Personalized Cat Bed

This week I decided to make a cat bed for my kitty, Killa. I had been thinking about making one for a while, but I wasn’t sure how to get the bottom attached to the sides nicely, and I know Killa doesn’t normally like cat beds anyway. However, he does like fuzzy, soft blankets, so I thought if I made him a bed from fleece he might like it. He didn’t, but I think cats who like cat beds would definitely love it.

Materials:

• 1 metre of fabric, I used fleece
• 1-2 sheets of felt for the letters
• Polyester fiberfill
• Matching tread
• Chalk pencil

Step 1:

• Measure around kitty while he/she sleeps so you know how big to make the sides of the bed. Killa was 40″ so I cut my fleece 41″.

Step 2:

• Cut a rectangle from the fleece. The length should be the circumference of your cat + 1 or 2 inches. The width is 12″ but you can make it wider if you want the sides of the bed to be higher.

I picked yellow for my contrasting colour. Make sure you have enough for all the letters or shapes you want. If you don’t want to add anything to the bed skip ahead to step

Step 3:

• Write out the letters and/or symbols you want on your bed using the chalk.

All cut out.

Step 4:

• You will applique the letters to the centre and bottom half of the rectangle. To find this I first folded the rectangle in half lengthwise, then width wise. Then put the first half of the name near the folded edges of the rectangle, as shown above. Pin them in place, to the first layer of fabric only, then unfold the rectangle. Applique these letters on now.

Step 5:

• Line up the second half of the name with the first half, pin and applique.

Applique finished.

Step 6:

• Fold in half width wise with the good sides together and pin the short end.

Step 7:

• Sew on the 5/8″ line down the edge you just pinned.

Step 8:

• Now you need a circle that is the diameter of you cat. To find this I used an online calculator where I put in 41″, the circumference of Killa, and it told me the diameter, 14″. So, to make my circle I just measured 14″ up, down and diagonally and made marking at each point, then connected the markings into a circle. Cut out two circles.

Step 8:

• Fold the rectangle, which is now a tube, in half lengthwise, with the bad sides together.

Step 9:

• Fold the circle in half and mark the centre top and bottom. Unfold and fold again perpendicularly to the first fold. Now mark the new centre top and bottom. You should have the four quarters of the circle marked. Repeat with the second circle.

Step 10:

• Fold the tube in half to find the four quarters as well. Make sure the seam is one quarter mark as this will be the centre back of your cat bed. For this part I used pins instead of chalk.

Step 11:

• Lay the tube on top of the first circle so the good sides are together. Line up the chalk markings on the circle with the pins or markings on the tube and pin together.

Step 12:

• Now lay the second circle on top of everything, line up the markings and move the pins so they go through all four layers of fabric.

Step 13:

• Add a lot of pins and make sure everything lies nice and flat.

All four layers pinned together.

Step 13:

• Sew all the way around the circle, leaving a space to turn right side out. Make sure to sew through all four layers of fabric.

Step 14:

• Turn right side out.

Step 15:

• Stuff the base and sides. I stuffed the bottom lightly because I know Killa doesn’t like too much fluff and I stuffed the sides firmly.

Step 16:

• This was a harder part for me to figure out, I don’t know how well I can explain it. I sewed the top circle, and the two parts of the tube together from the bottom. So, good sides together.

Step 17:

• Then I tucked the edge of the bottom circle in and pinned the hole closed.

Step 18:

• Last step! I sewed the hole closed by machine, but you can also do a ladder stitch here to hide the seam.

Finished! Hopefully Killa will start to like it.