We’ve been having a pretty brutal winter this year, and keeping Whiskey warm has been one of my top concerns. He has almost no body fat on him and very short fur, so there isn’t much there to help keep him warm. For every walk, we bundle him up in at least one coat (sometimes doubling up!) and take extra measures to protect his paws. Even with all those considerations, he is always shivering, so I decided to take it up a notch and help cover more of his exposed fur.
I made him a dog scarf!
Some people may think it’s overkill, but when you see your little pooch shivering for the third time that day, you start to feel really bad for them. So far he’s been okay with the scarf. He has almost no fur on his neck, so this really helps to cover it up.
I was able to make it using some scrap polar fleece fabric I had. The whole project took me less than 10 minutes to whip up. I might make him another one this weekend that is even wider and longer for those really windy days.
What you’ll need:
- Polar Fleece Fabric
- Coordinating Thread
- Sewing Machine
To measure the scarf, I used Whiskey’s collar as a guide. The length was 23 inches (just over twice as long as his collar) and 7 inches wide. To get the width, I just held it up to him to see how wide I wanted it and then double that.
Folding the fabric length wise, stitch down the one long side and one of the short sides, to make a long tube. Turn it inside out.
Take the end that is stitched closed and make a loop. This will be where the other end goes through when you put the scarf on. Stitch the loop in place.
On the open end, stitch a line across the scarf about 2 inches from the end. Using sharp scissors, cut the end into fringe.
You should end up with a scarf with a loop at one end and a fringed end on the other.
To put the scarf on, put the fringed end through the loop.
Whiskey already seems to like it. He looks much warmer all bundled up now! Please keep in mind that this is great for his walks when I’m right there with him, but I would never put this on him unsupervised. I wouldn’t want him to get it snagged on a tree or anything.
So cute! I’d do this too if my dog didn’t have much fur. We have an Australian Shepherd so he’s just fine in the snow – actually he prefers it!
That is the cutest thing I have seen in a long time.
I think this is the cutest, best looking scarf I’ve ever seen, I can’t wait to make one. It’s practical and genius, so simple!
Can you make a PDF version so we can download your instructions and print them off!? Would love to teach the family how to make these for the animal rescue