Protect your dog’s paws from the cold with adorable DIY booties

We often forget that protecting our dogs’ sensitive little feet in the winter as just as important as it is in the summer. But who wants to spend a ton of money buying dog shoes when they’re only going to be outside in the freezing cold long enough to get all that pent-up energy out?

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These DIY dog booties are the perfect answer to your freezing dog paw conundrum. They’re inexpensive to make — yet your dog will still look totally adorable wearing them.

What you’ll need:

• Sewing machine
• Scissors
• Velcro
• Fabric pins
• 1/3 yard of fabric (water-resistant nylon or microfiber polyester recommended)
• Thread (to match the color of your fabric) 

Directions:

1. Begin by printing out this handy template.
2. Choose the appropriately sized template for your dog (small, medium or large), and cut out each shape (toe, sole and upper boot).
3. Use your cutouts as a guide to trace 4 copies onto your fabric. Once you’ve cut out your fabric, you should have 4 toe, 4 sole and 4 upper boot pieces.
4. Add the Velcro strips by first measuring your dog’s paw to determine what length to cut your Velcro strips. Cut 4 lengths of Velcro, then sew them (soft side down) onto the tabs of the upper boot pieces.
5. Begin to sew the boots by first folding the top edge of an upper boot piece and sewing a straight-stitch hem.
6. Next, align the wide arch of a toe piece with the narrow curved edge of a sole piece. Pin and sew in place.
7. Align the narrow arch of the toe piece with the arched portion of the upper boot piece. Pin and sew in place.
8. By this point, you should begin to see the shape of the boot coming together. Using pins, connect all additional gaps and sew the remaining seams in place.

Note: As you assemble each boot, you should be working with your fabric inside out. When all of your stitches are in place, flip the boot right side out to hide your seams.

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Originally published September 2014. Updated December 2016.