pet bed tutorial

a few years ago my retired parents, who had shunned off all pets since my childhood dog had passed away a few years earlier, woke up and decided to get a new dog. so rosie the english bulldog entered our lives.

i feel like you might need a visual to really be with me here.

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now that you see the situation we are working with it probably won't come as a surprise that rosie isn't smartest dog in the world (okay she's a total idiot). but she sure makes my parents happy and for that my sisters and i like, or at least tolerate, her.

one day while facetiming i noticed the dog bed still had the same cushion from when we bought it 20 years and two cocker spaniels earlier, and had the wear to prove it. so i asked my sister sammie to measure it and i got to work on a replacement.

 

materials

  • 1 yard durable fabric (i used canvas for both and it turned out great)
  • thread
  • buttons
  • pipping (optional)
  • foam 

 

instructions

1. decide on your desired finished size. my measurements were 15 inches wide by 22 inches long by 4 inches tall. 

2. embrace your math nerd. okay so it's a cube, you need to determine what sizes to make all six sides, do that by taking the finished size and add in your seam allowance, i did half an inch on each side, which added an inch to each measurement. accounting for the closure on the back side my measurements ended up being: two 23 by 16 inch pieces (top and bottom), two 16 by 5 inch pieces (end side), and one 23 by 5 inch piece, (front side piece) and two 23 by 4 inch pieces (back side).

3. for the back closure i folded one of the long edges of each piece over by a smidge, then over again and stitched into place.

4. then i laid the pieces down, overlapping them so the width of the entire fabric was 5 inches (what the other side was) by 23 inches (what the other side was) and stitched the short sides in place. this left me with a piece whose dimensions were the same as the front piece. i pinned the center overlap for the rest of the construction. 

5. for the top and bottom pieces I decided to make it personalized and added an appliqué initial.

6. for pizzaz the i trimmed the whole thing in piping. since i wanted to tie in the magenta color i made my own piping out of the same fabric. 

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7. i stitched the piping around the top and bottom pieces. 

8. i stitched the side pieces together to form a loop. then i stitched the loop to the top and bottom pieces.   

9. i added the button holes on the back and stuck in my piece of foam. 

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wouldn't you know she loves it. 

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enjoy you silly, silly dog.

love,

aunt maggie