Project Safety Dog Vest

My workplace is very dog friendly.

Meet:

Nessie, Tom, Tess
Bobbie, Ted & Bear

Some of these dogs are such frequent visitors they even have their own sign in!

You might all have thought I’m a cat person but I’m a sucker for a cute anything really.

Ted’s mum sits beside me so Ted is like my adoptive dog and he’s a real sweetie. He has some cute little coats to keep him warm and dry (see above) but since we are in the construction industry I decided he needed a proper H&S Hi-Vis Vest, for site visits of course.

I found a free dog vest pattern online from The Spruce Crafts and scaled it down on the photocopier to approximately Ted-sized. He’s a Griffon and won’t grow much bigger.

I had an old hi-vis vest from my time working in Western Australia. It’s a size small and fitted me perfectly…then they changed the rules and decided that a size small was actually far too little fabric coverage to be adequately seen on site. If I wanted to wear a nicely fitted hi-vis (you know, one that wouldn’t present a catch or trip hazard) I’d have to buy a new one with a long apron at the back to add more surface area…or wear a larger size. So I put my illegal hi-vis away and work bought me a new one.

Well waste not, want not!

I pulled it out and began to unpick it. I wanted as much orange fabric as possible but also decided to save the reflective tape, the edge binding and, while I was at it, why not the Velcro too?!

Harri is a bit chonkier than Ted but she made a good test model…she wasn’t particularly impressed but she trusts me…we’ll see if that pays off for her later…

I had plenty of hi-vis to work with, the vest fitted on the back piece easily with fabric to spare.

I trimmed the reflective tape a bit thinner to remove the old needle holes and bring it more in scale with the dog vest proportions.

The binding was the trickiest part to sew on but I just took my time. It’s was the nicest way to finish all the raw edges.

Next I finished the ends of the straps…

…and added the velcro.

Soft side towards the tummy to prevent accidental fur snagging!

All done!

I was super proud of it and Ted’s mum loved it too.

Harri, who trusted me, not so much…

We know a picture is worth a thousand words but really a video is so much better…

Yeah I’m not sure how I survived that either…

What did Ted think?

So safe!

So visible!

Here are a few more details:

Always sign your work…

THE DETAILS:

Pattern – Free Small Dog Coat pattern from The Spruce Crafts, scaled to suit

Next time I’d add a button hole for the dog lead to pass through.

Fabric – Old “illegal” hi-vis vest

Other notions – Re-used Velcro, binding, reflective tape