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Saturday, February 28, 2015

Handmade Dog Bed



 Guess what I made this week? A handmade dog bed! Okay, so maybe that isn't really exciting to everybody, but if you have a dog it might make him happy. :)

  Our dog has never had a dog bed(we always just put old blankets in her crate), so when I saw this idea on Pinterest(http://www.handimania.com/diy/sweatshirt-pet-bed.html), I just had to make it myself for our little Molly.

What I love about this is that it reuses common supplies(shirt and pillow), that it really didn't take too long, and that it was so easy! You can very easily just hand sew this with yarn in a couple hours.

Okay, on with the instructions!

You'll need:

1. a shirt
2. a pillow
3. some kind of stuffing
4. some scrap material
5. needle, yarn, thread
6. scissors




To start, you need to sew the shirt collar closed, but leave a small opening for stuffing it later. The front and back of this shirt wasn't even so I cut out some of the back part to make for easy sewing. This made an inward curve at the back of the dog bed, but that doesn't bother me too much(and I really don't think Molly minds it either). Oh, a note about the yarn. I suppose you could use thread but I liked using the yarn(except for the hassle of getting it on the needle) cause it's really strong and makes the sewing quicker.





Okay, once you've finished sewing up the top, you need to sew a long line across the chest area, from armpit to armpit.




The next step is to sew the sleeves. Line up the bottom edges of the sleeves with the sides of the shirt and sew all the way down, stopping when you reach the cuffs.




Once both sleeves have been sewn, you're ready to start stuffing! I used a polyester filling, since that was what I had on hand, but you could really use whatever you think might be good for stuffing.

By sewing the line from armpit to armpit, then sewing the sleeves to the sides, you create a semi ring around the middle, so stuff it well for a big puffy rim, only leave the cuffs unfilled. Then when you're all done filling it you can go ahead and sew up the opening at the top.




Now for the main cushion of the bed. Stuff a pillow in the shirt body and sew the opening closed. If you use a regular, long pillow like I did, you'll want to curve it upwards a bit, so it puffs up.




Then wrap the ends of the sleeves around the middle and sew them together securely.




To cover up that ugly stitching, wrap a piece of material around it and sew the ends together(with thread now, not yarn :) ), but don't sew it to the sleeves yet. First flip the material around so your stitching is in the back.





Then you can go ahead and sew the new piece to the sleeves.




And, tada! You just made a dog bed for your furry friend!




I think Molly is quite happy with her new, super comfy bed. Despite the fact we were there snapping pictures of her first time trying it out. :)



2 comments :

  1. That is a neat idea and a cute picture of Molly.

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    Replies
    1. I think it's a pretty neat idea too, and just fun to try and make. Oh yes, I have oodles of cute pictures of Molly. :)

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