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Soft and squishy doggie bed

[1] I don’t have a dog. Truth be told, I was looking for an excuse to make something out of this cute doggie fabric. I paired the dog fabric with some polka dots and houndstooth (houndstooth, get it!?).
It’s an easy project and can save you tons over buying a bed at the store. This one will find a home with my niece-doggie Lipcee, but I had no opportunity to show her in action, or lack of action, while using it.

Supplies

(Click fabrics for direct links for purchase at Warehouse Fabrics Inc.)

[2]
Houdstooth black - SMHBLK

[3]
Dottie black/white - DOEBLE

[4]
Best friends - BESBLE

[5]
Stuffing
I had one yard of each fabric. If you want your outer band to be all one fabric and you make it the same dimensions I did, you’ll need almost 2 yards of fabric. For your center part, where the animal lies, you’ll need 1 yard.

The pattern

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First, you need to create a circle. To do this, take a piece of paper and fold it twice. Starting from the folded corner, measure out your radius distance at intervals across the top, forming an arc of dashes. If you click on my photo for a bigger view, you’ll see I did a radius of 10 inches. Remember, radius is half of the distance across a circle.
Cut along the dashes and unfold. Now you have a nice, even circle. So my circle is actually 20 inches all the way across.
Now we need the part that goes around the circle, and we need that to be the circumference of the circle. Let’s do a little math. The circumference of the circle is 2(Pi)r, or (Pi)d (r=radius, d=diameter, Pi=3.14). So for me: C= 2(Pi)(10)=63″. I made the width of my outer band 20″.
If you want one continuous piece of fabric for the outer band, it should measure 20″x64″ (including a half-inch seam allowance on either side). I didn’t have a big enough piece of fabric, so I made some adjustments. I used two fabrics in 1 yard lengths, so I had to actually use 4 pieces, as you’ll see below. If you do something like this, just add seam allowances.

The process

[9] This is my outer band. As I explained in the “pattern” section above, I didn’t have a 2 yard length of fabric, so I made do with a couple of 1 yard lengths. My outer band will be two-toned.
[10] Here’s the front side.
[11] Now I’ve taken the band and folded it right sides together and sewn the end together, forming a ring.
[12] With wrong sides together, fold your ring in half. The way that I made mine, and in the pic at the left, the houndstooth is on the outside, the dots are inside and the seam where they meet is at the bottom. The part at the top is a raw edge.
[13] Fold your circle in half and then in half again and press or mark the edges. You’ll end up with four marks at, if it were a clock, 12, 3, 6 and 9. These will help you line up your outer piece evenly.
[14] You can kind of see my mark on the left, there.
[15] Pin the raw edge of your outer rim to the circle. My outer piece had two seams already, so that served as two marking points. Then I folded in half and marked two more center points. These points, will match up with your 12,3,6 and 9 o’clock points on your circle. It will help you attach the two evenly and quickly.

Pin these points first and then distribute the fabric between them evenly and pin. I used lots of pins.

[16] Baste around the edge, leaving an opening for stuffing.
[17] Now add the other piece of dog fabric on top, making a sandwich. Pin all the way around and sew, leaving an opening for stuffing in the same place you left the other opening.
[18] At the bottom right, the openings are shown. Through this opening, turn the whole thing right-side out.
[19] This is what you get.
[20] You can see I have two holes. Well, maybe not. It’s kind of hard to see. But I have a hole on the outer rim and a hole on the inner part. Stuff both very full of stuffing and then hand sew the openings closed. Then sew the two edges that you just sewed to each other. This part will tuck inside and you won’t see the stitching.

Other views

(Click for bigger views)

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