Salvaged Dog Bed

 Lately I have not been very motivated to do any projects. I am a stay-at-home mom to my (almost) 2 year old daughter. I have the time but my daughter can sense when I am trying to do any craft or art project. She comes running to “help” me in that adorable floppy way toddlers run. This usually ends in me putting up all the “fun toys” (i.e. scissors, sewing needles, etc..)  and giving up. While it’s frustrating I keep telling myself that it’s just a season and the other cliche sayings people tell you while living with a toddler. I was just whining to telling my husband last night how frustrated I was and unmotivated to be productive because I couldn’t finish anything.

                Apparently the family dog (Atlas) overheard me. Today was great weather to wash all of his bedding. So I threw the dog bed guts in the sunshine while the covers were in the washer. Atlas is an inside only dog but I let him out to pee for 5 minutes. When I came back he was gleefully lying in a bunch of stuffing that he had torn from the flimsy inside covers. =( When I brought inside this is what it look like... 

                Initially I was shocked. Atlas is almost 7 and he is not a chewer, barker, nor digger. I guess he was just scratching up his bedding to make it fluffier. The idea to cry crossed my mind but really it’s just a dog bed… not the end of the world. So I bagged what I could and brought it inside.   

                And after my little sweetie went to bed I looked through my fabric stash and found a print that I probably got in a grab bag from a yard sale or when a friend was cleaning out her craft room. There was a lot of it and it was somewhat homely. The moral of that story is: never throw away large yardage of fabric even if it’s ugly.  Maybe that is borderline hoarder..ish but it saved me money today. =)

                I flattened the bed cover and measured. I didn’t account for seam allowances or anything fancy. 

I knew the inside cover would have to be smaller anyway to fit into the outside cover.

 

Then I sewed it like a classic pillow from home economics class back in the day. Leaving a hole on one end to put the guts back in. I did flatten the corner and sew across to make it more like a box. Again nothing fancy, I just eyeballed the first corner and sewed and then I cut off the excess and used that as a guide. (It wasn’t perfect… it is just a dog bed after all.)

               

  During the stuffing process the fabric ripped a little because the stuffing hole was too small. But I was still able to sew up the end to keep it all in there. 

  

Now the dog will have a bed for his crate tonight and he had better not complain if it is a little extra lumpy. Hopefully sewing this dog bed was just crafty enough to help wake up my inner muse. If she hasn't died already. ;)