Adopt Me Vests- my Fall Good Deed

Several months ago, I joined the BAHS Pack Runners program, which allows me to go to the shelter, "check out" a pooch, and take him or her for a run. It's awesome! Not only does the exercise help me, but it lets the dog burn off some energy, reduce stress from being in the shelter environment, and helps him be well-behaved when he meets potential adopters.

Tatelyn- AKA: Tater. ADOPTED!

We seem to have a shortage of Adopt Me vests though... we like to have the dogs wear these when they're out and about to get exposure for the dog, the shelter, and the program. I decided that my skills could be put to good use by making a bunch of new vests!

Nathan... FINALLY ADOPTED!

I designed a pattern based on this tutorial, but decided to change up the construction quite a bit. I basically just followed the basic vest measurements listed here, making a large, medium, small and extra-small sized pattern. Check!


Then I did a quick layout in Illustrator to see how much fabric I'd need. I planned to make the vests double-thickness with the fabric (instead of a single layer edged with bias tape like the original tut), so I laid out the pieces in pairs. Looks like two yards (at 60" width) will make one large, two mediums, two smalls and two x-smalls. I ended up ordering a total of 12 yards of fabric- eight in lime green (imagine that!) at $4 per yard and four yards in turquoise ($3 per yard). I chose bright colors so they're extra visible.


I also ordered a bunch of buckles, slides, a roll of belting and a bolt of fusible interfacing on Amazon.com.

These vests get washed A LOT. I wanted to be sure that the Adopt Me text on the sides was durable and bright and professional looking, so I called around and found a screen printer who was not only willing to print on unfinished, client-supplied materials, but also give me a great deal at $1.50 per print. That's only $3 per vest (Except the little one... only one print fits on the extra-small size). I'm so grateful to Down Home for helping me with this project! I designed the print myself, and I can't wait to see how cute it looks!


I originally wanted to make 55+ vests (I had five area shelters on my list), but my budget constraints backed me off to about 35. My work generously donated $250 for me to do this project, and I'm picking up any extra cost personally. It's for the doggies! And totally worth it. :)

Now I'm patiently waiting for the fabric to arrive... I ordered it online for the good prices. I'll be sure to update as soon as I start cutting out the vests!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kaffe Fassett Jelly Roll Jam Quilt

Image
Here it is! I tried something new with this quilt, and I'm not sure I was 100% successful. The binding was unusual for me. I normally do the whole 2.5" strip, hand-sewn binding thing, but I wanted to try using the backing as the binding this time to keep it simple. I LOVE this backing fabric ; it's so soft, and it tied in so nicely with the color scheme of the Kaffe Fassett "Tides" jelly roll. I have noticed though, that this particular fabric shows a lot of poke holes, so be careful with pin placement and try to get your seams right the first time around. I worked really hard to turn my edges under nicely and pin well, at least every 2 inches. Unfortunately, as I kind of  suspected, some of the loose ends bulged out in between the pins as my presser foot went over them. Now that I've washed the quilt, I can see that I need to do some seam ripping to fix a lot of little peeks of batting and frayed edged. Sad face. I also noticed tha
Read more

Temperature Record Cross Stitch

Image
I tried telling people years ago that cross stitch was cool again... and I WAS RIGHT! Pay no attention to the random pet hairs... I'm in this crazy cross stitch group on Facebook that features non-traditional subject matter, from naughty words to feminist themes to potty humor and beyond. While I don't consider it my style to be crass or subversive, I do appreciate the modern approach to a very old craft that is normally associated with "grannies" (not that there's anything wrong with that, either). This group has introduced me to a variety of interesting new project ideas, including the concept of a temperature stitch. Essentially, each day's high and low temperature are recorded in different colored stitches to provide a really interesting visual of our climate and seasons. This whole idea has my head spinning around ways to physically represent climate change in artsy-crafty form by going through the last hundred years and stitching a huge collecti
Read more

Football Blanket Crochet Chart

Image
Here is the chart I worked off of for the football blanket... it is sized for a baby afghan, about 36 by 48 inches, but the chart can be easily modified to make it bigger. I worked the entire blanket in double crochet, and the white laces in the center were made with the tapestry stitch, in which the color not being used is carried across the top of the work and the stitches are made over it, concealing the color. Here's a pretty good tutorial for the tapestry stitch, although as I stated earlier, I did all double crochet for this project, but the concept is the same. For this particular blanket, I used five balls of Bernat Waverly yarn in brown, and almost a whole skein of Red Heart Super Saver in white for the lines and laces. I believe I used a size J hook, which made the project go nice and quick. Adjust the size of yarn and hook to fit your needs- everyone crochets differently! Happy crocheting! :) Update: if you love this football blanket, check out my football
Read more