Monday, April 15, 2013

Mend It Monday: Dog Bed

If you have pets you've probably experienced destruction at some point. Socks, purses, shoes (the dachshunds my family had growing up were particularly fond of leather...and library books). Our sweet boy Sawyer is a digger, but only when it comes to fabric.

He has the personality of Eeyore.

He likes to make little nests when he lays down. Sadly, I've lost some clothes to this habit, but the expensive dog bed saw the worst of it.

It wasn't exactly like this one from Petsmart,
but you get the idea.

This is what our dog bed used to look like. After a few years with Sawyer, it had a giant hole in the middle of it, and the sides were ripped where the piping held it together. Seriously, the sides of the bed were disintegrating by the second. I thought about replacing the sides since the piping was mostly intact, but one Saturday afternoon I just wanted the dang thing fixed. Enter scissors!


To make it simple, I removed all the stuffing (Sawyer's favorite snack) and cut off the piping and the sides. That left me with a top and bottom rectangle of fabric. Before I could sew the two rectangles back together, I needed to patch the hole. From my scraps that I cut from the side, I cut a large patch to put over the hole. I pinned it on the wrong side of the hole, and zig-zagged all around the patch.


Then I flipped it over to the right side, and zig-zagged over the raw edges of the hole.


Next, I took my top and bottom rectangles and laid them on top of one another, right sides together, and trimmed them down until they were the same size. I then sewed them together, again using a zig-zag stitch, and leaving part of it open in order to turn it right side out. I put all the stuffing back inside when I was done.

Since this is a dog bed and not a couture wedding dress, I made it easy on myself and just sewed the open end closed with topstitching, tucking the raw ends in as I went.


Of course there are some changes now; I can't unzip the cover for washing (uhhhh...yeah...sorry doggies but I rarely washed the cover unless it was..."soiled") and it's also smaller than it used to be. But as crappy of a sewing job as I did, and as boring as a dog bed is, I felt an enormous amount of satisfaction when it was fixed. Same as when I mended my winter coat. Creating something new is all well and good, but giving new life to something old is just as rewarding.

It's also a tad small for a German Shepherd now.

Anyone else have pets with destructive tendencies? Had any luck fixing up the damage? As much as I love that pooch, sometimes he's really in the dog house (yes! bad pun totally intended!).

3 comments:

  1. I feel your pain! I have been researching how to repair the hole my dog just chewed in his (very) expensive and VERY large dog bed, and came upon your site. I would definitely try this but he has chewed a hole in the top of the bed. I was thinking about using an iron-on denim patch but not sure I can use that on the material of his bed. Doing more research, but really enjoyed seeing how you repaired your dog's bed! Plus it looks great!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I also have a chewer who chewed a hole in the top side of her bed. I also considered an iron-on patch but the heat from the iron worried me. May I ask how you repaired the hole?

      Delete
  2. Albeit this is certainly not a mental issue as such; how individuals respond to, collaborate with, and see people utilizing defensive pieces of clothing to deal with their bed-wetting has mental consequences for these people. pink silk sheets

    ReplyDelete

I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to comment below.

Newsletter sign up

.