DIY dog bed

My husband & i had been looking for a dog bed for our beagle/bulldog Indie (also known throughout our friend circle as Milwaukee, Jezebel, Derby, Oscar, Binder&Binder, and IndieBindieBuddha) for a while now. In her younger years Indie loved to chew, on everything. We gave her an old chair that had been in my grandpa's old house that ended up with us, and over the course of a year and a half she destroyed it. Plus it was gross, the cushion was old and the holes she had made allowed the gross yellow foam inside leak out all over our floor, so moving it was a pain. Thankfully she got over her chewing phase, at least on the things on which she slept. Still, we needed another solution. While dog beds are relatively inexpensive, they are also insanely easy to make yourself, & convenient if you need a way to use up those old pillows or batting. Which is exactly what i did. i'll tell you how.

Materials:
2 yards of fleece (6 ' x 5') (Fleece is not the cheapest, but when it's on sale --quite often at Joann's, it can be as little as $2.99/yard)
Stuffing material-- you can use foam, batting, old pillows, or do what i did, a set of old worn-out sheets
Needle & thread &/or sewing machine


This finished bed measures 2'x2'

1. Arrange your stuffing in a square shape, to make an approximate 2' x 2' square-- i folded my sheets thus. The stuffing needs to fit inside your folded fleece. (See 2nd photo below)

2. Fold your fleece in half lengthwise, so you have a piece that is 30" wide and 6' long.
Fold the fleece again, almost in half, leaving 6-8" unfolded...






3. Stitch up the edges of the fleece, making a kind of giant pocket. Leave the excess fleece unstitched. You should have 3 sides closed up once finished.



4. Turn the fleece inside out, so the stitches you made are now on the inside of the pocket.

5. Carefully slide the stuffing into the pocket. When using sheets or other loose materials this can be tricky. Take care to spread the stuffing to the bottom & sides of the pocket, & make sure there are no bunched up patches or bumps inside.


6. Now you have a few options: You can stich up the 4th side enclosing the stuffing, & you have a simple square bed. Be sure to make a few hand stitches into the center & around the sides of the finished bed, to hold the stuffing in place, as you would to hold the batting in place in a quilt.

i, however, had pillow cases from the sheet set that i made into an attached pillow. To do that, fold the pillowcases into a piece that measures approximately 10" x 4", lay this on the excess piece of fleece.





7. Fold the fleece over your "pillow," almost so you are rolling it up until it sits on top of the bed. Stitch it into place. There you go!


Aww. IndieBindieBuddha loves her new bed.