A quick dog themed pinafore dress for Crufts

      I have never really been interested in going to Crufts, watching dogs prance around and be prodded didn’t interest me, however I quickly changed my tune when I learnt of the ‘Discover Dogs’ section where interaction with dogs and puppies was positively encouraged – heaven! So back in March some equally enthusiastic friends and I headed along with our best dog themed outfits, and naturally I’d made something special for the littlest member of our group.

Finished pinafore dress

      Using the basic pinafore dress pattern I designed to make the Care Bears dress I made this dress in only a few hours. I found the inexpensive cotton paw print fabric on eBay, there were several other dog themed prints I liked but the irregularity of this pattern made it easier to pattern match. I decided to line it with the same fabric as it was a little thin so it would add structure and depth to the black colour.

Easy to sew cotton

I cut the front and back pieces with the fabric folded to get the lining

      As with the gnome dress I decided to use a selection of different coloured buttons on the shoulders and under the arms (the same 20mm acrylic buttons I usually use, they are easy to sew and cheap to buy). The range of colours in the fabric also meant that when an enthusiastic knitting friend of mine offered to make a complementary dog themed cardigan for Crufts they could choose from any of the paw print colours to make a good match.

I wish I could knit like this!

Back of the dog themed cardigan

      The finished dress is very cute and was very easy to wear with a little bodysuit underneath and pair of tights (some parts of the NEC were a little chilly). We received lots of compliments on the way round, although I was too busy cuddling Pugs and Pomeranians, and dreaming of owning a Griffon Bruxellois to notice most of the time!

Top of the finished dress, different colour buttons visible

Back of the dress

All blog content and photos are Copyright of Charisse Sayers Proofreader & Copywriter www.charisse-sayers.com I welcome all feedback and would love to know your thoughts so please get in touch, comment, share, like and generally get involved!