Tag: sweater

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DIY: 2 Stuffed, Squeaky Dog Toy Projects

sweaterbonetoys copy

Here’s a great project to re-purpose old sweaters and turn them into squeaky bones from CraftStylish. If you use a wool sweater, you should probably felt it first.  If you don’t, then when you wash the finished toy, it may shrink into a MUCH smaller toy.  If you use cotton or acrylic, it won’t felt.  (Here are a few tutorials on felting, in case you need them: this one covers both hand & machine felting, here is a printable one on machine felting, and another on hand felting.)

You’ll need:

  • a clean, old sweater (yours, from a thrift store, etc.)
  • bone pattern–here are 3: bone #1, bone #2, bone #3
  • squeakers
  • sewing machine
  • thread
  • fiber fill or some kind of stuffing
  • a needle for hand sewing (here’s a tutorial for slip stitch for closing the toy)

 

Fabricbonetoy copy

The second project is for a fabric squeaky bone toy. This isn’t a difficult project and the tutorial is thorough.  You can get some fun fabric for this.  If you want to be thrifty, check the remainder table at your fabric store or check for yardage at thrift stores.  If you use a lighter cotton, you should use an inner layer of a heavier fabric like canvas or muslin.  Upholstery fabric could make some neat toys and you don’t need to buy much.

You’ll need:

  • fabric (check the remnants table & thrift stores)
  • heavier fabric like canvas or muslin if you use a lighter weight fabric for the outside
  • bone pattern–here are 3: bone #1, bone #2, bone #3
  • squeaker (the tutorial calls for a rattle)
  • sewing machine
  • thread
  • fiber fill or some kind of stuffing
  • a needle for hand sewing (here’s a tutorial for slip stitch for closing the toy)
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DIY: Holiday Round-Up Of Gift Ideas

sweaterbedcorw-rebraids-recopyfeltfeathertoy-copysuitcasebed2socksweater-copy

Here’s the collection of DIY projects I’ve written about recently that would make good, inexpensive presents this year when money is tight for so many.

PetProject hopes all of you are enjoying the season, that you & yours are healthy & happy, and that the coming year is filled with joy.

On with the projects!

Cat Toys:

Dog Toys:

Pet Beds:

Dog Sweater:

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We Like: DIY Sweater Pet Bed

I made my own version of the pet bed made from an old sweater. It turned out great and the kitties love it.  Actually Crow tried to use it while I was working on it.  Saffron the dog thought it was for her—not sure if she thought it was a toy or a bed.  I mostly followed the tutorial I posted about before with a couple of minor changes.

First, here’s a thumbnail of the sweater I used.

It had a rolled collar, so I snipped the thread tacking it down.  I stitched the arms partway on as described in the tutorial.  Then, instead of hand sewing the bottom hem, I folded it over about an inch and stitched it on my sewing machine.  In the thumbnail below, you can see the seam is the white dashed line and the edge of the folded over sweater is the green dotted line.

I decided to make my bed more oval, so I folded the corners of the bottom hem up and stitched that with my sewing machine.  You can see the shape of the bottom hem in the first thumbnail.  The second is a close-up of the folded corner.  The white dashed line is the seam and the green dotted line is the edge of the sweater that’s folded up.

I followed the rest of the instructions in the tutorial through Step 3.  But, before I did Step 4, I traced the outline of the bottom of the bed onto an old mattress pad I had set aside for sewing projects.  I cut out two layers of the pad and carefully inserted it through the neck and into the bottom of the bed. I proceeded with Step 4 and then tacked the bottom of the bed together to secure all the layers.  I did about 5 stitches in the bottom of the bed—one in each “corner” and one in the middle.  This will require a large, sharp needle.  It was a pisser to get the needle and yarn through a layer of sweater, 2 layers of mattress pad, and another layer of sweater, but it’s doable.

I had washed and thoroughly dried an old pillow.  I cut open the pillow and used its stuffing to fill the arms.  After the arms were stuffed the way I wanted, I unrolled the neck & tucked it in on itself and stitched it closed with a slip stitch, also know as a ladder or invisible stitch.  Check out this good tutorial on the slip or ladder stitch if you don’t know how to do it.

Here’s the finished bed.  Because the sweater is a boucle knit my stitches pretty much disappeared, which is nice.  This is an easy project and the tutorial is good.  You can upcycle a sweater you don’t wear anymore or one from a thrift store and make a great bed for your cat or small dog.  Or make a nice present for someone else.

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