Snoopy vs. The Red Baron Costume

My one year old son loves airplanes and my father is a pilot, so I began the task of brainstorming a pet halloween costume that would include an airplane. My dog, Santo, is black and white so it hit me one day . . . I should make a costume that resolves around the infamous "dogfight" against Snoopy and the Red Baron. I enlisted my father's help to build a plane that would seat Santo and I began the task of making the dogs costumes.
My dad had a picture of Snoopy's plane in his mind and went about creating it from scratch. He used wood for the body and included a cockpit that is big enough to fit the dog, a propeller that moves, and wheels that work. The wheels he used were from his 1960's soap box derby car. Once he finished building the plane, I painted it using regular flat interior paint as well as red, white and blue latex paint for the strips and circles.
Snoopy's costume was really the easiest part of the project because Santo was already black and white so all I needed to do was add an aviator cap and scarf. I made my own pattern for the cap.
The next step was to create a Red Baron airplane costume for my dog, Ohana. I made my own pattern which mimicked a dog coat. Once the pattern was complete, I cut a piece of red fabric and sewed it together along with a strap and velro to hold the costume onto Ohana. I then began work on the design that is shown on the sides of the "plane". I cut a square out of white fabric, then traced a cross design onto black felt, cut it out and glued it onto the white square with fabric glue. I then sewed the design onto each side of the plane costume.
Next came the wings. I made another pattern and used that to sew a wing shape out of a piece of red fabric. I left a small hole on one end and inserted a dowel to ensure that the wings didn't droop. I then added stuffing and attached the wing to the coat portion of the plane by sewing a red loop onto the coat and sliding the wing into the hole.
The aviator cap was easy this time because I was able to use the pattern I made for Snoopy's cap.
All together I spent about $250.