I actually made this spring time doggie dress for Shantee a few years back. She wore it for a short television segment on GMA7′s Zooperstars with child actress Sabrina Man (not sure if the show is still running now though). But hey, it’s spring time! Since I haven’t posted this dress on Dog Fashionista anyway, I thought this would be the best time to bring it out once again…

I got the textile and buttons from my mom’s old stocks. Shantee’s small, so she doesn’t really need much cloth for a dress. The upper part is made of satin, while the skirt a ribbed, stretchy print. Not sure what that is called, but I’ve seem this cloth in some skirts for humans.

The cut of the upper body is pretty simple. A darker pink satin is attached with a Velcro around Shantee’s tummy, a V-cut lighter pink satin around her neck clasped with a button. I thought Velcro is best to use for the part on her tummy, that way she can get fat and still fit it her dress!

Although I sometimes buy dresses for Shantee (there are affordable ones but still of high quality), every once in a while I prefer to make one for her. I’m no couture, but it’s good therapy after a week of deadlines at work. Kind of like arts and crafts! So no, before anybody asks, I do not sell dog clothes. I just like making my spotlight-happy Shih Tzu princess pretty and even more spotlight-happy!

This is probably the easiest dog stuff I ever made for Shantee

The pillow itself is made of scrap cloth enclosed in a “cloth bag.” The gold textile I used for the pillow case is basically the same as the one my mom gave me for the gold trimmings of Shantee’s Christmas dog dress.

Shantee loves sleeping on her golden bed. I rather think she feels like a real princess on it! Hehe

But look here, Shantee has a new purple girly dog dress!

Would you believe I made that? Really, I did. I honestly couldn’t believe I could come up with a dog dress like that myself. But yes, this dog dress was made by hand and with love! (Unfortunately, my mom’s sewing machine needed to undergo major repairs)

I was actually planning to make a Santa-type of dress for Shantee using some red velvet cloth I had lying around. But I wasn’t feeling too confident about my measuring and sewing skills, so I made use of some cheap purple clothe to practice on first. Turns out, it wasn’t too hard—except for the sewing part, it would have been way easier and less time-consuming if I had a sewing machine.

I made use of the pattern I saw in the HGTV website which featured step-by-step instructions on how to make a dog dress, but modified it a bit. Give it a try—it definitely beats having to buy expensive dog clothes any day!

Shantee’s actually wearing this on her picture on this post, it’s just not noticeable from that angle. And yep, the dog necklace is made of Swarovski crystals—a dog necklace which used to be my bracelet

I added the chain so it would be easy to adjust, and Shantee won’t get choke on it if it’s too tight. That’s actually the nice thing about having a small dog—they’re so little you can just convert a bracelet into a fashionable necklace for them. Since Shantee’s a miniature version of a Shih Tzu (tiny teacup Shih Tzu or “Princess type” Shih Tzu), there’s still a chance that she won’t outgrow her necklace that much—a little adjustment might just do the trick. If she gets too big for it though, I can always just get her a collar or ask my cousin to make a custom dog necklace for her.

If you’re into making beaded necklaces or that sort of thing, creating one for your dog is way way cheaper than buying those in pet shops. Try it! Your dog fashionista will surely love it

Marc, my husband, and I are still deciding on the perfect gravestone for Sheero, so for now, a hand-made one will do. Besides, my family has plans of moving—it might not be a good idea to have a gravestone made and delivered at the moment just in case we had to transfer already. This is what I came up with:

I found the ceramic plate in our garden, and I painted it with Sheero’s name and stuff. Albeit temporary, I still wanted it to be at least a bit glitzy, so I added a few faux diamond studs on the cross. Being the fashionista that she is, I’m pretty sure Sheero liked it