Christmas Sweater Question
November 23, 2013 2:01 PM   Subscribe

I need to buy a christmas sweater for someone with one very important detail.

This sweater must have an identical miniature companion sweater for a cat. Not a sweater with a picture of a cat on it, not a sweater made of cats. The companion sweater must be cat sized, made for a cat to wear it.

Ideally both sweaters will be ugly/ridiculous christmas sweaters but the main important factor is that no matter how they look the human sweater and the cat sweater must be identical or as close to identical as possible. However single color sweaters are not really what I am looking for. There must be a christmassy component to them, such as trees or reindeer or snowmen. I have zero interest in knitting or otherwise crafting/creating these items myself.

The human is a 30 year old lady. The cat is a 7 month old gentleman cat. I don't really have a price range in mind aside from the fact that if I pay over $100 I will probably feel silly.

socked for the laziest plausible deniability ever. yes i know that many cats may object to wearing tiny sweaters. at no point will any cat be forced to wear a sweater. the primary purpose of this purchase is to amuse humans, not torment cats.
posted by poffin boffin to Pets & Animals (23 answers total) 23 users marked this as a favorite
 
This is a custom job. Place an ad locally or look around on Etsy for someone who can deliver the sweaters of your dreams.
posted by travelwithcats at 2:08 PM on November 23, 2013 [3 favorites]


One detail: there is no question to my answer in your post. :-)
posted by travelwithcats at 2:09 PM on November 23, 2013


Also, budget-wise, you can get a really cheap Christmas sweater from Goodwill and then ask Etsy or whoever for an identical cat sweater to be made. No need to get both custom-made!
posted by c'mon sea legs at 2:10 PM on November 23, 2013 [14 favorites]


To tag on to the above comment: you may be able to make it simpler/cheaper to find an appropriate human sweater and get someone to knit a custom matching kitty sized version.
posted by lilnublet at 2:10 PM on November 23, 2013 [2 favorites]


Response by poster: ask Etsy or whoever for an identical cat sweater to be made. No need to get both custom-made!

OH MY GOD YOU ARE SO WISE I WILL DO THIS THING

now there is literally no limit to how terrible it can be, i am so excited
posted by poffin boffin at 2:12 PM on November 23, 2013 [29 favorites]


Response by poster: But also if anyone has any specific etsy recommendations that would be great. I see that I failed to put this vital piece of information into the actual question.
posted by poffin boffin at 2:13 PM on November 23, 2013


Would you consider getting two identical plain sweaters (in red or green for Christmas) and adding these 'Ugly Sweater Patches' by hand? They're $14 for a set of 6, so for $28 + the cost of the sweaters, you could make them identical.
posted by dotgirl at 2:13 PM on November 23, 2013 [1 favorite]


Sometimes Etsy is out of budget. You might also have good luck finding someone on craigslist.
posted by vignettist at 2:24 PM on November 23, 2013


I'll mention here that you might have an easier time asking people to make a *dog* sweater. My miniature dachshund and cat can (and have) shared clothes, because I'm a horrible person who thinks that nothing is as funny as making a cat wear a unicorn costume. But "dog sweater" is a much more common (read: easier and cheaper) thing than "cat sweater", even though they're basically the same thing.
posted by MeghanC at 2:28 PM on November 23, 2013 [2 favorites]


Best answer: Unbelievably, if you don't mind dog clothing for cats...

"Now your K-9 can join in on the ugly-sweater craze! Features two reindeer prancing in the snow and matches the other sweaters (for humans) in our popular Step Brothers design. "

I think thrifting an ugly Christmas sweater is a smart move. I offer these links because I can't quite get my mind around their existence.
posted by MonkeyToes at 2:37 PM on November 23, 2013 [12 favorites]


Response by poster: oh my god they have one with three reindeer doing a sex
posted by poffin boffin at 2:44 PM on November 23, 2013 [15 favorites]


oh my god they have one with three reindeer doing a sex

For dogs, too.
posted by MonkeyToes at 2:53 PM on November 23, 2013 [3 favorites]


If you are looking for a custom order - GET ON IT NOW. Making things make a LOT more time than non-crafters think .. especially if you are asking someone to do a custom-design. Ideally this should have been sourced a few weeks ago.
posted by kariebookish at 3:20 PM on November 23, 2013 [1 favorite]


Or buy two plain sweaters and get someone to applique, embroider, spray-paint or whatever on them both.
posted by Ideefixe at 3:32 PM on November 23, 2013


If I had the energy, I would start this business and become a gazillionaire.
posted by theora55 at 3:44 PM on November 23, 2013 [1 favorite]


Speaking as a knitter: a simple (solids or stripes) cat sweater in a heavier yarn will be easy (there's even a pattern). The more detailed the pattern and the finer the gauge of yarn, the longer it will take. You may have better results if you commission a coordinating cat sweater rather than an exact match. Also, the knitter may need to order the right colors of yarn if s/he can't find them locally. Be prepared to send lots of detailed, color-accurate photos if you go this route. (Also consider that many knitters are furiously working on knitting gifts for their own friends and families right now).

The dog sweaters linked above seem like a much safer bet. Plus, reindeer sex.
posted by Metroid Baby at 4:39 PM on November 23, 2013 [1 favorite]


Please post pictures when they are done, preferably being modeled by the recipients!
posted by Wordwoman at 5:59 PM on November 23, 2013 [7 favorites]


Pictures? Of sweater-borne reindeer threesomes? That's next year's Christmas card!

Or, as I told my husband, "I can't believe I just helped an invisible internet MeFite track down obscene cross-species Christmas sweaters. God, I love Ask MetaFilter."
posted by MonkeyToes at 6:26 PM on November 23, 2013 [11 favorites]


This may be the best ask question of all time.
posted by purenitrous at 7:31 PM on November 23, 2013 [2 favorites]


It seems like you have a solution, but fwiw, here's what I would do, if I were in your position:

But a solid colored human sweater and a solid colored cat sweater in as close to matching colors as humanly possible. At a Craft store, buy a bottle of Fabric Fusion fabric glue (I have recently spent a great deal of time testing fabric glues, and this is unequivocably the best I've found, though other brands will also work given that this is a novelty) and a package of Felt in holiday colors. You'll likely pay in the $10-15 range for these two things.

Cut out snowman or Christmas tree and appropriate accompanying bits out of the felt and use Fabric Fusion to glue them to the sweater. Do the same scene in smaller pieces for the cat sweater. You could easily do this in a couple of hours one evening.

That may be more crafting than you really want to do here, but you don't have to create the sweaters, just the embellishments.
posted by jacquilynne at 8:24 PM on November 23, 2013 [1 favorite]


Thank you, OP and MonkeyToes both. The question was splendid, and the reindeer threesome has taken it above and beyond.

God bless us, every one.
posted by fingersandtoes at 8:50 PM on November 23, 2013 [4 favorites]


Response by poster: THRILLING UPDATE: I got this one

now, we wait. and cackle.


Ideally this should have been sourced a few weeks ago.

Yes, and if only I had had access to a time machine to go back to a few weeks ago I would have done so immediately! Alas, I only thought of this glorious plan approximately 1h before posting the question.

posted by poffin boffin at 1:39 PM on December 4, 2013 [2 favorites]


Best answer: For future cat sweater missions, I just stumbled over this site, they even have some ugly christmas sweaters. My faves: the mousin' around sweater and the quilted cat vest - it might be the model that does it for me ;-)
To be inclusive, they also have a happy Channukah collar! Just be warned, the model does not look very happy wearing it.
posted by travelwithcats at 2:26 AM on December 21, 2013


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