Zinggia! Tuna's Taco Delight | Handmade Halloween Dog Costume

Tuna’s Taco Delight | Halloween Dog Costume

Alison & Jason 10/24/2016 31723 art, Tuna Fish Joe

Tuna Fish Joe DEMANDED to be a Tuna Fish Taco for this year’s Halloween dog costume. I swear. I kid you not! I could’ve bought a pre-made Halloween dog costume, but what’s the fun in that? Besides, the taco dog costume at the store didn’t have tuna fishies on it.

I used to make a cute Halloween dog costume for my childhood dog every year. So I started that tradition for Tuna. Last year I made him a tiny pair of crutches since it looks like he had a run in with the mob. Seriously Tuna, ya gotta pay your debts little dude!

The most difficult part of this Halloween dog costume was making the pattern. Tuna LOVES to get into new clothing. But he’s much less excited about all the moving and grooving that comes with making the pattern. I’m also not a very good seamstress, so I pretty much wing it and hope Tuna doesn’t think I’m clueless.

HOW TO MAKE A TASTY TUNA FISH TACO

I created a rough paper pattern to wrap around our little furry friend. I tried to keep it a little looser knowing he likes to lick his butt. So he needed to be able to turn and move in this taco! I used my trusty rotary blade to cut through two layers of yellow felt to create the taco shell.
I sewed the edges of the felt together leaving a half inch open around the edges. I then bent and inserted floral wire around the taco shell to help give stability and form to it. The wire is only on the sides of the taco shell. It doesn’t go under Tuna’s belly. I pinned the wire inside the seam, then trotted happily over to my sewing machine. I’m really making a walking taco costume now. har har har
I sewed along the outer edges of the felt… hoping and praying that my needle didn’t hit the wire inside. I have a tendency to sew crooked. Like I said, I’m not a great seamstress. So the basic taco shell is completed.
I sewed a full sheet of brown felt inside the taco. This would go on top of Tuna’s back and hold all the delicious taco fillings. At this point, we had the first of several “fittings.” I found the easiest way to get Tuna interested in this process was to bribe him with treats obviously. So the taco costume was placed flat on the floor with a treat in front of it. He would walk right over the costume to get the treat making it easy for me to quickly wrap it around him. Sneaky.
Mmmmm, the “meat” layer. I cut several strips of brown felt to make meaty meat humps. YUM, meat humps. I sewed the end of each strip to the felt back. Then the felt was curved up and pinched down in the center where I sewed it again. I then brushed a mixture of watered down white glue onto the humps. Once dried, the humps were stiff so they wouldn’t collapse.
I cut out felt toppings…tomato chunks, lettuce, and cheese strips. Mmmmm cheese. Tuna always manages to hear a cheese bag open in our house. Yet he had ZERO interest in this felty cheese. What gives Tuna?
I wanted the tuna fish to have some dimension. So I cut two layers of felt and basically made fish pillows. At this point I became too lazy to sew anymore. I wanted this costume DONE. So I glued the felt together, leaving a space to stuff in fiber fill to make them poofy. Once the glue dried, I used fabric markers to paint on some happy faces.
Felt food was positioned and pinned into place. Once I liked the arrangement, I glued everything down. Then the tuna fish taco costume was completed. Or so I thought it was!

I thought I had this costume perfect until I tried it onto Tuna. First off, I realized I didn’t leave a scooped out area for his wee wee. OOPS, my bad. Kinda need that. So I used my rotary cutter to remove a curved piece of felt under his belly. Then it became clear this thing wasn’t going to stay on him unless I strapped it into place. So I attached a thin piece of tan felt to the taco sides with velcro.

So after a week of work, Tuna Fish Joe’s second Halloween costume was completed. Then we took about 10 minutes of photos. Is all that time worth it for a few photos? You betcha. Seriously, look how cute this little dude is.