Thursday, March 27, 2014

Pet Bandana Tutorial

Mommy made PET BANDANAS, with our supervision of course!  Feel free to give it a try if you want.  (Mommy is new to sewing, and she thinks this was a good beginner project to learn.)


Pattern Instructions

Benji is showing the finished Pattern we made out of paper. 


This is how we made the pattern.  You take a piece of regular piece of paper we used an ORANGE colored paper in this example. The top part of the bandana is 8 &1/2 inches wide, the part where the collar will be inserted in is 2 & 1/2 inches long, the entire length of the triangle is 8 inches long, and the little peak of the triangle is a little over a 1/2 inch wide. 

Time to cut out the paper pattern.

You put a second piece of paper (we used a Green piece of paper in this example) under the Orange piece of paper, and you cut out both pieces of paper at the same time.  Then you tape the two pieces of paper together.  (The finished pattern looks almost like a diamond shape.)


Sewing Instructions


Here are the instructions on how to make a Pet Bandana.  It's pretty simple, only 5 steps.  Don't worry, we will walk you thru each of the 5 steps -- so GRAB your leash, and lets go on a WALK.




Step 1. CUT out the paper pattern on the material. 
 

Step 2.  Make a little HEM on the side parts where the collar is going to be inserted.  In the paper pattern above, this is the 5 inch side of the material  (Orange side is 2 &1/2 plus the Green side is 2 & 1/2 = 5 inches Total.)

Step 3.  After you sewed the hem on both sides where the collar is gonna go, FOLD the material in half so the correct sides of the material are together.  Then SEW the 2 sides together to form the peak of the triangle. (This picture was taken when we folded the material just before sewing the peaks of the triangle.)

This is just another picture of step 3.  You can see the sew lines to form the peak of the triangle.  (Note: Mommy sewed a HUGE hem in this picture, this particular bandana was meant for a smaller dog, so that's why the hem is so big.) 

Step 4 - You are gonna TURN the material the right way now.  You hold open the little opening where the collar goes, and you reach in, and pull the tip of the triangle out thru that opening.

This is just another picture of Mommy pulling the material the right way thru the opening. 

Step 5 - Optional - Mommy sewed a line across as a finishing touch on the bandana on the right.

Ta-da!   All you do is insert your pet's collar in the opening and put the collar on your furry friend.



 
Lassie
Benji


We hope you enjoyed this Pet Bandana Tutorial. 

Note: If we wanted the size of the bandana to be smaller for a smaller dog -- we just increased the size of the hem.  That way Mommy didn't have to stress out over measuring and cutting out a different pattern. 


Lassie and Benji

P.S. The bandanas were the reason behind the "lumpy" envelopes we mentioned on our blog the other day.   As you can see, Mommy's sewing skills aren't perfect -- but she made the bandanas with love!


Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Make your Own Holiday Day

Our blog friend Ranger says today March 26th is "Make Your Own Holiday Day".


Benji decided today should be ... Pretend you're every member of the "Brady Bunch" Day.

(Mommy's niece actually made this picture from an app, so we don't know how she did it.)




Top Row (left to right): Benji pretends he is like Marsha because everyone loves him.   Benji pretends he is like Mrs. Brady because of his great singing voice.  Benji pretends he is like Greg, because he is charming and could woo the ladies.

Middle Row (left to right): Benji pretends he is like Jan because he is always trying his luck to be like or better than his older sibling (Marsha/Jan ... Lassie/Benji).   Benji pretends he is like Alice because he could spend the whole day in the kitchen.   Benji pretends he is like Peter because he is silly (the reason the football helmet is in the picture is when Peter threw the football at Marsha's nose by accident - Benji does goofy things like that, he could be playing with a toy and then somehow he manages to throw it in the air and it will hit him in the face.)

Bottom Row (left to right):     Benji pretends he is like Cindy because he could torment "Kitty Karry- All" Cindy's doll all day long.   Benji pretends he is like Mr. Brady because he is a good planner.   Mr. Brady was always figuring out things, like how to tie all the family members socks together to make a chain to knock the key off the wall when they got locked in a Sheriff's Office prison cell.   Benji is good at planning, because, if Mommy locks Benji behind a kiddie gate in a "time-out" , he knows how to squeeze thru the gate to get out.    And finally Benji pretends he is like Bobby because he is good at sports, or at least Benji dreams about being good at sports.


Note: we added "Tiger" the Dog's picture with Mr. Brady because "Tiger" deserved to be in the opening credits of the show!


Hope you enjoyed our Make-Pretend Holiday!

Lassie and Benji

Monday, March 24, 2014

Field of Flowers Award


We were nominated fur the Field of Flowers Award from our friend Cocco the Minipig!  Thank you, Cocco! 

The rules for the Field of Flowers Award are as follows.  One must thank the blogger who nominated you and then place the award on your blog.  Next, you get to nominate seven other bloggers and write a little something as to why you are giving these specific bloggers a field of flowers.  Finally, you'll want to notify the nominees that they have been nominated.

(I know the rules said you can only nominate SEVEN bloggers – but we are gonna cheat and name ELEVEN.)

A while back, Mommy wrote a blog post and asked if anyone wanted to write a Congratulations Comment to Mommy’s niece for making it into the school play.  The comment will appear in the school play’s program book later this week.  The play she got into was the "Wizard of Oz".

We got 11 pawsome Congratulations Comments from Bloggers and we would like to nominate all 11 to receive the Field of Flowers Award: 

1.     Frankie and Ernie

2.     Molly the Wally

3.     Oreo and Chewy

4.     Casey and Cinderella

5.     Shiloh’n Diva Shasta

6.     Soggibottom

7.     Beckett and Keltic

8.     Lily and Edward

9.     Bailey, Hazel and Greta

10.  Dakota

11.  Cocco (yes the same one who nominated us.)

 
We were especially thankful for the congratulations comments!  You really brightened Mommy’s niece’s face when she saw all those fangtastic comments from everyone!  We can’t thank you enough.  You all deserve a big field of flowers fur brightening Mommy's niece's big day! 

Because of your thoughtfulness, Mommy snail mailed you a Thank You Card from us over the weekend – hopefully it reaches all Eleven of you.  The postoffice wasn’t sure how much postage to put on the envelopes because it was a "little lumpy" – so, in case there is an error in postage; or if the envelope never reaches you;  please let us know.  (Maybe we should have used a different kind of envelope to mail it?  Anyway, we got our paws crossed that the Thank You Card gets to you ok without any problems.)

We hope to blog about why the envelope was a “little lumpy” later this week.  Here is a hint.

 


Lassie and Benji