Confessions of a Craft Addict

Christmas is almost here and I’m nearly done with holiday sewing. I haven’t made it through everything on my list but I’ve accomplished the big things, and I can be happy with that.

One of the gifts I was most looking forward to making is this polka dot dog carrier. My parents adopted a little Yorkie about a month ago and are absolutely just smitten. Every time I call, they update me on his latest goings on and even took a picture with him for their Christmas letter.

I just knew a cute little carrier for Bailey would be perfect, so I grabbed McCall’s 5151, some home dec fabric and got to work.

I did fall back on the Peltex for this project. The pattern called for hair canvas but I had a time of it finding some locally, so I pulled out the evil Peltex and just sucked it up. It did a nice job of giving the bag structure, and it was infinitely easier to use it for the bag exterior than the lining.

The bag has a hard bottom, made with an insert cut from a piece of chipboard I bought at the home improvement store. I also drilled holes through the board and inserted the bag feet through the holes to give them more stability and hopefully keep them from pulling through the fabric.

The pattern was really easy to sew, even with the Peltex. It’s only five pattern pieces and I pretty much got the entire project done in an afternoon (although my sewing was spread out over a couple of days because I squeezed it in between a bunch of errands).

Tags: Christmas, dog carrier, mccall 5151, pattern, Sewing