I seem to be making Pepper the puppy a whole new wardrobe, but hopefully this will be the end of it – for a while! I decided that Pepper needed a rain coat as we’ve had a lot of rain lately. I used Simplicity 9520 again.

I had some scraps of thrifted ripstop, leftover from making my Liz Haywood zero waste backpacks and dug around to find a piece of brushed cotton and some batting. I quilted the batting and the cotton together to make a warm lining.

I sewed the lining and the ripstop together and waterproofed it with some stuff I found in the cupboard. I also used seam sealer tape on the seams, so hopefully this will stay relatively water repellant for a while.

I made a collar a bit wider and decided to line it with towelling. Whilst I was cutting out the towelling I managed to cut into the collar. I put a piece of scrap ripstop behind it stitched the seam and used seam sealer tape behind it.

This is how it looks from the inside with the collar attached.

I’ve been harvesting reflective strips from old thrifted jeans and work trousers, and also from my son’s work wardrobe (he’s rebranded his business so everything has had to be replaced), and decided to cut a chain of hearts out of one of the strips, which I thought would improve Pepper’s visibility on a rainy walk. The hearts were glued on rather than stitched, as I wanted to pierce the fabric as little as possible. I casually mentioned to my sons that they needed to be glued and the next thing I know is that they are on it!

I wasn’t consulted about placement and I was quite surprised to see them on an angle, but am pleased with them now.

Here is the finished jacket with some bits I’ve harvested. The bright open ended zips are fabulous and I thought the clear pockets might come in handy. I tried to get the jacket to catch the light in the second photo.

And madam herself wearing her hi viz jacket. I’m surprised it fits, every time I tried to put it on her she played dead dog. It’s very hard to dress a boneless dog!

all in all she’s ok with it. I feel as though the fit could be better, but she’s still growing so I might leave it for a bit.

having got her into it I couldn’t get her out of it! I notice that the lining has rolled a bit to the outside, but I have a cunning plan to fix that. I also wondering whether the straps should be completely from waterproof fabric. I am treating this as a trial run so will keep you updated.

I have also knitted the “sleeves” on to her knitted jumper. It does fit better.

In the meantime Pepper is wearing her other jacket to keep warm whilst snuggling!