If you've read this blog before you know that sometimes I get rather odd requests so it didn't surprise me any when I got a request for dog diapers from a friend. Usually I'm not surprised by some requests but this one caught me a bit off guard. Dog diapers? Well, how does one go about making those I wonder? Couldn't be much different from a baby diaper could it? Maybe just put a hole in it for the tail.
Turns out it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. My only problem was that these were for a German Shepherd--so not a small dog. Plus I had to figure out where and how big to make the tail hole (that makes giggle just a little). So this is what I decided to do:
Step 1: Find a pattern I could use as an example. Doll diaper. Why not--looks like it would work.
Step 2: Figure out where and how big to make the tail hole (yep, still giggling). To do this, I used a small stuffed dog and marked on the diaper pattern where it's tail was.
Step 3: Now all I needed to do was resize the pattern and make it three times the size it was. This was the tricky part because I am NOT very good at drawing. Plus, to make it large enough I had to find something to draw it on. Ah-ha! NEWSPAPER!!
Before I went on to finish my diaper I wanted to make sure that it was going to fit my friend's dog. She wanted four of these and I didn't want to make them and then find out they didn't fit. That would be a waste of time and a lot of fabric. So I gave her the pattern and told her to try it out. Turns out I just needed to make the straps a little longer. Bingo!
Step 4: Cut out fabric. I'm only showing two of the fabrics I used in this next picture but you'll see the rest at the end of this post (if you're not bored to tears and keep reading that is).
Step 5: Embroider designs. I wanted to make these fun so I chose three baby designs that I had and I think they worked perfectly! You'll also see all of those in the last picture.
Step 6: While the designs were being embroidered I worked on the linings. I added a piece of scrap fleece to each one to give them a bit more absorbency (diapers were all made from flannel). She's also using a maxi pad inside of them too so they shouldn't leak.
Step 6: Sew them together! Since I am so bad at using bias tape I decided to try a new way to "bind" the tail hole. I simple cut the outer fabric hole smaller than the lining hole. I then folded the lining over (to front of diaper), pressed it and sewed it down. Looks almost like binding and was so much easier!
And these are my finished dog diapers. Ta-da!!
P.S. If you'd like to see a tutorial on how I did the binding you can see it here Cheater binding Just scroll down.
Turns out it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. My only problem was that these were for a German Shepherd--so not a small dog. Plus I had to figure out where and how big to make the tail hole (that makes giggle just a little). So this is what I decided to do:
Step 1: Find a pattern I could use as an example. Doll diaper. Why not--looks like it would work.
Step 2: Figure out where and how big to make the tail hole (yep, still giggling). To do this, I used a small stuffed dog and marked on the diaper pattern where it's tail was.
Step 3: Now all I needed to do was resize the pattern and make it three times the size it was. This was the tricky part because I am NOT very good at drawing. Plus, to make it large enough I had to find something to draw it on. Ah-ha! NEWSPAPER!!
Step 4: Cut out fabric. I'm only showing two of the fabrics I used in this next picture but you'll see the rest at the end of this post (if you're not bored to tears and keep reading that is).
And these are my finished dog diapers. Ta-da!!
