ModDog's Tails of Martha Stewart

WOW! 
Imagine our excitement
when we received that first e-mail from a producer of the Martha Stewart Show. They were asking us to send ModDog product for consideration for a possible fall dog fashion show. They had seen our vintage camp coat in the Fall issue of Modern Dog magazine and asked if we could send one to fit Martha's French Bulldogs, Franny and Sharkey, and one for a 38lb Spaniel Chow mix?

       

<---This is our coat in Modern Dog magazine's Fall 2009 issue

We were through the roof!

We gathered the measurements for Franny and Sharkey. 

Not so successful getting details for the Spaniel Chow mix. 

So we guesstimated on that one.


Franny and Sharkey----->

Eager to make the most of this wonderful opportunity we set about making pieces to send to Martha. Since most of our product is upcycled from vintage and recycled materials we first dug through our supply of old blankets, coats and sweaters to see what inspired us. We came up with a classic green and black plaid camp coat that we used to make a lumberjack coat for Sharkey. For Franny's coat we used a vintage car blanket that just happened to be in a Stewart Plaid! Kismet - a positive sign that this was all meant to be.

We also made ruffnecks for Franny and Sharkey. These are ModDog's signature pieces made from recycled sweaters and then accented with cool vintage buttons and fun trims. A recycled Norwegian cardigan was used to make a sweater coat for the Spaniel/Chow. And for good measure we included a scARF and an adorable little denim/corduroy coat we upcycled from a pair of pants. 

    
We gathered everything together and as the final piece-de-resistance we packed it up in a vintage tin picnic basket! 

That's sure to get Martha's attention!

And then we waited..... and waited.... and waited!

In fact a couple months went by.

Then we were contacted by Modern Dog magazine and told that the Martha Stewart show was planning a dog fashion show for December and could we send something for consideration?
Huh?

It seems the fall fashion show concept had been pushed to December. But now it was a definite go with an airing date scheduled for December 18th. And evidently our first shipment of product was misplaced. Martha Stewart Omnimedia is a very big corporation with a lot going on and sadly such things do happen. But what the heck. The important thing was we were still in the running for this most amazing opportunity for mega-exposure, the kind of opportunity that can take an obscure little company and turn it into the next success story.

So count us in!


The Martha Stewart Show needed product from us, and they needed it now! So we pulled an all-nighter and made up a coat and matching scARF for each of Martha's dogs. For Franny we used a vintage stadium blanket in reds and greens, a perfect look for the holiday season. We made Sharkey's coat and scARF from a striking black, cream and red plaid wool. When you're sewing for Martha you are very conscious that everything needs to be perfect. After a few hours sleep we drove into the city and sent our package off to New York via FedEx. Fingers crossed.

And then we waited.... 

The news came. The December 18th show was bumped. Now the plan was to have the dog fashion show in February to tie it in with the Westminster dog show.

That too didn't happen. There was talk about a possible April show but by now we had pretty much lost faith.

But last week we received this ----->

It was attached to a box that contained some,

but not all, of the ModDog product we had

sent for Round 1 and Round 2.

So for all our time and effort we received most

of our product back and we have this great

mailing label as a souvenir!

Would we do it all over again? 

Of course.

But next time we'll be sending our ModDog

product to

OPRAH!

All joking aside, we were thrilled that ModDog product caught the interest of the Martha Stewart show. We remain fans and still hope to one day have ModDog be a part of her show.  It's A Good Thing!

Swinging from the belly of the dog

We were cruising some of our favourite websites and blogs and came across this posting from Three Potato Four. What great yard sculpture! And don't you love the swing that is suspended from it? Swinging from the belly of the dog - sounds like a morning hangover ritual! According to the blog this functional sculpture in Lambertville, New Jersey is made from salvaged corrugated metal.

Super model Trixie

Here at ModDog we are always getting to meet new and wonderful dogs and people. It's a lot of fun. Through our Etsy site we recently had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of Trixie and her human Judy, who live in  Florida. Trixie is a toy Italian Greyhound with a background in modeling. However, we understand her true calling is as lap dog extraordinaire. Below, she is seen showing off her new ModDog ruffneck which will help her keep warm in the cool Florida weather. Looking good, Trixie!

Trixie photo courtesy of her human, Judy