Success! New Shirt For Reggie.

I spent yesterday cleaning and oiling up the new Kenmore and making friends with it. Today I was ready to see what it could do. This morning I re-sized the dog shirt pattern, adding 1" circumference to the body and 1/4" depth to the sleeves. I wasn't sure if it would work so I didn't want to waste any more of that gorgeous red t-shirt fabric. I have been buying up secondhand children's knit wear and pulled out a size 6-9 months shirt from the stash. I cut that up to use for this dog shirt. I am really happy with the results.

Front:

Back:

I was able to use the existing hems for the front and back but had to hem the sleeves myself. I used the machine's straight stretch stitch for the seams but used zig zag for overcasting the raw edges and a regular straight stitch (set to a loose tension) for the top stitching. I fashioned a decorative stripe from some of the original shirt's sleeve fabric and a small portion of the decorative screen printing. I didn't have enough room to turn under a hem so opted to applique the piece to the front of the dog shirt using one of the Kenmore's fancy cam stitches. The child's shirt cost less than $.50. I bought new thread and d-rings (on sale for 50% off) and the white grosgrain ribbon to secure the d-ring but I think this shirt still cost less than $1 to make. And the child's shirt was recycled, keeping it out of the landfill.  Here are some more photos of Reggie modeling his new togs.

 And a close-up of the appliqued strip.