Sausage Dog Keyring

Good morning, it's Susie here and I decided I needed some sewing time!

So, I looked out Sarah's Sausage Dog pattern and some scrap denim.  Sarah's kit comes with everything you need to make your little doggy, including felt, which is nice and easy to cut and sew........but I love denim and thought I'd give it a go with that.

I pinned and cut the pattern pieces as normal, although I cut extra ear pieces from some lovely fat quarters I'd bought a while ago to contrast with the denim.  Originally, I'd intended to make a very neatly finished doggy - like the ears - all sewn right sides together and turned out the right way.

BUT, denim really needs to be machine sewn, rather than handsewn (in my opinion) and this was proving a step too far for my skills!  So, I gave it a go sewing it right sides outward and tried to make my piece with a ruffer (get it?!!) finish........really quite a challenge for someone like me!

Having already sewn the ears neatly, when adding them to the denim dog body, they ended up shorter than the original pattern, so it resembles a rather different breed of dog, but hopefully Sarah won't mind that her lovely sausage dog has shorter ears!  Here's what he looks like in felt:

I also omitted the tummy part of the pattern so that my doggy would be slightly flatter, as I wanted to use it as a keyring.  I added 2 sequins and beads for eyes and gave my dog a collar and lead in order to attach my keyring.  This was made with a strip of my material, which was sewn, although ribbon would have been quicker.

My daughter, who also loves denim, would love one for herself, so I will try to remember to take photos of my process when I make hers, and post fuller instructions, or an edit to this post.  I'm also going to have a go at applique-ing the sausage dog to something.....a cushion, a bag, who knows?!

Have any of you come up with additional applications for your cute sausage dog pattern?