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Mar 13, 2012

Sweet Dreams Chloepants (DIY Dogbed Cover)

Remember that project I mentioned way back when?  The one that was taking longer than I thought it would? Well I finally finished it. 

The princess got a new bed this weekend.

DIY Dogbed Cover

You're not tired of posts about my dogs, are you?  This one is only dog-adjacent so it won't be too bad.

Our dogs have too many dog beds.  I'll say that up front.  One in every room.  Sometimes more than one. But that doesn't stop me from wanting to buy more.  Have you seen the ones at Costco?  They are so nice.  The dogs wear them out fast because of the necessary "fluffing" that must be done, and the fact that one little dog still thinks she needs to remove the zipper and piping whenever possible. 

We just replaced our curtains - you know about that - and I thought the material from the old ones would make excellent dog bed covers.  It's thick - almost like a brocade.


The bed I chose to cover first is a thick, cushy, orthopedic jobbie.  It did have a fluffy, sheepskin-like side.  Now it has see-through netting.  And it did have piping.  Now it's more like fringe.




So Chloe and I got down to making the new cover. 
It's nice that she likes to help.


I cut the hem off one curtain all the way around and was left with 51x62 inches of material.  Being the math nerd I am (I'm an accountant dontcha know) I played around on a piece of paper to get the most use out of the material.  Here is my template (drawn in Excel of course):


The bed is a simple rectangle with piping all around.  And I wanted to put a zipper at one end so that I could remove the cover and wash it easily. 

With this configuration I only needed to cut two more side pieces from a new curtain, and some more lengths for piping.  After cutting it all out I realized that the hems I had already cut off would make excellent piping, I would just have to feed rope through them, no sewing required.  That saved a lot of time, and headaches (and swearing). The swearing came later.

DIY Dogbed Cover

Then began hours of pinning and sewing.  I sewed the piping onto one side of the material, and then sewed the second piece to it.  I tried to attach all three at the same time but I just wasn't coordinated enough.

DIY Dogbed Cover

DIY Dogbed Cover

I also had to go out and buy a new sewing machine because mine crapped out.  Just as I was about to attach the zipper.  Not exactly confidence-inspiring for someone who's never sewn a zipper before. This is where the swearing figures in, in case you were waiting for that.

So huge delay.  But my new machine is a beauty.  That zipper went on with no problem.  Remind me not to be so ambitious as to attach a zipper right at the piping next time.

DIY Dogbed Cover

Of course by this time I was getting tired of all the pinning and fabric wrestling, so I decided against piping on the bottom.  Yep, I'm a bad mom. 

DIY Dogbed Cover

Finished product! I must say, I'm pretty darn proud of it. 

DIY Dogbed Cover

DIY Dogbed Cover

And I think Chloe likes it. 
It's hard to tell because I finished it at 11pm and she just wanted to go to sleep.

DIY Dogbed Cover

DIY Dogbed Cover

DIY Dogbed Cover

She was nice enough to let Sasha have a turn on it.

DIY Dogbed Cover


Now I just have 3 more to do.  I should have an update around October. :-)

~~~~

I'm linking to these parties this week!



18 comments:

Rogene said...

What a nice dog bed cover!  I love that you used your old curtains.

Ms C and Miss E said...

This looks great! I really need to make something more fashionable for my pup. I may just have to dive in :-)

Mindy said...

I too have a bigger dog and her bed definitely gets lumpy and flattened out in no time!  It can get pretty expensive having to buy a new one every 3 months or so.  I love this idea of making a bed like this.  It seems pretty sturdy:)  Thanks for the post! 

Andiwinslow said...

What a nice mom you are, you made a new bed and recycled curtains that would of gone to the trash....The dogs are so cute, I like the one with the tape measure liked he's helping........cute    andi

BarbSteadman said...

How bad could it be, right? :-)

BarbSteadman said...

Thank you!

BarbSteadman said...

Thank you!

Terry Cohoe said...

Oh, that's great.  We have a bunch of dog beds around here that don't look as nice as that one does.  Chloe and Sasha are lucky little babes.  Thanks for sharing at our party this week.

BarbSteadman said...

Can you believe I almost threw them out?

BarbSteadman said...

Thanks!

BarbSteadman said...

Thank you!

BarbSteadman said...

Thanks!

BarbSteadman said...

Thank you! It's all about making the dogs happy, right? :-)

BarbSteadman said...

Thank you!

2yellowbirdsdecor said...

That is an awesome idea!! Looks like the dogs really love it! Thanks for sharing this as well at Thursday's Temptation.
Jill

Katie goldsworthy said...

Great job! I love that you covered and added the piping! The details make all the difference! You did a really  nice job and it looks fantastic!


Thanks for linking it up at Creatively Living!--Katie

Becolorful said...

Haha. Too cute. The pillows too. :D Just kidding love it all. Thanks for sharing on BeColorful
pam

Trish - Mom On Timeout said...

What an amazing job you did!  A great use for old curtains.  Thanks so much for sharing at Mom On Timeout!

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