Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Pugkini Costume

Kiwi, my 11 year old Pug, is sporting an “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Pugkini” – you must sing the song while looking at her photo!! – and she’s having a blast basking in all the attention it’s generating!

This costume came to life because I fell in love with the super cute toddler’s lounge chair from Sam’s, which became the cornerstone of this year’s float. The float’s base is a 2’ x 4’ section of ½” plywood with wheels attached to the bottom. The first order of business was to make the “beach.” We* coated the plywood with spray adhesive and sprinkled sand on top – rolling over it with a long piece of PVC to make sure it adhered properly. We used Play Doh air dry clay (great stuff & easy to use!) for the paw prints in the sand. Once the casting hardened, I affixed it to the float with E6000 Industrial Strength Adhesive. Next came the backdrop, which was secured to the base of the float with L brackets, and then it was time to attach the lounge chair to the float base, also with L brackets.

We selected some fun floral fabric to make the beach bag and matching beach hat and I made the paw-shaped flip flops using sticky-backed foam and a paw print cookie cutter to emboss the desired shape and cut out five different colored pieces for each of the four flip flops, joining them together for a nice rainbow effect. To make Kiwi’s collection of summer beach reads, I took images of book covers from three of James Patterson’s beach-themed novels, and, using PowerPoint, overlaid “James Puggerson” and added other puggy puns to create books Kiwi could really sink her teeth into!

For the beach signs, I found some arrow blanks at my local craft store and painted them in two tones with colors found in the beach bag and hat fabric. For added realism, I looked up the distances from Austin to some famous beaches and came up with pug and doggy puns to rename the beaches – Kiwi can’t wait for her next vacation at St. Barks!

Kiwi’s Pugkini was sewn by machine and hand (many treats were given during her numerous fittings!) and her little Pugkini top was stuffed with just the right amount of batting to make her a real buxom beauty! BTW, unlike the girl in the song, Kiwi is NOT afraid to come out of the locker! She is enjoying competing in area pet Halloween costume contests! Well, yes, there are still treats involved!

* Special thanks to my husband & sister for their assistance in Project Kiwi Takes Waikiwi!!!