Lion The King - DIY Halloween Costume for Dogs

Make some room for the King of the Jungle or... Lion The King!

Or or or, make some room for The King of your bed... Italian Greyhound! 

If the lion is a king of the jungle and Italian Greyhound is the king of our beds, the thing they both have in common is... being a king! Let's merge them and have the most thrilling costume this Halloween - Iggy the Lion. This is my personal favourite. And that's probably because I watched Disney's Lion the King like a million times...

So - this costume is super easy to make, no sewing skills or tools are required. You can make only the collar and leave the rest of your dog naked but I strongly suggest keeping the onesie or some kind of a vest underneath. Faux fur may be a bit irritating to your iggy's skin. Our solution is to stitch the collar to the onesie - your iggy will only feel soft & cozy inner side of the cotton fabric.

As we say in all our DIY projects - the most important thing is to keep your Italian Greyhound comfortable. Even though it's hilarious to see them dressed in lovely costumes, they are super sensitive, therefore, we always must put them first. If you see any signs of your dog feeling uncomfy, please do not leave clothes or costumes on. 

I remember how in my early childhood I used to be dressed in super warm sweaters made from natural wool. Yep, they were nice & warm but it itched like crazy! I couldn't stand 10 minutes in it. Ouuuuch... We don't want that for our four-legged friends, right? 

So, let's jump in straight to the process!

For Lion The King Halloween costume you will need:

• A piece of light brown faux fur. I used 50 x 20 cm (20" x 8")
• Paper templates for ears: smaller & bigger ones
• A few small pieces of light & darker brown felt or similar fabric
• A needle & a brown thread for stitching
• A piece of soap or a pencil
• ~60cm (24") light brown ribbon
• A hot glue gun
• Scissors
• A Peanut #harvoola onesie. Alternatively, you can use any light brown piece of dog clothing. Don't worry, you will not damage the clothes!

How to make Lion The King costume:

1. First of all, mark the shape of lion ears on your fabric with a piece of soap or a pencil. In total, you will need 2 light brown (bigger size) and 2 darker shades of brown (smaller size) ears.
2. Cut the ears out evenly.
3. Using a hot glue gun, stick the smaller ears to the bigger ones. Simple as that!
4. Now we'll stick the ears to the faux fur. Align them approx. 5cm (2") from the bottom of the fur. Put it more to the left side by 2/3. You want to have one side of faux fur left longer than the other.
5. Using a hot glue gun stick both ears to the faux fur.
6. Now cut the ribbon in two pieces and stick one at the corner of the faux fur (closer to where the ears are), and the other at a similar distance from the ears.
7. You can now dress your iggy in a Peanut onesie and put the lion's collar on to style it. 
8. To style properly, wrap the faux fur around the head, so that the ears are aligned to the centre and the ribbon is on the side. Tie up the ribbon.

9. You will have a loose piece of faux fur hanging (that is why we glued ears more to the left side!). Take it and carefully stitch it to the side of the collar. 
10. To keep it steady at all times, you may want to hand-stitch the collar to a onesie. Don't worry, it'll come off nicely afterwards! Just don't tighten the stitches too much.
11. Hakuna Matata! 🦁 You have a true Lion The King, Simba, King of the Jungle... You name it! Grab a camera & loads of treats and enjoy Halloween with your best buddy! 🦁

DIY video of the process