Tutorial Tuesday: Cat's Meow Basket Bed

A month ago I shared this wonderful tutorial over at one of my favorite blogs, Dream A Little Bigger, if you didn't have a chance to see it then you can view it in all its glory below. If you did see it, check it out again, why not?

This was my first ever guest post and I was so excited when Allison over at Dream A Little Bigger got back to me so quickly about my idea for this cat bed and was so nice, helpful and encouraging during the whole process!

This was a fun little up-cycling project and it was a hit with both the kitties, even if marble is a grump and did not participate in photos during this week. Find out what you need and the how-to below!

Supplies:

1. Old Sweater to recycle (Or a blanket or a robe or any fabric your cat really loves)
2. Scissors
3. Thread
4. Stuffing
5. Basket (Big enough for your pet to fit comfortably)
6. Spraypaint (Main color)
7. Acrylic Paint (Secondary color)
8. Paintbrush
 

Before I even start the project, Sooty can sense this is a present for him. He has officially taken over the basket so I am forced to start with the cushion first.

But I couldn't move him, look at that face! That is a face of pure kitty joy at receiving a new basket.

Step 1: Lets disassemble this sweater! Begin by cutting off the waistband if there is one.

Next cut off both sleeves at their seams.

This is what you should be left with.

Step 2: Now place your basket on top of your sweater and cut an inch around the whole thing.

Roughly how pieces for a a similar rectangle bottomed basket would look.

Turn the rectangles inside out and pin together.

Step 3: Sew around all 4 sides of the cushion with a 1/2 in. inseam. Stop before you sew it completely shut.

Make sure you leave a two inch hole in the seam to turn the cushion inside out with. Go ahead and turn it inside out!

 Step 4: Next stuff your cushion full to desired fluffiness. I had Marble come over and inspect it for kitty approval.

When its all stuffed go ahead and close it with some a simple ladder stitch, or any other hand sewing stitch.

Now that Sooty and Marble finally left the basket alone I can give it a facelift. I really wanted to thrift a basket for this project but had 0% luck finding any. I did happen to go to Michaels and find this one on sale for half off though, and I snatched it up! Now it's a beautiful basket, and apparently hand constructed, but I am just not a pink gal, or a brown/neutrals one either. I needed bright color so I picked out the tiny aqua blue squares from the sweater and matched the color.


Step 5: Anyway, you'll want to give your whole basket (well except the bottom, who's gonna see?) a basic coat first and then let it dry. I used 6-7 thin coats.

 I used Krylon Color in Seaglass. Krylon is my favorite spray paint because it dries quickly(10 minutes), they've got a great color selection, and they have a precision tip for spraying at all angles which was super useful with this project full or nooks and crannies to get into.

All done!

Step 6: My basket had an obvious design built in, the pink rope. So I used a spare bottle of fabric paint to make the rope contrast again. I painted everything that had previously been pink, black.

If I hadn't gotten this particular basket, I probably would have gone with a diamond pattern to match the sweater or something. I think polka dots would look good as well, or even stripes!

Step 7: (Not pictured, just like its supply whoops!) Give your basket a top coat of clear spray paint just to finish it off. Let dry and air out overnight and the next day you can add the cushion, then present your kitties with their newly finished bed!



I think it came out great, beautiful and functional, my kind of DIY!

Sooty looks so satisfied here. Even though he's the only one you see in the pictures, I assure you my other cat, Marble, loves the bed too; she was just not feeling very photogenic during any of the shoots. My room mates brought home an extremely adorable kitten and her chi was all out of whack.

I hope you guys can find inspiration in my tutorial and enjoy making your pets cute and cozy places to sleep, for cheep! I plan on making a second one with an old robe the kitties love to make biscuits on.
 
Til Next Time!

P.S. I link up at these awesome parties!