Friday, January 11, 2013

Soft sided dog house/bed

For the first, back to the grind project, I wanted to make something simple, useful and cute. (granted my husband is not a fan of the fabric colors or patterns)

Materials:
Dog house pattern by Butterick
Foam padding
3 different Fabrics (1 or 2 is acceptable)
iron-on applique
velcro


This project came about when I went with my friend to the fabric store so she could pick up some fabric for a backdrop. I had been itching to break out my sewing machine, but couldn't figure out what I wanted to start with. So I did what most people do and found something in the pattern books they have and grabbed the pattern. It took me about 45 minutes to pick out the fabrics I wanted to use and had to ask multiple times how to read, and even what a few of the items I needed were. In the end I came out of the store with most of what I needed and a TON on excitement. 

I went straight home and cut out all my patterns for the dog house. I wanted to take it slow so i wouldn't get overwhelmed and actually read through the instructions as well as how much to cut and how to baste everything together. Which for the record is NOT what I usually do. 



The next day I wanted to do most of my fabric cutting with lots of natural light, why, I have no idea. So the following day thats exactly what I did. Come to find out I didn't grab enough fabric, probably due to the fact I cut all over the fabric and not in an orderly way. But never the less, I went back to the store and picked up more fabric and some velcro. ( I altered some of the sewn pattern to be closed with fabric so the bed would be collapsible.) 

Once everything was basted I broke out the old sewing machine, borrowed a plastic table from my parents, and invested in a rotary cutter and yard stick. 


Honestly, I think the hardest part of this house was figuring out how to get all the sides to stick together. What I mean by that is once the front and back sides of the house were sewn together with the main section, I was confused on how to get everything together. (the roof comes off, it just stays on top with the velcro.) I suppose I should have gone back to my instructions, but at this point it was home bound and I wanted to get it done. I was so excited to see it completed. 


The first try was hand sewing it, but wasn't a fan of how it looked, so I thought, hey why not just add velcro so it could be portable. (Incase I later try to make a larger version.) So thats exactly what I did. I didn't use a strip for the whole side though, Instead I cut 3 small pieces and evenly spaced it down each side. I think it looks much better than before. 


From there I was done. I just placed the pad I make for the inside and used an iron-on monkey applique to add some character. 

And there you have it, 
I made a soft-sided dog bed/house. 


    

Skeeter (on the left) and Panda (middle and right) modeling the dog house after completion

1 comment:

  1. I LOVEEEEEEE how the dog house came out!!!! When is Khlo-Bear or Fat-Kiki gonna get one?!?!? LOL! Great post!!

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