12/6/11: Sewing a U.S. Marine Uniform for the Four-Legged Type

Everything is finally here to start my marathon of sewing some blues for Jazzmin the bulldog. Last month I received an order (by way of my custom sewing ad), from a Marine veteran to sew a U.S. Marine Corporal E-4 styled uniform and a camouflage suit for his bulldog, Jazzmin. After a few chuckles--sorry, had to. Didn't expect my first order to be something like this!--I set to work in procuring all the necessary materials.

Jazzmin's owner wants this to be as authentic as possible so I made sure to ask him exactly what he wanted. We came to a design that mimics the US Marine's mascot's former attire:

chesty the mascot in his blues. source found here.

Because I have never done dog clothes before I bought two sewing patterns to use as a basis of this design. I chose Simplicity 9520 and 2519.

That second pattern envelope certainly is uh, strange? I really had to see beyond the original designer's "party" inspiration to find something suitable for my bulldog uniform. 

Now, onto the fabrics. . .

I bought all my fabrics from my old tried and true source: fabric.com. I love that site! I think I might have spent too much time there to tell you the truth. :)

I bought four different fabrics to be used for these two outfits, but one, unfortunately, didn't turn out to be what I wanted. I'll get to that in a bit. But first, let me show you the fabric for the blue uniform:

medium blue cotton/polyester twill

navy blue cotton/polyester twill

bright red premier broadcloth

And I also bought webbing to mimic the pant leg on Chesty's outfit:

So about that camouflage fabric. Because of the poor image, I picked out a black and white camouflage in large scale that will definitely, absolutely, positively, NOT work with my project. So I must find another source for the second outfit and I'm casting my eyes on etsy.com. Hopefully it will prove fruitful!

And to add some authenticity to the blue uniform some trinkets were necessary:

left to right: Navy and Marines medal and Medal of Good Conduct

US Marines chevron rank patch for a Corporal E-4.

So that's that. Now off to doing some pattern alteration, pre-washing fabric, ironing, and all the fun stuff. Actually, for me, everything after threading and preparing the serger/sewing machine is when the real "sewing" begins. And that part is the best part.

Jump to the other posts of this series by clicking the links below:

1/16/12: Sewing a U.S. Marine Dog Coat -- Finished Piece

12/14/11: Sewing a U.S. Marine Dog Coat -- the Pattern