Dog Bed #2

So hopefully this dog bed will be less hassle than the first (see previous post!).

This material was stuff I bought on ebay that didn't quite live up to what I was expecting.  I started by cutting 2 oval shapes.  

And marking on two inner oval shapes.

Then - good sides facing - stitching the outer hem.... just leaving enough for eventual stuffing.

Right side out again, and I next stitched the two chalked ovals - leaving a gap for stuffing.

Inner stuffed and gap stitched.

And same for the next oval shape, and the start of stuffing the outermost ring.

It takes quite a lot of stuffing.  Luckily I also made a mistake with amounts when ordering stuffing material for soft toys.... can you SEE how much I ended up buying!  Oops!

Perhaps you noticed one of my companions on the window ledge in the photo above.  This is Honey, in the terriers' favourite spot when the heating is on!

And "No" the nice bed I made yesterday is not better!

Back to today's dog bed.  Finally stuffed and the gap stitched.  Even by hand this is a rather tiresome task, and I felt like I was wrestling with the whole thing to keep the stuffing in and the fabric closed.

Ta Da! Finished!

And put into the plastic bed.... now just to tempt some terriers in to it.

Which is not as easy as it might first seem.  I had wanted a line up of 3 terriers in the bed....  It's not going to happen!

Tim decides to try and give them the idea.....

But claims it's not so comfortable!

Patsy finally agreed to stay put for a minute.... under sufferance!

But later looked a bit happier.

Awww... that's my cute lil pup!

Hope you enjoyed the sequence.... hardly high fashion sewing, but it used up an annoying bit of polyester fabric, and means I can now throw out the old chewed blankets that were there before.....  

Making a Bed for the Dog .....

So here is the little bed I made.  It didn't quite work the way I intended - perhaps you can spot my error sooner than I did!

I started with some fabric, and folded it in four and cut out the shape I wanted to the approximate size of the dog!

Then I marked on a central oval shape.

Stitched the shape most of the way round and lightly stuffed the central portion.

Sewed the centre shut, and started the bias binding around the edges.  I paused half way round.....

 ... so that the stuffing could be added as I went.  So far so good.

However when I got to sewing up the last section, the needle wouldn't go close enough to the last stuffed portion... Oh what a mess....

So - out with the needle and thread to finish the project.

And as that didn't quite work perfectly, I added another bit of bias binding to cover the mess!

My not so neat stitching!

Then I just sewed the other side of the bias binding by hand all the way around.  Much slower than originally intended!

But the end result is still a comfy (if wonky) dog's bed.

And JackJack has already claimed it as his own!  :)

 Next time I'll use a different method!

Patchwork Waistcoat from an Old Fleece!

The end result is to be a patchwork waistcoat for a fancy dress party.   I took photos as I went along .... in the hope that something decent would appear at the end of the sequence!

And..... as it is now finished..... I have edited this to put the final picture at the top of the post!

So I started with an old fleece.

And removed the arms just inside of the seam-lines.

The neck, zip and waist band were also removed.

I cut the pockets out, by just cutting out a hole in the fabric around the zip.......

............... and removing all the pocket linings too.

Next I borrowed a real waistcoat to use as a template for the shape.. a bit of altering needed.

So, I spread out just one side of both waistcoats, and used the good one as a template....

And I started trimming to make it match:

Next to make both front panels match:

Arm holes as well:

I'm ignoring the holes where the pockets were for now, and will shape the back panel next.

I lined the two waistcoats up again....  and the fleece is much wider altogether!

I've run a line of pins along the line I intend to stitch to reduce the size of the fleece waistcoat...

Here I've used the real waistcoat as a template again.

And then I made both sides match:

 I finished the first day's efforts by selecting fabric for the patch-working.

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So picking this project up on day two.... I had tried the waistcoat onto hubby, and found that back needs a little more taken out in the centre of the back.  Re-pinned the line of pins....

Cut away the excess...

Laid the two pieces together over lapping - I wanted a flat join so that the patch-working doesn't bulk up down the middle of the back panel. Pinned.

Put a bit of fabric into the pocket gaps....

And ran two lines of stitching over all the joins.  So now the shape is complete.....

So now the fun begins with all the patch-working pieces.  I started at the top of each panel and laid the bits out, overlapping all the way down.... (and added the diamond for fun...)

Pinned everything and then used a zig-zag stitch over the edges of each piece.  I've used a pink-red thread that tones in with the colours.

Then it was a case of just keeping stitching!

The reverse looks interesting.

Extra fabric cut away....  I did the same with the other front panel.

And the back section....

And much stitching later, a patchwork waist-coat starts to emerge!  

Bias binding tomorrow I think....

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Day three, and almost there now.  Just need to add bias binding.

My new sewing machine makes it easier to do arm holes etc. because I can remove a section so that the material feeds round and under the sewing platform....

And finally:

And the back:

Seriously, I probably wasted too much time and energy on this.... but I rather like the end result!