It's Pet Week! ~ For Rats: St Patrick's Day Novelty Coat

When I asked my man for ideas of what to do this week, he said he wanted me to make coats for our pet rats! 

Heh. Hehehehe.

I've got to keep him happy, right? 

So today you get a 2-for-1 deal! I figure I'll do a silly little tute for these coats, but in a few hours I'll also show you an easy hammock for your small animals! Rats, mice and ferrets absolutely LOVE hammocks and I'm sure there's other animals that would too!

So, tutorial #1 - novelty rat coats!

You will need:

* Two small rounded rectangles of fabric

* Two small strips of elastic

* Any embellishments you feel the need to add ;)

We're rockin' the GREEN because it's St Patrick's Day!!

What to do:

OK, well this first step is what I *tried* to do - measure the rat!!

The blurriness gives you an idea of how much Hammie did NOT want to hold still! 

So, rat measuring is OUT!

Eyeballing it is IN!

Take the rounded rectangle that you're using for the top of your coat, and pin your elastic as shown in the picture below:

The top bit of elastic is to go around the neck, the middle bit around the belly.

Pin the rounded rectangle of fabric that you're using for the underside of the coat onto the first piece, right sides facing together.

Stitch around the outside, leaving an opening at one end so we can turn it right-side out again in a second. You can even double back over the ends of elastic to make them more secure.

When you turn it right-sides out, it should look kinda like this! 

See the open end in each pic?

Fold the edges of the open hole inside:

Then top stitch across the opening and all around the edges.

Trim any loose threads, then if you want, add a bow-tie ;)

And dress up your model! Introducing the handsome Huckleberry:

Lookin' goooood! Very "St Patrick's Day", right??

Warning! Don't leave your pets in these unattended. The coats are for fun and photo taking only. It's too easy for your pet to get stuck in it awkwardly, it could even hurt itself!

See how awkward things can get?

Oh noes! My hands are caught!

If you're not careful, you can even turn into a turtle!!

(OK, OK, I promise the next post will be more sensible!)