Thursday, April 12, 2012

An Intermediate Dog Bed


I showed you how to sew a basic dog bed awhile back when I made this old thing for Fred to relax on in our bedroom. Since then, my sewing skills have improved slightly and I felt a bit more ambitious when creating a cozy space for our new dog.  I considered buying a dog bed, of course, but the ones at Petco aren't exactly aesthetically pleasing & the ones at LLBean are outrageously pricey.

Here's how I made a custom dog bed, done exactly to my specs, and under $25.  You'll need 3 old pillows, 2 yards of thick fabric for the side of the bed and the base, 1 yard of a softer fabric for the bottom pillow.  You'll have some fabric left over.

First, I sewed the bottom pillow.  I wanted it to be removable from the rest of the bed for easy washing.  Using a supersoft fleecy fabric, I sewed an envelope-style pillowcase for an old pillow that we had around the house.


Once that was sewn, I put the bottom pillow aside and got started on the side wall.  I know Fred loves beds with walls that he can rest his head on, so I designed a bolster wall for this one.

I had two yards of a colorful, home decor weight fabric.  I cut a strip from it, gauging how high I wanted the wall to be and cutting the strip to be that width.  Then, to make rounded edges on the bed, I used a large bowl to guide the cuts:



Then, I gutted two other old pillows that we had from our Brooklyn days.  I took the stuffing and filled the strip of fabric to make the wall...


...and pinned it closed...


I sewed the whole thing closed so I had one long, stuffed wall for the bed.  Finally, I cut a strip of leftover fabric the size of the bed's bottom pillow and sewed it to the bolster wall.  That way, the bolster has a base that holds it together when I take the bottom pillow out for washing.

The verdict?  Both dogs love it.  I was trying to get a few shots of New Dog on it...




...but I couldn't get her to stop squirming AND look at the camera at the same time.  Just as she ran off after one of our cats, Fred came climbing onto the bed... he's been there all morning.



Stay cozy and stay homey!

4 comments:

  1. I am so impressed. I wish my Mom would make one of these for our dogs!

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  2. This is a great project.

    http://www.menacherieblog.com/

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  3. Adorable! I may need to put in order for Floyd!

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  4. The best way to get rid of bad odors is to wash or dry clean, however if it is not possible to do either of these you could use distilled. Outdoor Dog Bed

    ReplyDelete

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