One of the most popular patterns is Santa Claus, she said, which many buyers build their Christmas cards around. Other hot sellers include a holiday apron, a doggie bathrobe and a tuxedo collar that can be used for Halloween, Christmas, weddings or any formal occasion, she said. Some buyers make costumes for their own animals; others make them as gifts for friends’ pets.
During the winter months, pet patterns will move up into the top 50 of the 600 patterns McCall sells, Cafaro said.
See all 10 photos | Click to enlarge Richard Vogel, FILE, Associated Press
FILE- This file photo taken Oct. 4, 2009 shows pugs Mochi, left, and Olive dressed as Geisha girls at their home in Huntington Beach, Calif. The pugs have been geisha girls, surfer girls and sushi over the years.
McCall’s packages its pet designs with a costume plus accessories. For example, the Santa pattern comes with a collar, leg warmers, bow tie, a couple of coats, a blanket or sleeping bag and pajamas.
“Pets are so popular,” she said. “We try to come up with something new every year.”
The company also watches social media sites for comments. After a lot of requests, McCall’s designed a coat for very large dogs, she said.
Cat patterns have never been as popular as dog patterns, she said, although patterns for some items — like coats, hats, collars, leg warmers and bandannas — will work for both cats and small dogs.
McCall’s, which sells patterns under McCall, Vogue and Butterick brands, has six canine mannequins in varying sizes in its design lab, Cafaro said. And every pattern prototype is tested on a real dog before it gets final approval. “You can’t obscure their vision and they don’t like their ears flattened, they want to be able to hear,” she said.
Photographer Karen Nichols of Castro Valley, near San Francisco, sews and builds “scenes” for her three cats so she can take pictures of them and use them on greeting cards.
Over the last 10 years, she’s turned her cats into nurses, CEOs, super heroes, Christmas trees, elves, pumpkins, divas, bikers, a chicken, Sandy from “Grease” and many other things.
Most of the time, Skeezix, a 7-year-old Oriental shorthair is her main model, though his attention span is short, Nichols said. Mal, a 15-year-old Siamese, likes to pose sometimes. Tripper, a 22-pound brown tabby, used to be a feral cat so is a bit scratchy, but he is very photogenic.
Most of her ideas come as she is drifting off to sleep, Nichols said. Then she’ll shop at fabric and craft stores for material and props like shoes and eyeglasses, felt and pipe cleaners. She gets synthetic hair at her local pharmacy and turns it into a wig.
Most cats don’t like people fussing with their face or ears. “If you are doing a headpiece, hat or wig,
(Cover story file photo: taken Oct 4, 2009 shows Lisa Woodruff holding a pair of chop sticks alongside her 4 year old pugs. Above photo: taken Oct 4, 2009 shows Lisa Woodruff’s pugs Mochi and Olive dressed in their Halloween costumes as flowers. – Richard Vogel, File – Associated Press)
Read full article by Sue Manning, Associated Press by clicking here.
