How To Turn Your Dog Into a Live Chia Pet This Halloween.

chia pet dog costume tutorial

Personally, I’m not a big fan of dressing up dogs. However, The Flirty Guide (Stacie Tamaki) shares with us a way to make this terrific “Howl”ween costume, turning your dog into a live Chia Pet.

Chia Pet Dog Costume Tutorial:

chia-pet-halloween-dog-costume

All you need are some plastic aquarium plants, muslin, fabric, elastic straps, felt and a willing participant. (Note: a “green” version of this costume is possible by using organic materials and eco-friendly felt as shown in the photo at the beginning of this post, courtesy of Inhabitat).

chia pet Halloween pet costume

Needed elements for the Terracotta legs:
• An inner liner made of muslin (buy it here)
• An outer layer using terra cotta colored fabric (buy it here)
• Two straps and a cross strap connecting the first two together. The first straps are attached at the top of each leg, suspender style, to hold them up once you slip all four legs onto your dog.  (buy elastic straps here)

chia pet costume tutorial

The Steps:
1. Sew an inner leg liner using muslin or another fabric that is thin enough to bend if your dog wants to sit or lie down.

2. Sew and outer terra cotta leg with appropriately colored fabric that is also thin enough to fold and bend for your dog’s comfort.

3. Make sure they are both the same width at the bottom. Drop the liner inside the terra cotta layer and fold the terra cotta layer under allowing you to sew them together with a single pass of your sewing machine.

4. Now stitch the two layers together at the top in only two places where the strap will fasten along the outer side of your dog’s leg and directly across from it on the other side. This holds the two layers together without binding them completely and eliminates the need to make the pant legs fit your dog’s leg perfectly. This way the pant legs can loosely fit, be comfortable and look great!

5. Once you’ve stitched the top of the legs together sew the felt strap along the outer side of the pant leg.

6. Do one leg first, then slip the other pant leg on your dog’s other leg and pin it into place along the strap you’re attaching them to. Make sure you can slip it off, bending your dog’s leg to do so, and you’ve got the perfect length to trim the strap to.

7. Attach the other pant leg same as the first.

Elements for the covering and foliage:
• Felt to make a blanket or body cover and fabric for lining so the plastic plants do not irritate your dog.

• Plastic aquarium plants that come attached to grids ( like this one) or organic plants for the green version:
artificial plastic grass for chia pet costume

plastic aquarium plants

To attach the plastic foliage, pull all of the foliage off the mats. Then make a horse blanket out of green felt and strategically cut holes in the felt using an x-acto knife. Push the prongs of the grid through the holes and reattach the foliage alternating the two different types of leaves. Then line the entire costume on the underside so that none of the plastic will poke through and make your pet uncomfortable.

And Voila! Ch Ch Ch Chia…. Chia Dog!
dog costume chia pet

dog dressed as chia pet halloween

Images and instructions courtesy of the Flirty Guide Blog.