Does your dog enjoy hanging out on the porch with you while you hand out candy to adorable Trick or Treaters? Or maybe you just want your dog to look extra cute for a Halloween party or some fall pictures? These adorable plushies are just the thing for dogs who don’t love dressing up (and let’s be honest, most don’t!). They can easily be attached to your dog’s collar and removed at any point. And because it’s attached with snaps, it should break right off if it were to get stuck on something. As a reminder, you should not leave any accessories or costumes on your dog when they are unattended.
I am by no means experienced with embroidery, needlework or sewing. I have tinkered with it occasionally, assisted with very small parts of a larger family embroidery project for the Scottish Diaspora Tapestry, and have done a small amount of very basic sewing, like poorly fixing a rip in clothing. Think that sounds like a lot? It’s really not! Most of it was many, many years ago. Even still, I found this project quick and easy. I was able to complete the plushie in about an hour while watching TV one evening. Alternatively, you could always use a hot glue gun or fabric glue.
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What you’ll need:
Felt – I used multiple colours. You could just use the base colour and decorate the rest with thread, paint, fabric markers or beads
Thread – embroidery or regular thread. I used regular thread doubled up. Embroidery thread will give you an even thicker line in your needlework
Fabric scissors – to make it easier on yourself, a decent pair of fabric scissors will help. You could probably get away with a very sharp pair of household scissors if needed, however any small cuts would be very challenging
A fine felt tip marker or fabric marker – to trace your template onto the felt
Snaps or Velcro – used to attach it to the collar
Cotton balls – I used cotton balls to stuff the plushies. You could use leftover felt scraps but it may be a little bit chunky
Optional additions:
Hot glue gun or fabric glue – if you are averse to stitching, you could definitely do this project with glue
Decorative items – beads, small fabric flowers, decorative thread and stick-on gems could all be used to embellish your project! You could even use fabric paint!
Steps:
- Draw a basic shape on paper or print out a template
- Cut out the template
- Using a fine-tip marker or fabric marker, trace the outline onto the felt. You will need 2 outlines: a front and a back
- Cut out the felt
- Decorate one side! This will be the front side. Feel free to be creative! You could purely do embroidery, you could use fabric paint, you could place little beads or gems for the eyes and nose. You can cut out little pieces from other felt colours and sew or glue them on. Get creative!
- Using doubled-up thread or embroidery thread, stitch the front and the back together all around the outside, leaving the bottom or a side open
- Stuff the plushie. I pulled apart a cotton ball to make it looser. I used 1 cotton ball for the skull plushie and 2 for the pumpkin plushie. You can add a little more or a little less depending on your desired thickness
- Sew up the rest of the outside
- Attach a thin (approximately 1/2 inch wide) strip to the back of the plushie. No need to be super careful about the stitches here as this side will be against the collar. The collar you want to use will determine the length (will need to wrap around the width of the collar
- Attach the snaps or velcro to the strip
- Attach the plushie to your dog’s collar. For safety reasons, make sure to remove the plushie when you are not monitoring your dog
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