{"id":1298,"date":"2014-02-09T20:21:03","date_gmt":"2014-02-10T01:21:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baburkard.com\/crochet\/?p=1298"},"modified":"2014-02-09T20:27:36","modified_gmt":"2014-02-10T01:27:36","slug":"boots-for-billie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/baburkard.com\/crochet\/boots-for-billie\/","title":{"rendered":"Boots for Billie"},"content":{"rendered":"

My little dog was not made for cold weather. And it’s been COLD this winter. Billie has a hard time going outside even to answer nature’s call, much less to take a walk. We both miss the walks. Hopefully we will return to more “normal” temperatures soon.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, I tried to make some boots for my girl’s little feet. I’d bought some at the dollar store, but I couldn’t make them tight enough to stay on. There were patterns online of the same design, but that wasn’t what I wanted. Once again, I created my own.<\/p>\n

\"2657\"<\/a>I first made an outline of her paw; adding a seam allowance gave me the sole of her boot. I cut soles out of thick black fleece and “shelf liner” to give her traction on the hardwood floors (something she didn’t have with the dollar store boots). For the upper I used a small saucer to make a circle, then cut a smaller circle in one end, then removed about a third of the bottom. These I also cut from black fleece. I used ribbing for the leg part of the boot.<\/p>\n

\"2658\"<\/a>I folded the upper in half and seamed it. Then I seamed the ribbing along the length, folded it in half and sewed it to the smaller opening in the upper. I marked both pieces in quarters to have them sewn evenly together.\"2660\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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I then used the same technique to put the soles on. I sewed them right sides together so the seams would be inside.<\/p>\n

\"2664\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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When I had all four made I tried them on the dog. She was not impressed! She wouldn’t leave them on her feet. The dollar store boots had Velcro strips to tighten them — I\u00a0 carefully removed them and hand-sewed them to the new boots. Now she couldn’t kick them off so easily!<\/p>\n

\"10601\"<\/a>Not a happy camper.<\/p>\n

She did perk up when I mentioned the T-word.<\/p>\n

\"B-dog\"<\/a>Billie doesn’t really like these boots (and I’m not sure they are a good design; I may have to try again) but we have walked further when she’s wearing them. We even had a short walk yesterday when it was -11\u00baC (-15\u00ba with the windchill) (12\u00ba\/5\u00baF).<\/p>\n