Shark Week Cat Costume

Intro: Shark Week Cat Costume

Shark Week is the best. Even my cat Luna thinks so.

And what better way for a fancy predatory jungle cat to celebrate Shark Week? Wearing a shark fin costume and destroying all the tiny things in the apartment is definitely the way to go.

The costume only consists of a shark fin and is really easy to make, in case you have a tolerant cat that might want to be a shark for shark week. :D

STEP 1: What You'll Need:

• fabric glue
• a piece of grey felt (those printer paper sized ones you can find anywhere work!)
• thin elastic
• cardboard from a cereal box or something similar
• sewing machine or needle & thread
• pins
• paper to draw shark fin on

STEP 2: Cutting + Sewing

I made a paper template for my shark fin, and then cut it out and pinned it to the felt. Cut out two pieces of the felt, and then sew them together - but not the bottom of the fin yet!

I trimmed the seam allowance so it looked cleaner, too. Then I cut out a piece of cereal box cardboard to be slightly smaller than the felt fin so it would fit nicely inside. You might need to trim a little off the bottom of the cardboard piece to get it to fit inside. Once the cardboard is inside the fin, sew over the bottom to seal everything in place.

At this point I tried to put in on Luna in a variety of ways and they all failed and she judged me. So I moved on.

Cut out two rectangle of fabric no longer than the fin and 2-3 inches wide. Sew these together all around the edges.

STEP 3: Making It Stand Up Straight

Now for copious amounts of fabric glue!

Draw a line down the middle of the rectangles you sewed together and push the fin into the glue. You'll probably want to hold it for a moment to make sure it bonds correctly. Once that's dried, cut two tiny rectangles from the felt, and glue them to either side. They're going to act as braces. Use lots of glue and position them like the photos above. :D

Once everything was glued, I set two books down on the fin and let it dry the rest of the way.

STEP 4: The Elastic!

This is all going to depend on the size of your cat. Luna is a tiny lady, so I used elastic 12 inches long to go around her middle. You don't want it to be too tight, you should be able to fit two fingers under the elastic when it's on the cat.

Punch four holes in each corner of the rectangle, pull the elastic through and knot tightly. :)

STEP 5: Aaaaaand the Videos.

It's the most important part. I think it would have been more exciting had I not woken her up from a nap to put the fin on her. :P

Comments

[Slippery arm]

Do you know a cute cat name for a cat

[Creative Southern Indiana]

karma

[luna0221]

cute

[VeganEthan]

I love this! It's adorable and it'll give people a chuckle, and Sushi won't even care about it, since I'd just attach it to his harness.

[myarenda]

very nice cat)))

[jessyho862013]

jessyratfink that is cool! :D

[Sam I Am]

think it would work on chihuahuas too?

[jessyratfink]

Definitely! I think it would look awesome on a chihuahua. :D

[clewis21]

Poor little baby looks like she thinks you are going to make her go under water to fool people with it, lol! Make her some butterfly wings, that would be cool. I think I'll suggest it to my kids for their cats, but they are getting on in years now and may not be as tolerant.

[mister_jerry]

At first, I thought Jezebel, BoingBoing, Gizmodo, LifeHacker, ohdeeoh, and CRAFT were other cats in your house. Pays for me to read all of the article! I like this especially during shark week.

[ReverieAerie]

Hahaha, that is absolutely adorable! Very nice! You should do other holiday kitty costumes :)

[onrust]

That cat is not scared of no stinking shark!

[pscercyyoung]

Very nice, quality work even though it is a small project. None of my cats celebrate shark week. Maybe you'll create another holiday costume.

[ansil]

this made my day

[billbillt]

Great!!...Great handwork and great thinking!..5 stars!!.....

[CatTrampoline]

One of my cats would tolerate this. I am imagining Jaws music playing as shark-cat creeps stealthily across the floor and pounces.

I must make one for the dog and take him swimming. That would be hilarious.

[ExquiseMarquise]

Very nice! I'd love to make one and make even more funny videos than I usually make, but my two cats would totally freak out, one would panic and jump all over the place and eventually get hurt trying to take it off, the other would just freeze and stay terrified until I get pityful and set her free.

[artfulann]

Very cute! Has she figured how to get out of it yet? Have you ever noticed how kitties seem to know when you're video taping and get curiously still and camera shy. Once the button is turned off. Zoom!

[jessyratfink]

She never quite figured out how it was attached because her fur was covering the elastic. :P

[mikolynn]

jajajajaj! Okey! is a good costume, but... Is the less scaring shark I ever seen!