actual body circumference in the chest :)