In preparation for the Fourth of July, needed some decorations for the office.  And pics of the dogs in US flag colors seemed like a good idea.

Made:

• bow ties
• hats
• paper sparkler centerpiece

The fabric for the bow ties and hats:

• red and white gingham cottom
•  navy blue with white stars cotton

Zo looks like a cartoon interpretation of Betsy Ross?

Made the bow ties using this tutorial:  https://makeit-loveit.com/little-boy-bowtie-the-quick-and-easy-version

With a couple of modifications.  Didn’t sew the bow to the strap – wanted to be able to move it around if needed.  Also, sewed the cinch piece wrong sides together, turned it inside out, and shoved the bow through it (so it was’t sewn to the bow).  Because the dogs don’t wear them for very long didn’t finish the ends.  If giving them as gifts, would have added these:

https://www.amazon.com/Shappy-Release-Plastic-Tri-glide-Adjustment/dp/B073TYBXWC/ref=pd_lpo_vtph_201_tr_t_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=GDCJ4SZ1QSFPYRZGRN8T

The finished bow ties:

Wearing them like head bands:

Zo looks a lil like Minnie Mouse.

 

For the hats, this was the plan:

(The drawing of coco wearing the hat is not proportional.)

Despite the planning and the math it didn’t work out as expected.  

Prob didn’t account for enough seam allowances.

Cut 2 pieces for the brim.  But ended up making the center circle too big on the first so adjusted for the second one.

(The top circles were too small so had to recut larger ones.  Cut the blue strip to be 12 inches (the same as the plaid, but thought it would be too short so added another 2 inches.  Ended up having to cut off those additional 2 inches.)  Sigh…  no idea what the heck went wrong.

Applied interfacing to the wrong side of one of the brim pieces and sewed them together.  Co looks like a retired person wearing a sun hat?

On Zo, it looks like a sun bonnet.

Pinned and sewed the long strip to the brim.

Pinned and sewed the top.

They turned out…  meh?  Lumpy?  Sewing such small pieces is a pain in the neck and had a lot of little pulled areas the just made them look… eh.

Co looks a lil like Uncle Sam.  She wants YOU to get her some treats.

Old timey Zo Co.

 

The paper sparklers:

Thought about how to make these.  Some on Pinterest were 2 paper fans stuck together, others were more like tissue paper flowers.  Ended up going with tasseled paper rolled together.

Had made the paper fans (orange) previously so wasn’t in the mood.  The regular paper (printer paper weight) looked better than the cardstock.  The cardstock (purple) was too stiff and had no movement.

The materials:

• paper straws.
• 4 – 12” by 12” sheets of paper. (Thanks to Joann Fabrics’ 20 cent sale…)

Cut each sheet in 4.

Used a paper cutter for fringe.

Used masking tape at around the 1.75” mark so the tassels are uniform.  Each tassel is 1/4” wide.

Rolled up 2 sheets so that the exterior is the non-printed side. (The paper flops outward)

Zo was acting as quality control.

Wanted to shove the rolled end into the straw but it was too thin.  Wrapped a 2” strip of blue paper at the top of the straw to cover the non-tasseled section.  Varied the heights a bit to give the centerpiece some shape.

Zo was tired after the inspection.

Used up all the paper and ended up with 8 sparklers.  Maybe a bit much for this glass…

Co is better at hat wearing then Zo – maybe because she has a larger forehead due to the poodle pouf?