Monday 18 July 2011

Dog Bed Mini Tutorial

The photo above shows the dog bed I made for my mother. She has 3 chihuahuas who like to sleep next to her, so she decided that instead of them sleeping in her bed they should have a nice bed for themselves.

We looked online and in the stores for some ideas and thought that it would be cheaper to actually make one!  She had two old foam cot mattresses in storage which were of no use to her anymore, so we decided to use them for this project.  Unfortunately I didn't take any photos when I made this, as I didn't have my blog then. I will try to explain as best as I can how I made this.

Items Required:
2 pieces of foam (cot mattresses)
Fabric for covering the foam pieces
Small Cot Quilt (or other wadding)
Blanket/s (I used paw print design)
Velcro

Steps:
Step 1 - Sew a fitted cover to completely cover the base mattress, make it so that it can be removed to wash.
Step 2 - Cut the other piece of foam (2nd mattress) into 3 smaller parts. I used an electric bread knife for this job. One piece should be the same length as the small side of the base and twice the height of the base. The other two parts go down the side of the mattress and can be whichever length you wish. See photo below showing the 3 separate parts of the foam.

Step 3: I also made covers for the 3 pieces of cut foam, again making sure that they can be removed for cleaning.
Step 4: I then sewed some velcro to the fabric so that the 3 pieces of foam can be attached together and also attached to the base mattress.  This meant 5 pieces of velcro, 2 pieces to attach the small parts together and 3 pieces to attach the small parts to the base. The photo below shows where I added the velcro.

Step 5: To make the quilt, I sewed together 2 small blankets that my mother had which had a nice paw print design. I left an opening so that I could put in the small cot duvet that she had. You could just leave it without the duvet inside.

The dogs love their new bed, and it is just the right size so that it fits snugly under my mothers bed. On an evening she just has to pull it out from under her bed and then push it back under when she wakes up in the morning. I think you will agree that my mother's dogs are quite spoilt! This project didn't cost anything as I already had all the items needed for this project.

Here is a photograph of her 3 little dogs in case you are interested, they are long haired chihuahuas. The one on the left is the daughter of the other two. The male is the one on the right of the photograph.




I am sharing/linking this post with the following:
TipMeTuesdayButton Katie's Nesting Spot      homework   Beneath the Rowan TreePassionately Artistic Confessions Of A Stay At Home MommyStrictly Homemade TuesdayRhinestone Beagle




21 comments:

  1. I just linked up after you on Tip Junkie's linky party and thought I'd stop by. That's a very clever dog bed! I love that your mom can tuck it under her bed when it's not in use - very handy! =)

    Mara @ Super Savings

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  2. Thanks for the follow. I'm following you back.

    I'd love to make this for my cat. Unfortunately, he sleeps on everything but pet beds :-s

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  3. ah love this idea! I have been wanting to remake Pancake's bed for ages (!!) and I have the fabric already, I just have not done it. I need to get moving! Thank you so much for linking up to Handmade Tuesdays @ Ladybug Blessings! www.ladybug-blessings.com

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  4. Wow. This is a super duper dog's bed. I have two blankets folded for my dog's bed. Bet your dog is comfy and cozy in his/her bed. :)
    Linda

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  5. That is such a great idea...what a luxurious way for a sweet little pup to relax!

    Thanks for visiting my blog, 5 Minutes Just for Me and following. I'm following you now too!

    Best wishes,
    Natasha.

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  6. Im a new follower! My dogs would love your dog bed!

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  7. I love this and so would my dog!

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  8. Not that is fabulous! We had to put our dog to sleep last year but she would of loved something like that especially at her old age! following you back ;)

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  9. What a terrific idea! I wish I were creative enough to think of that.

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  10. too cute!! i wish i had a dog t make this

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  11. WOW! My doggies would LOVE this! TFS! Funs Stuff! Popping by from the International Blog Hop! Pop Art Minis

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  12. Lovely little divas have a beautiful spa type bed! Thank you for linking to Wicked Awesome Wednesday!

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  13. Too cute and good for your mom for reclaiming her bed. I don't know if I will ever get my bed back from the dogs! New follower from the I ♥ Blogging Wednesday Hop! I would ♥ for you to stop by http://aboutamom.com to say hi & return follow!

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  14. What a cute bed for your mum's dogs! They're very lucky!

    Thanks for linking to the Creating Success Worldwide blog hop!! Hope you'll come back again next week!
    Jill @ Creating my way to Success
    http://www.jembellish.blogspot.com/

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  15. oh how cool! :) im always looking out for new pet ideas!!

    xx,
    zhing
    littleprojectsinstyle.blogspot.com

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  16. Wow! How amazing is that!! You are so clever. Do the dogs sleep in it or do they still want to sleep with your Mum?
    Alicia xx

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  17. Thank you for the lovely comments, the dogs do sleep on the dog bed, however they will still sneak onto mum's bed sometimes. I think as long as the dogs can actually see her, they are happy! Karima x

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  18. That is awesome! The sides give it a leg up on regular dog beds. Nice job!

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  19. I bought a couple of indestructible dog beds for my Labs and guess what they loved
    them yes past tense. They destroyed them woke up one morning the stuffing from the beds were all over the place and they had ripped two hole in the cushions of my custom made big man sofa. I was ready to put them both down. Just kidding. but I was p*#*#d to say the least.They get to sleep on the hard cold floor now and my daughter and I take turns sleeping on the couch to monitor the dogs from tearing up anything else.

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  20. Cute! I love when people blog about things they've re-made from around their house! A dog bed is something that I've been thinking about making in the future for my Bailee too!

    P.S. Thanks soo much for becoming a follower of Sew Gloried and for the comment! The link parties really do serve their purpose in connecting bloggers! And now I've got ya followed back!

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  21. Wow. This is a super duper dog's bed. I have two blankets folded for my dog's bed. Bet your dog is comfy and cozy in his/her bed. :)

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