anyone make their own dog bed?

    • Gold Top Dog

    anyone make their own dog bed?

    I'm thinking of trying to make a dog bed or 2 since big ones are so expensive, but didn't really know how to go about it. Any ideas?? 

    • Gold Top Dog

    Simplicity pattern #3960 - no sew fleece dog beds

    Buy a comforter - cut, fold and sew to the size you want. 

    For small dogs, fill an old sweatshirt with polyfill and sew up the sleeves and bottom.

    One of the easiest - get a foam egg crate mattress topper (the inexpensive ones are about 19.95)  Cover it with an old sheet, or fleece fabric.  

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    • Gold Top Dog

     I whole heartedly admire your domesticity - and Ann those are wonderful ideas.  I will also add that I have gotten a few beds (yes he is that spoiled) at Costco for CHEAP!  I think they were like $16 plus tax - think they are $18 now

    I just looked and they aren't online but the ones my costco have in now are big ovals - the ones I have are rectangular and plenty big for B

    edit to add his are 34 x 42

    • Gold Top Dog

    I've gotten some nice ones in ebay for under $30 (x-large size) and I've made them.

    If you have a large dog it really costs quite a bit to make one by the time you get done buying a good durable washable fabric and all the fill.

    I've bought comforters from consignments shops and made beds for shelter dogs. That's pretty cheap.

    • Gold Top Dog
    • Gold Top Dog

     I agree.  If you really have a desire to make one for your dogs because you want to, I used Duck cloth from JoAnn's and bought some of their new Nu Foam stuff that is 2 inches thick.  I wanted a bed that was easy to vaccum, had cushion and also was completely machine washable.  You can see picks on my Facebook page:

     http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1773568&l=312ae&id=583611325

    The duck cloth is very durable and vacuums very nicely.  I left them the width of the NuFoam because I wanted them to have a "bumper" on one side.  All I did was make a bag out of the duck cloth and then stitched the end shut.  The hardest part is measuring!  But for both beds, I spent about $60 on the materials.  Duck cloth is about $7 a yard and I needed 2 1/2 yards of each material (could have gone a little less if I was better at this).  The NuFoam was $17 a yard and I got 2 1/2 yards of it.  The bigger crate is 42 inches long and the other one is 36 inches long.  I have about 1/2 a  yard of hte NuFoam so could have saved $8 but oh well.

    • Gold Top Dog

     Even though Tootsie is not XL, her and the cat share so I bought an XL bed at Top Foods, of all places for $20.

    • Gold Top Dog

    I've made the elevated beds out of PVC and some clearance material I purchased at JoAnne Fabrics. That was pretty cheap and the dogs like it.

    I've also made a foam bed. I bought a section of foam from JoAnn's and then bought a waterproof cover from Target for $7. The foam wasn't cheap though - about $25. However, for about $35 I got a huge waterproof bed which is much cheaper than you can buy them for.

    I've also bought beds pretty cheap at Sams.

    • Gold Top Dog

    I have.  I used an old "egg carton" mattress pad cut or folded, and then folded a blanket around it like a burrito.

    • Gold Top Dog

    awesome ideas! I'll have to try some out.

    My boys have the ultimate dog bed right now- Jack peed on my very nice, expensive down feather mattress. So i cleaned it the best i could, folded it in half and put a fitted sheet over it. They love it, but i'll need a few more beds when i move!

    • Gold Top Dog
    Buy some fleece at Walmart (all kinds of patterns to choose from) and cut it in a rectangle the size of the finished bed plus 4" all the way around.  Then cut tabs on all 4 sides apppox. 2" deep and 1" wide.  Fill with fiberfill and tie the tabs together and you have a cheap bed and no sewing needed!
    • Gold Top Dog
    My X-GF made a cozy cave bed since my terriers love them so much.
    • Gold Top Dog

     The last one I made I used some worn out old t-shirts(ones not suitable for donating) for filler.  It was nice and soft with a tendancy to get lumpy(nothing alittle fluffing wouldn't fix).  I put a zipper on the cover and when it needed to be washed I just emptied the whole thing into the washer, threw the cover on top and washed the whole thing.  I'm going to have to make some more soon. 

    • Gold Top Dog

    Here's the elevated dog bed instructions.  We've made three of these for our gang and still have enough stuff for two more - we spent about $50.  The dogs love them. 

    • Gold Top Dog

    I usually pick up used, washable zippered sleeping bags from the thrift store. You can slip an extra blanket inside them to make them more fluffy. Or tuck the excess bag back inside itself if a whole sleeping bag is too big.

    Works great.