Serged Taco Dog Costume

Make a one-of-a-kind taco costume for your pet that will be the envy of all dogs as they strut from house to house this Halloween season. Use your Baby Lock serger along with your sewing machine to create this costume. Click here to download instructions.

Materials:

• Circular ruler for cutting the shape
• 1/3 yard of yellow Cuddle® fabric from Shannon Fabrics for the taco shell
• 1 Light green cotton fat quarter for the lettuce
• 3 felt 12” x 18” sections in brown for the beans gold for the cheese and red for the tomatoes
• Baby Lock Shape Flex Stabilizer
• Madeira® Cotona sewing thread to match the fabric
• 4 Spools of Serging threads (1 spool dark green and 3 spools light green)
• Hot Melt Glue Gun with glue sticks
• Hand sewing needle
• Basic sewing supplies

Tools:

• Baby Lock Triumph Serger
• Baby Lock Sewing machine

Steps:

1. Measure the distance between your pets front and rear legs.

2. Cut two circular shaped sections from the yellow cuddle fabric for the main body section the same size as the result of your measurement.

3. Cut one section from the Baby Lock Shape Flex Stabilizer the same size as the main body sections.

4. Fuse the Shape Flex stabilizer to one of the yellow main pieces.

5. Set up the Baby Lock sewing machine.

   1. Wind a bobbin with the same color thread that will be used for the top thread.

   2. Place the bobbin in the bobbin case.

   3. Thread the machine.

   4. Snap on the “J” foot.

   5. Select the straight stitch center.

   6. Set the stitch length to 2.

6. Place the right sides of the two circular cut fabrics together. Using several pins pin around the outer edge of the unit.

   1. Using many pins placed close together will help to stabilize the fabric so that it does not slip or slide around while sewing.

7. Place the right side of the presser foot even with the edge of the circular unit and sew together.

   1. Leave a 4” opening for turning. Back-stitch at the start and at the end points to secure. Do not stitch over the pins.

8. Turn the right side of the unit out through the opening. Slip stitch the opening closed.

9. Using a pressing sheet iron the unit.

10. Cut two 4” x 21” wide strips from the green fabric.

11. Set the Baby Lock serger up for the 3 Thread Wave Stitch.

    1. Needle 02.

    2. Stitch length at 1.0.

    3. Width at 5.

    4. Stitch Selector B.

    5. Wave Selector at Wave.

    6. Blade in the up position.

    7. Thread the machine with the darker thread in the lower looper. The other two threads in the needle and in the upper looper.

12. Serge along one of the long edges cutting approximately ¼” from the edge. Repeat for the other green strip.

13. Set the Baby Lock Serger up for a 4-Thread Overlock and follow the next set of steps:

    1. Use needles 01 and 02.

    2. Set the stitch length to 4.0.

    3. Set the width to 7.5.

    4. Set the Stitch Selector to A.

    5. Set the Wave Selector to Overlock.

    6. Place the Blade in the Down Positon.

    7. Thread the machine for 4-thread serging.

14. Serge 2” inward from the waved stitched edge along the length of both of the green sections.

15. Pull the bobbin threads to gather each of the light green sections.

16. Using the glue gun attach the gathered sections to the inside top edge of the taco shell.

    1. When folded the light green serged sections will look like lettuce leaves sticking out the top of the taco.

17. From the three colored felt sections cut several ½” wide strips.

18. Glue one end on each of the strips to the inside of the taco across the top edge.

    1. These felt strips will be used as ties to hold the costume on the dog.

19. To dress your dog grab one tie from each of the sides and tie them together. This will hold the taco on your pet.

    1. If your strips are too long you can trim them after your dog is dressed. Your dog is now dress for the event of the year.