How to Make a Made to Measure Dog Sweater | Crochet Tutorial

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Many of you may already know that I have made a few things for our pup, Barry. One of them was the Lion Brand’s pattern of the Poet Sweater for him. You can read about that here. Sizing for dogs seems to be tricky as they don’t seem to fall into common categories. That said, sizing for humans isn’t easy either! So the solution was really to figure out how to create a made to measure dog sweater. I wanted a sweater that fit him perfectly.

The Poet sweater works under his harness and so I wanted this one to work over it. So this made-to-measure dog sweater would need a hole between his shoulders so that his leash can be attached. I also thought that designing it so that it was attached by buttons would be easier than pulling the whole thing over his head. I did keep the neck hole in one piece so that has to go over his head, but that is a bit easier than trying to wrestle his legs through leg holes. So by creating a chest piece that buttons to the main part, the leg holes are eliminated.

The Measurements Needed for a Made to Measure Dog Sweater

As mentioned, there really isn’t any standardized sizing for dogs, so I am going to walk you through how I created this made-to-measure dog sweater. So it is not a traditional pattern per se, but instructions on how to make this made-to-measure dog sweater. There are 4 measurements that you need to make:

A:  This is the length down the dog’s back. I like dog sweaters to be the entire length, so I measure from the shoulders to the base of the tail.

B:  This is the measurement that drapes over the dog’s back. Measure starting on one side (consider how far down you want the sweater to go), go over the back of the dog and down the other side.

C:  This is the circumference (or all around) the neck of the dog.

D:  This is across the chest on the underside of the dog.

Here is a diagram that shows the 4 measurements that you need.

The sweater is made in 4 pieces – the back piece, the neckpiece, the chest piece and the front piece.

Back Piece

This is the piece that I made in the Buffalo Check pattern. For information on how to do this, check out my blog post with an instructional video, found here. You could make this in any pattern or colour that you wish. Stripes or textured patterns would also look great.

Make this piece using measurement A as the length & measurement B as the width.

If you wish to add ribbing at the base of the sweater (by the tail), subtract 2 inches from the A length.

Here is my finished piece. It is essentially, a rectangle. There is no end ribbing yet.

In order to get the ribbing for the bottom end, I attached my black yarn, ch 2 and then DC’d in the same stitch. Then I DC’d all the way across. For the subsequent rows, I alternated FPDC and BPDC to build up the ribbing. When you reach the end of the row, ch 2 and turn. Be sure to alternate those stitches so that the ribbing is created. I did about 4 rows to achieve 2 inches of ribbing.

Neck Piece

For the neckpiece, you will need measurement C – which is the circumference of the neck. This can be a somewhat snug measurement as the ribbing pattern is quite stretchy. Once I got the circumference correct, I did a foundation DC row that was the same measurement. Once I got to the end of the round, I sl st’d to the first DC, ch 2 & then alternated between FPDC and BPDC. At the end of each round, join with a sl st and ch 2.  Keep going until I got the desired length. I like this look because it makes it look like a turtleneck. It should match the ribbing on the end of the back piece. The resulting piece should be a tube.

So the neck part is a tube and the back part is flat. I sewed the two together, leaving an opening at the top – this is to accommodate the leash hook up with his harness which would be worn underneath. Odds are the number of stitches between the neck part and the back part won’t match. Don’t worry if there are extra stitches – I left them in the opening, thereby giving the opening more room which works.

Chest Piece

Next, I needed the piece to go underneath, across his chest. I measured the width – Barry was so patient about me putting it on him and marking where to do things. This is measurement D in the diagram. I attached the yarn on the far right side of the back piece, ch 2 and then did a DC In the same stitch and then DC’s across for the desired width. I kept going until the length overlapped the buffalo plaid part by 2 inches so that it accommodates the buttons.

I attached the buttons to the chest piece. The C2C pattern of the back has natural “holes” in it that accommodated the buttons so that’s why I didn’t need to make buttonholes.

Front Piece

Although you could have finished the sweater after the chest piece, I found that the front looked odd – the back piece was spread apart and it made it look like a cape. So I just needed to crochet a piece in there to fill it in.

Row 1: I attached my yarn to the neck piece, ch 2 and did a DC in the same stitch.

Row 2:  DC into the back piece, DC into the stitch you made in row 1 & then DC into the back (the other side). Turn

Follow the pattern until you reach the desired length. Basically, you are DC’ing across to till in the gap – it is attached to the back piece on both sides.

There you have it. This made-to-measure dog sweater is easy to get on and off. It does go over the dog’s head but Barry doesn’t mind that. There is a hole in the back piece to accommodate his harness and the buffalo check pattern is quite striking.

Doesn’t Barry look so handsome in his new sweater?

Want to remember how to make a made-to-measure dog sweater? Be sure to save this to your favourite Pinterest board.