Yes, I really do love how many times the letter “C” appears in that title.  “C” is not just for cookie.

Now, to the topic at hand: cat coats.  I have two indoor cats, Mia and Pele.  Back when we first got them my neighborhood was having problems with coyotes.  Most of my neighbors spotted them at some point, I know I saw them walking down the road on two different occations.  When they first showed up, small animals in the neighborhood started disappearing.  I know they got two cats (we still miss Sweatpea…), but I’m pretty sure the number was higher than that. That said, when we got our cats they weren’t going outside; there was no way kittens would survive against coyotes.

So, 6 years (I think), after the arrival of the Wonder Kitties, my parents decided to knock down the old deck and have a new one built with a screened in porch.  We all joke that they spent all this money just so the cats could sit outside, and we all know that the joke isn’t really a joke and that they kinda-mighta-maybe built a porch so that the cats could sit outside.  The cats, of course, love sitting out there and listening to nature.

Unfortunately, no matter how many times they go outside, they’re still indoor cats who are used to the controlled temperature of the inside of a house, but they still really really really want to go outside even though the weather has taken a turn for the colder.  They’ll currently stay outside for anywhere from 30 seconds to 5 mins and then they come back in because they’re freezing their whiskers off.  I feel bad that they can’t do something they love so much (I swear this whole cat coat thing was not meant to torture them), so I decided to try and find a solution for my favorite felines.

While browsing Pinterest a few weeks ago I stumbled across this wonderful little blog called Sew DoggyStyle, specifically this post where you’re shown how to make a cute little coat for a cute little dog.

Did you click on the link?  Did you notice how happy that little dog looks???  I let the idea of making tiny coats for my cats roll around in my head for a few weeks because my cats will NEVER give me that look for putting them in any piece of clothing…I, however, gathered my courage, found the leftover fleece I had lying around in the basement, and decided that Pele would be the easier target as Mia does this weird thing when you stick something on her back (*cough*cough*cow spots*cough*) where she crouches low to the ground and walks around like she can duck whatever’s on her back (I think she’d be fantastic at spelunking).

As in the instructions, I measured Pele (which confused him) and drew out my sketch on a piece of newspaper (which works just as well as the brown paper bag she uses, maybe better because you don’t have to cut it apart to begin with).  Take a measurement of your cat from neck to butt, in other words, measure the length that you want the coat to cover.  I also measured around Pele’s neck to make sure I wouldn’t strangle him with the neck strap.  I ended up having to extend it a little further when I cut out the fabric.

Make sure that the center of your pattern is on the crease of the newspaper.

For the next step, cut out your pattern and stick it on your cat.  As your cat isn’t going to be terribly thrilled about you putting newspaper on him/her work quickly and pull the straps around the front to make sure they’re going to overlap (you’re going to have to put velcro on them) and that kitty is still able to breathe.  Fold the paper back over and pin the newspaper to your fabric; the fold of the newspaper should go along the fold in your fabric.  Cut this out.

Next, measure kitty around the middle.  Subtract the width from the pattern you just made from that (not length [butt to neck], width [the part that goes across the tummy]).  What’s leftover is what you’re going to need to make the bottom straps.  Measure that out on a scrap of newspaper, and make it your desired width.

This is my piece.

Then, fold about a third up so that you have a slightly smaller rectangle.  We need to make two straps that we’ll eventually sew onto the main piece, and that overlap with one another(again, velcor).

This cat coat ended up being only one layer, because I wasn’t willing to spend several hours on something that I may or may not be able to get him to wear(Although, to Pele’s credit, he was a very good sport with all the measuring).

So, assuming you’re making a single layer fleece cat coat like me, you’re going to want to sew the velcro on to the neck straps.  Do this before you sew the tummy straps on so that you can actually visualize where you want the straps to hit on your cat.  I also ended up taking a dart in at the very back of the neck to fit him a little better because he moved and it seemed to be flopping around an awful lot.  After you’ve decided the neck strap is going to work out, sew on the tummy straps and add the velcro to those.  Don’t forget to put it on opposite sides of the fabric so that when it overlaps it actually sticks…logic, I know.

You can see the velcro, the dart, and the tummy straps in this one.

And voila!  Cat coat!

Best photo I could get…he tolerated me all night. Apparently 11:30 was his limit.

I won’t say he’s thrilled about it, but he’ll wear it if I stick it on him.  Mia even wore it for a bit.  First she did her little crouchy dance and then she hopped up on the otoman and fell asleep, so maybe she doesn’t hate it as much as she thinks she hates it…or she wants me to think she hates it.

Hopefully I’ll get some better materials and give this another shot at some point.  I’d like to make one with some actual lining (you know, a cute one like that really happy looking dog was wearing).  I’ll update if that ends up happening.

Hope everyone’s February is off to a good start!