Another Scrappy Make

On Thursday last, after a morning walking the dog and working out in the gym, I looked forward to coming home and spending the afternoon in my newly re-organised sewing room. I had an idea for a new project that we really needed.

Our dog has two beds, one is a big oversized bed, that I bought from Joules when she was a puppy. It's stood the test of time and it's still her main bed in the kitchen. However, a few years ago, I bought a smaller cheap dog bed that she uses in the living room, I can't remember where from, but it has been useful as an extra bed and one we can take away with us if we travel, as it's a bit smaller and takes up less space.  

She seems to like both equally, but recently I've noticed that the small bed has really deteriorated. The stuffing has gone all lumpy after it has been washed numerous times and is now distributed unevenly and I can't imagine that it is very comfortable for her to sleep in anymore. Here's a picture:

I took a look online, with a view to buying another one and that's how I got scammed by a fake Joules site a few weeks ago, trying to buy another of their dog beds, as they are great quality. Anyway, having recovered from that experience, I've been looking in shops to find another dog bed, but I haven't found any that I liked, so when I got the idea to try to make one, I thought, why not.

I decided to make it another scrappy project, because I really love the process, love using up my scraps and it is a joy to make fabric from them. I just need an excuse and this was a perfect one.  The dog won't care that it's scrappy, so long as it's comfortable. I had also found some thickish wadding in my stash when tidying it last week. I had lots of odd offcuts and I figured that I could probably make them work for this project.

So, I set about making the fabric one evening by firstly laying out the pieces I was going to use. It's a super random design and nothing startling.  I just used darker coloured scraps, because, as anyone who has had a dog knows, their beds get super smelly and dirty, especially in the winter, so I figured dark fabrics wouldn't show the dirt so much. Luckily, I still had plenty of scraps left, despite my recent attempts at making scrappy fabric project bags. Here's a picture I took of the layout:

As mentioned above, I spent an afternoon sewing all the scraps together. It is much easier and quicker with a photo of the layout to guide you. I was going to add some hexie patches again and the odd other shape, but I decided against it in the end, as the dog tends to scratch her basket and they could get ripped off. 

Once I'd made the scrappy top fabric, I backed it with some fabric from my stash and then slotted in the wadding, with long thin pieces around the edges and a square piece doubled over in the middle. I then closed the bed up at the end using the backing fabric to bind the edge and  machine quilted the wadding in place around the edges and in the middle. 

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Here's a front and back view:

I actually quite like the back, we could always use this side by reversing it sometimes. It's not the thickest cushion, as I didn't have any stuffing to use. LB had disappeared off to Uni with it for her crochet projects, so I just had to make do with the wadding I had.

It's definitely not perfect. I actually nicked one of the small scrappy pieces, whilst trimming and had to cover the nick with a patch, but being scrappy, it didn't matter so much. That's the beauty.

So, is it perfect? - No, but it's good enough.  Did it save me money - definitely. Did it cost me anything? - No, only time, as I used supplies I already had. Did I enjoy it? - Heck, yes and I can't wait for the next scrappy project. Did the dog like it? - The judge and jury are out on this one, but here's a photo of her lying in it and she's been sleeping in it most nights since I made it:

She was a bit reluctant at first because it was new and unscented, but once it gets her own smell on it, I'm sure she'll get to like it a lot better.