A Tribute to My Mom's Creativity: Homemade Dog Sweaters get 2nd Life

Tyler and Franklin wearing the sweaters my mom made

One of the best things we can do to pay tribute to those we lost is to re-purpose something they made or had, so it becomes valuable to someone else- in this case, our dogs!  
   My  mom passed on Dec. 29, and I returned in February to continue with the organization and clean out of the house to prepare it for sale. While I was cleaning out the "storage room" in mom's basement I came across a plastic bag full of dog sweaters that my mother hand made back in the 1980s/early 1990s for her poodle Gigi.
   Gigi was one of our family dogs who came to us in 1975. She lived until October 1993. My mother loved that little white poodle with all her heart and never got over losing her in 1993. While Gigi was part of the family, my mom, who made some of her own clothes, made shirts and pants for us (and a Batman costume for me), also handmade sweaters for Gigi!
  In the late 1980s I don't remember dog sweaters being around for sale in stores. In fact I don't remember many accessories for dogs like there are today. So, Mom was on the cutting-edge. Mom hand-knit several dog sweaters and even made Gigi a raincoat from one of my childhood raincoats!

Tyler, Franklin and Dolly dressed for the cold

   So, I happily took the dog sweaters that had been sitting in my parent's basement in a zippered plastic bag for 21 years (since Gigi passed). The sweaters perfectly fit our two Dachshunds: Franklin and Tyler and they've already enjoyed plenty of use from them with all the bitter cold and snow we've had over the last month.
  So, I post this story as a tribute to my mom's creativeness and talent as a clothing designer and clothing maker (for dogs in this case). Now her grand-dogs are enjoying her handmade gifts.

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