Cats are heat-loving animals. Short-haired and especially hairless breeds often freeze even in a warm room. With age, the pet begins to freeze more. The solution to the problem is clothing. It is often used at exhibitions, costume performances. Making clothes for cats with your own hands is very simple, a general idea of cutting and sewing is enough.
Taking the necessary measurements
To make your own clothes, you need to start by creating a pattern for clothes for cats, and before that, take measurements. There are three main measurements:
- animal's neck circumference;
- back length from neck to tail;
- body circumference (measured behind the front legs).
With three measurements, you can sew a blanket, a sleeveless jacket or a simple sweater for your pet. To create complex models, you will need to measure the girth of the abdomen, the length of the abdomen from the neck to the hind legs, the distance between the front legs, and the shoulder girth.
Using these measurements, you can create any pattern for cat outfits. Knitted clothes for cats made by hand are partly easier, they can be adjusted directly on the animal, making intermediate fittings. Experienced knitters will have no trouble knitting a sweater for a pet without taking measurements.
You need to take measurements from the cat when it is calm and standing on all fours.
Preparing the pattern
The simplest pattern is a trapezoid with rounded edges and holes for the front legs. To build it, you will need the length of the back, the girth of the neck, chest, and the distance between the front legs. The animal's comfort of movement depends on the latter, so special attention should be paid to the measurement.
When creating a pattern for cat clothes, it is necessary to take into account seam allowances and fasteners. The outfit should not fit the animal's body too tightly, restricting movement. This will cause discomfort and harm to the cat's health - since tight clothes will worsen blood circulation and lymph flow.
A more complex pattern consists of two parts, suitable for constructing various models of dresses, blouses, jackets, and other clothing. The upper part covers the pet's back and sides, the lower part covers the belly. To create such a pattern, you should measure the length of the back, belly, chest, waist, distance between the paws, neck. You can supplement it with sleeves, a hood, and other details.
The most complex pattern design is needed for sewing overalls for walks outside in cold weather. It includes sleeves and "pants" for the animal, the back and stomach are completely closed, a hood is often added. The sleeves are usually made loose, with elastic bands along the bottom edge, so the main measurements are the length of the back and the circumference of the animal's body - in the chest and stomach. It is also necessary to provide an opening for the tail.
Sewing and fitting
The paper pattern is transferred to the fabric, securely pinned. The details are cut out with an allowance for seams. Then they need to be pre-basted and be sure to try them on your pet. This allows you to detect and correct any shortcomings in the sphinx clothing pattern in time. After making changes, the details need to be basted again and tried on. And so on until the outfit fits perfectly.
The fitted parts of the costume are sewn together by machine or by hand. The edges of loose fabrics should be overcast or finished with any overcast stitch beforehand. First, the upper and lower parts of the costume are sewn together, then small details are sewn on. There should not be too many of them, and it is also worth excluding sharp, small decorations that the cat can injure itself on or gnaw off or swallow. It is recommended to complement winter versions with elastic tape along the edges. Before making the final touches and sewing on decorations, another fitting should be done.
Before cutting and sewing, wash the fabric and iron it with a hot iron. This will help you assess the degree of shrinkage.
Technology of creation depending on the type of clothing
You can create almost any clothes for a cat that people wear. However, the main requirement here is that it should first of all be warm, comfortable for the animal, and only then beautiful. The most popular models are a sweater, a blanket, and a dress.
Sweater
A sweater is a universal garment. Thin versions are suitable for warmer weather, thick ones – for frosty winter. We sew such a garment from soft knitwear or knit from natural yarn. The main thing is that the seams of hairless cats should be as smooth as possible, and the yarn should in no case be prickly.
A simple option to make a sweater for a sphinx with your own hands is to sew it from socks. Even a person who is far from sewing or knitting can handle this. All you need is to take a sock, golf or pant leg from knitted leggings of the appropriate size, cut it to the desired length, make holes for the front paws. Then process the seams, decorate if necessary - warm clothes for your pet are ready. Separately, you can cut out sleeves from the same sock and carefully sew them into the armhole.
Blanket
The only thing simpler than a sweater made from socks is a blanket. It is a cape with slits for paws. Sewn from lightweight fabric, it will help the cat not to overheat in the sun, and made from denser materials, it will not let it freeze in winter.
Its peculiarity is that the distance between the front paws is not important here, since it does not fasten and does not close on the stomach. Therefore, the main measurements will be the length of the back, chest and neck girth. This model of clothing is usually tied at the neck.
But this is a decorative blanket. A completely different item of clothing is a post-operative blanket. It is necessary so that the animal does not touch or scratch the stitches after surgery. It is a structure that covers the belly and is tied or fastened on the back in several places. To prevent the blanket from slipping, slits are made in it for the front paws for better fixation.
Dress
A dress is already decorative cat clothing. However, it can also be useful and warm. For example, if you crochet an openwork short skirt onto a knitted sleeveless jacket or sweater made from a sock. Such knitted clothing on cats will not only look cute, but also keep the animal warm.
Well, in general, a dress, whether it is sewn or knitted, in most cases is a sleeveless jacket, made according to the simplest pattern, with a skirt attached to it. It is usually fastened on the back. Zippers and Velcro are options for hairless breeds, buttons or ties are suitable for the rest.
As for decorations, everything depends on the owner's imagination. The main thing is that they are all safe. After all, even in pursuit of beauty, you should not forget about the health and comfort of your pet.
Video
