KH
How to Make a Dog Bed Using Fabric Scraps
Kelly HansonDescription
Whether you are new to quilting or you’ve been doing it for years, you’ve probably already started accumulating fabric scraps. While many of the larger scraps can be used in future quilting projects, some might be either too small or just not a fabric you want to use again. Kelly Hanson shows you how to make a dog bed quickly and easily using the scraps you may have otherwise thrown away.
Collection
When it comes to starting to collect your fabric scraps, Kelly shows you a great way to do it that keeps all of your scraps together from the beginning. She starts by taking a large piece of fabric and sews a pillow case. You can do this by either folding a long rectangular piece of fabric in half and stitching both sides, or stitching two pieces together on three sides. Since this is a fabric scrap project, you can construct the pillowcase any way that gives you a large enough bag to fit in a small trash can. Kelly then shows how to use the pillowcase as a lining for the trash can that you can then start collecting your fabric scraps in. Once the fabric bag has been filled up Kelly shows how to fold over and finish the top edge, turning the pillowcase into a dog bed. Learning how to make a dog bed like this one is a great way to use quilt scraps, including both fabric and batting.
Charity
Even if you don’t have a dog yourself, you can still learn how to make a dog bed and then donate it. Kelly explains how these dog beds can be donated to local shelter pets. The bed becomes theirs while they stay there and when they are adopted out the bed gets to go with them.
So I know if you're a quilter, you have scraps. I'm about to show you some really great ways to utilize those little scraps. Don't throw them away. I know you're probably thinking I'm going to tell you to put them all, all your little triangles and everything into a baggie and bring them to the little old lady down the street. Well and you can do that.
Um, one of the things that I like to do is I go and I sort through, and I find some of my bigger scraps. Now, I don't even know how this ended up in the scrap bucket, but I do know that it, um, probably was a piece that just happened to be um, sitting out and I was tired of it sitting there and I hadn't used it. So I threw it in. Uh, so I will set that aside, and some of the larger pieces I set aside for um, the children in the neighborhood, that are doing 4-H or um, my granddaughters, The rest of the fabric, what I like to do, is I take a large piece of a fabric and I sew up along the edge and make a pillowcase, but it's not going to be a pillowcase. What I'm going to do, is I'm going to take, and I'm going to take a garbage can.
I'm going to put this inside the garbage can, and I'm going to make it my new garbage can liner. "Oh, what?" you say? "Is she crazy?" No, she's not crazy. She's charitable, like every other culture that you know, and as I find pieces of fabric that I think, "Ugh I just don't even want to tr- keep them. I don't want to have to use them." I'll throw them into that bucket.
When that bucket is full, I'll take it out. I'll take it out of the waste basket. I'll fold over the edge. Make sure you leave enough so you can fold it over. I'll pin it in place, and I'm going to so a line all the way down, and it's a nice little bed for a animal from the shelter.
Now you don't have to make it this big. You can make it round. You can do any dimension that you want but it's going to be filled with scraps, with batting. Um, the only thing I don't want in it is paper and anything that could be edible because we don't want those dogs getting into that, um, getting those things lodged into their tummies. But when you send these to the shelter what they do is once they're in um, in the, the kennel with them, it becomes theirs.
So when that animal gets adopted that pillow or that bed goes home with them. So it's a really neat and easy, charitable way to get rid of your scraps. If you're not going to be giving them to the neighborhood child or to the little old lady down the street who needs some hand work to do. Um, I hope you enjoyed this tip. I sure enjoyed doing it for you.
Great idea to line the wastebasket with it ! A guild I was in before I moved met monthly to make these, but dealing with all the scraps people brought in was a mess. This way, no mess. Thank you!
I thought this was a wonderful idea and made a few smaller ones for our feral cat shelter. The problem is the scraps tend to ball together when the pillow is washed which makes them lumpy and the pillow takes FOREVER to dry in the dryer. This would not be a problem if you live in a sunny area and can leave it outside to dry, but I live in the Pacific Northwest so have to use a dryer. I have tried cutting the pieces into smaller bits but this becomes very labour intensive. Any other suggestions are welcome because this is a great way to recycle scraps effectively.