How to make a dog sweater out of a human sweater

I've had a long-standing "it's complicated" relationship with my sewing machine. There are days, after watching one too many episode of Project Runway, in which I do tons of sewing--making a cute new skirt, repairing or altering store-bought clothes, designing yet another fleece sweater for one of my dogs--and my sewing machine sees a lot of use. But there are also long stretches of weeks and months when my machine sits on the table  in our spare bedroom (or worse, in its box in the closet!), collecting dust. I'm not a particularly skilled seamstress and never received instruction beyond the very basics of hand-sewing (thank you, Mom and Grandma!), so the sewing I do is only with very simple construction. 

A few months ago I was flipping through an issue of Martha Stewart Living when I came across an advertisement for her line of dog toys and apparel, featuring these two ridiculously adorable puppies in four-legged pajama outfits:

 Martha Stewart Living- November '12

After I recovered from the cute attack (acute cute attack? acute attack of cute?), I thought about whether or not my sewing skills were up to par with what would be needed to reproduce one of those outfits for my dog. I quickly decided that they weren't, and figured that I would stick to making the more basic sweaters I felt comfortable with--no sleeve construction, just a top piece with chest straps.  Fast-forward to a few days before Christmas: I was cleaning my sewing area when I came across the photo again, this time while holding a stack of old sweatshirts my fiance was planning to donate to Goodwill. I looked at the puppies, and I looked at the sweatshirts. The sweatshirts were all stretched out and a bit faded, but the fabric was still strong and warm and soft--just perfect! I decided to attempt a drastic alteration---from Men's size medium to size small Chihuahua. What could go wrong?!

 I didn't think to take a "before" photo of the sweater I used, but it was a thick cotton half-zip like this one:

http://bananarepublic.gap.com

I began cutting away at the fabric, using just the neck and front and back chest pieces, including the full zipper. The chest zipper became the top or "back" part of the dog sweater, and the back of the human sweater became the chest of the dog sweater. I didn't alter the neckline (How can a man and a chihuahua have the same neck size?? I have no idea. It's a mystery.), but sewed one-piece "sleeves" for all four legs, using a continuous piece of fabric for the whole garment. I did about 6 fittings on Olive during the process, and the poor dog was extremely confused but willing to oblige.

Suffice it to say that I'm still in shock that this project turned out. I'd like to put up a tutorial, but there are so many variables based on the size of the sweater and of the dog, so I'm not sure how helpful it would be to someone hoping to undertake the same endeavor. Here are a few more photos of the final product: 

Olive seems to love how warm she is in her new sweater, and I love that the zipper makes it so easy to put on and take off. Success! I really can't believe this turned out as well as it did, but it's probably a good reminder that it's never productive to doubt your abilities.

Have you ever surprised yourself by successfully completing a project that you thought was doomed for failure?