A while back we saw these Dog Duvets at a swanky DC pet shop. You can just buy the duvet cover to put over your current doggie bed or you can buy the DIY Kit which comes with a stuff sack that they suggest you put your old unwanted clothes in. Beautiful design and reusing your old clothes? Yay! Count me in! But the price tag said count me out! I think this is a great idea but I had old pillows at home and enough sewing skills to get the job done my self.
First I picked out a sturdy 100% cotton fabric. The fabric I chose was a home decor fabric from Joann’s (which was on sale!); I bought a yard and a half which came to about $24.00
Materials:
Two old pillows, one old pillow case, 1 1/2 yards of fabric (depending on the size of your dog), scissors, sewing machine, and a needle and thread.
The first thing you want to do is wash and dry your fabric! This is really important! You want to get all the sizing out of the fabric and see how much shrinkage there is before you do any cutting.
Now, cut open one of the pillows and divide the stuffing into four equal parts. When you cut open the pillow make sure you cut along one seam because you are going to need the case for the next step.
Take your two pillow cases and cut each one in half long-wise. Then turn them inside out and sew up the long side to create a tube. You should now have four empty pillow case tubes and four piles of stuffing.
Now comes the fun part! Take one section of stuffing and separate it out so it’s not all in one clump. Then Stuff it into one of the tubes! Go ahead and work the stuffing around in the case so it’s all even. Repeat until all four tubes are stuffed and sew up the open short end of the tubes.
Now for sewing the cover!
When I sew, I like to cheat; I really think it’s the best way to go. I don’t really use patterns and I never measure. But I think with a few simple tricks and some basic sewing knowledge I can muddle through any sewing project by cheating and no one is the wiser! … except maybe my old fibers teachers.
You do need a basic knowledge of how to use a sewing machine; which I am not going to go over right now. Assuming you know how to thread your machine I’ll move on.
I laid the fabric out on the floor and arranged the pillows the way I wanted them on top of the fabric. I then folded the fabric over the top of the pillows and cut off the excess fabric. Yay! No measuring! I made sure to overlap the two ends to create a pocket opening in the back of the dog bed where I will later be able to insert the pillows. Now sew the edges that will show on the pocket so you don’t have raw ends hanging about. I chose a pocket opening because I despise sewing zippers! Plus I didn’t want to risk a zipper scraping my hardwood floors!
This next step is the big cheat! Once again lay your fabric out and fold it over your pillows. You can now go around the outside pining and pushing the pillows into whatever shaped bed you would like. I chose a circular bed; it may sound more difficult that making a square bed but since you are now creating a guide to sew with, it isn’t much different at all.
Do you see how you have just created a guide to sew along? If you want, you can use a pencil or disappearing ink marker to trace along your pin line. Now remove your pillows from the overlap pocket opening and sew along your pin line.
One trick that many new sewers don’t know about is that when you sew a curve you have to cut slits to allow the fabric to bend. So after you sew your seam, cut slits before turning the cover right-side out.
You can now turn your cover right-side out and stuff with your pillows.
Wiggle the pillows around so that they fit properly in the cover. If you have any empty or loose spots just fill them in with more stuffing or old clothing. I then used a needle and thread to close up the pocket; nothing fancy, just tacked it down in three spots.
Flip it over and let your little buddy enjoy!
Bruce: “It’s a hard life, you know! I have to run to the window when I hear mysterious sounds, take my humans for walks, and make sure they get enough exercise by throwing balls to me. I’m just all tuckered out at the end of the day.”
After- closet (hmm still original mirror doors, yuck) and dresser (my Grandfathers)
After- Bedside table and creative storage
After- pinstripe wall!
kefalotiri and a mouli
Butter and oil!
Yes, wearing pajamas is a requirement for snow day cooking!
Yummy! I wish you could smell it! So GOOD!
