How to Make an ipod Dog Costume

December 3, 2006

ipod dog costume

When I think about Halloween costumes I try to stay simple. I think about what features the person, or in this case, the animal, has that can contribute to the costume. So when I imagined my dog’s 2006 Halloween costume I thought about my dog mostly. He’s a bichon-esque toy sized dog. I thought, what else is small, white, and portable? An ipod!

To begin, you will need:

  1. about a half yard to a yard of white felt, depending on the size of your dog (you can use black if you want to make the video ipod)
  2. remnant or craft size gray felt
  3. snaps, buttons, or velcro strips
  4. color printer
  5. photo paper
  6. white leash and white collar
  7. short piece of white rope or ribbon
  8. craft padding
  9. tools: pencil, scissors, glue or needle & thread

Begin by laying the white felt over the back of your dog. Lightly trace out the costume shape on the felt while the felt is on your dog. If your dog won’t sit still long enough for you to do that, teach your dog to sit. If that doesn’t work, try using a store bought outfit that fits your dog to estimate the size.

Here is the costume shape:

costume outline

Next, cut out the shape. If you want to pad the costume for warmth, cut out the same shape in padding and/or another layer of felt. Felt doesn’t fray so you don’t need to worry about hemming the edges but if you add the warmth layer you’ll want to sew around the edges.

Now cut a donut shape out of the gray felt. This is the ipod wheel. Sew or glue this onto the costume shape where the wheel would go: middle bottom.

costume2

Cut out the letter for the word “menu” from the white felt as well as arrows and bars for the buttons on the wheel. Sew or glue them onto the wheel.

Next, using your computer create the ipod screen. I made mine in Microsoft Publisher but you can use any program you like. Or you can do an image search for an ipod screen and just use that. Print out the image to the size of a small photo (3″x5″ or 4″x6″). For a big dog, use the full 8.5″x11″ paper. Sew or glue the printed image to the costume at the middle top.

If you have mad PhotoShop skills, here’s the time to use them!
ipod screen

Lay the costume on your dog and mark the places you’ll attach velcro or snaps. Remember to attach the velcro on opposite sides. For example, on the right side of the costume put the velcro on the top; on the left side of the costume affix the velcro to the underside. The velcro (or snaps) should go at the highlighted locations below:

velcro locations

You’re almost done!

Now, just make the little earbuds and attach them to the leash. The earbuds are felt mushrooms stuffed with craft padding. Cut two gray felt circles and two white circles. Take one circle of each color and sew them together with padding between. Attach a piece of rolled white felt as the stem and then glue or sew that to the white rope. Tie the rope to your leash handle and your dog’s ipod costume is complete!

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Posted by Elaine Vigneault | Filed Under Animals, Fun and Games, Home & Design, Tutorials 

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Comments

6 Responses to “How to Make an ipod Dog Costume”

  1. Ed on December 3rd, 2006 10:59 pm

    This is terrific! I’m gonna make an iPod costume for myself!

  2. YourMom on October 25th, 2007 7:47 pm

    WOw so cute.
    My dog will look so awsome in that costume.
    Hey, thanks for the instructions. :]

  3. Elaine Vigneault on October 25th, 2007 9:00 pm

    Mom,
    What kind of dog did you get? Last I heard, my mom only had cats ;)

  4. Lpg on December 8th, 2007 9:59 am

    Very funny. May be that kind of dog becomes an iPod nano and a bulldog becomes an iPod classic ;-)

  5. Weird Sea Monsters on January 26th, 2008 11:03 am

    Oh man, i wish i wouldve stumbled upon this around halloween. Still a great ideea and I’m definitely going to do it next halloween. Ive got a jack russell terrier so itll be a challenge to keep the costume on such an energetic dog.

    Weird Sea Monsters’s last blog post..Grenadier Fish

  6. Elaine Vigneault on January 26th, 2008 12:31 pm

    Sea Monster - Well… you could do it sooner for Mardi Gras! :)

2 Trackbacks to “How to Make an ipod Dog Costume”

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