The Nifty Foodie's Life

I really do enjoy sewing. I usually go in our guest room, where my craft room is as well, plug in the iron, sit down and just sort of ease into crafting.

I’m still pretty new to sewing, however, and occassionally, a project will make me more stressed than happy. This project was seriously the devil. I am probably never making this again, unless I have my own kid to make this for (not anytime soon).

Here’s the project: McCalls M5721. Do not ever buy this pattern…ever.

What was the big issue? Well, McCalls instructions made little to no sense for a good portion of the project, especially when it came to sewing the pockets on. Also, the pattern asks you to make your own bias tape. Uh, no. I hate that…ended up buying my own. Saved me an ironing headache.

Also, this project ended up really messing up the timing on my machine, due to sewing the nylon webbing. My machine was not a fan. A $99 repair. Not happy.

In the end, though, I finished this cover. The friend I made this for took pictures of her little girl in the cover. I think she likes it.

I am usually not a watermarker for my photos, but my friend requested that I mark these pictures to avoid this picture of her daughter getting stolen and posted without permission.

A nifty thing about this ? The cover is reversible and folds into its own tote bag. That’s the only saving grace that this pattern has.

Rating out of 10: 2. If a pattern causes me to break my machine and sort of make up instructions for a good part of it, I’m bitter and it won’t get a high rating. 2 points for the reversible coolness and the fact that it goes into it’s own tote bag. I do NOT recommend this pattern for a beginner if they want to refrain from cussing and pulling their hair out.

I’m starting a new little series on the blog about sewing patterns with my reviews on them. I’ve been learning new techniques with these patterns, and I thought it’d be fun to blog about these!

Earlier this month, I visited family while the hubs was away on a business trip. I knew there were going to be major Columbus Day sales at the local JoAnn’s, so my Mom and I went there for the sole purpose of making Millie into a sea monster. The reason? Well, PetSmart was having a costume contest and I thought she’d have a great time with the other dogs.

To note: Millie is about 40 lbs. now. Not a super large dog, but to Simplicity patterns, she was too big to get a costume pattern for. So, I had to get creative and base it off of a dog coat pattern (Simplicity 9520).

After that, I started looking in the cottons for something green that screamed “sea monster”. I couldn’t find a thing. However, in the specialty Halloween fabrics, I came across a polyester mermaid print. It was perfect, but I was intimidated, because this was a very shiny, slippery fabric that I’m not familiar with sewing.

I also bought blue felt with plans to add some spikes…it ended up being a really cute touch! I also originally wanted to add wings, but I was promptly reminded that sea monsters swim. She would need fins instead. Thank goodness for leftover quilt batting!

There was a HUGE pitfall to this pattern. When I originally started cutting and piecing this together, I realized that this pattern was way too large for my dog. It was a one size fits all thing…sort of lame, no? So, I ended up tailoring it to size, using lots of Beggin Strips and saying ”don’t eat that” repeatedly. Apparently, polyester looks appetizing to my dog..sheesh!

Also, when I started sewing the polyester, it started to fray…a lot. So, for the polyester, I ended up lining it with some muslin. It helped a lot with the sewing, and also probably felt better on the dog.

After a good bit of thought, I ended up nixing the hood, as well as the sleeves. I know Millie, and she isn’t a fan of being clothed. She’d try to rip those off for sure!

When I finally tried the finished product on her, it was a pretty good fit!  Thank goodness.

However, there was another pitfall. Those fins were her newest toy. She was literally trying to rip them off, unless I held up a treat (as I did to snap this picture. In the end, I pinned them back a bit, and it ended up being OK. After 5 minutes, she barely noticed her costume!!

Unfortunately, she didn’t win the contest at PetSmart. Dracula, a wagon full of yorkies dressed as Playgirls and Hannah Montana beat her out. I guess next year, I’ll try to go more trendy.

By the way, if you can take a second to vote for Millie in Blue Buffalo’s Halloween Costume Contest, I’d totally appreciate it. Just go to this site, search for “Millie”, click her picture and vote! No log-in needed!

Rating out of 10: 4. Dear Simplicity, dogs are NOT one size fits all, and the pattern writing/diagrams left me fairly confused. :\