I have a 4 year old great dane that has arthritis in his hips already, so a comfy bed is a must for him. Beds get quite expensive and the majority of them aren’t thick enough for him to lay on and not have his joints digging into the floor. So I figured why not save a bit of money and sew up my own WASHABLE cover.
What you’ll need:
-Enough fabric to fold over the length of the mattress (so twice the length of the bed you are making plus a little extra)
-Pins
-Velcro
– Some type of mattress material (I used a crib mattress and two layers of foam mattress topper)
-A sewing machine
Let’s get started!
Start by laying your fabric on the floor wrong side down. Set the mattress on top. Fold the fabric over the mattress and trim off any excess, but be sure to not make the cover to tight. You’ll have to be able to easily take it off to wash and it may shrink just a bit in the dryer. So keep all these things in mind.
After trimming the excess, start pinching the fabric along the edge of the mattress and pinning every 1 1/2″ to 2″ to start creating a seam line. Do this all along the top side of the mattress.
Once you have finished pinning along the top, carefully lift the fabric and carry it to your sewing machine. Sew along the seam line that you created with your pins removing the pins as you go. Once you have finished sewing along these lines lay the fabric back down flipped over so you can now pin the bottom side of the mattress.
If you want a perfect “cube” shape you’ll want to pin the corners as well which can be a little tricky. Here is how I did mine. Don’t be too picky as these seams will be turned inside out at the end:)
You’ll want to only close up two of the corners of the bed because the other end will be the end you insert the mattress through. Once you have finished those two corners and all the bottom edges of the mattress bring it to your sewing machine and follow all the new seam lines you created. You should now have a cube shape with one open end. (I didn’t get pics of this next part:/ )
On the sides of the end that is open you will need to make a clean seems line. So fold the fabric neatly and sew along the edge.
*Now turn the cover right side out.
Next step is the velcro. Fold the edge of your fabric where you will place your velcro to create a clean edge, pin the velcro onto the fabric and sew.
Slide the mattress into the cover and you’re done!
As you can see I didn’t do a very good job on that corner but I am by no means a professional seamstress. And I think Duke is quite comfy.
Now that I have sewn one bed, I’ll be able to do my second pretty easily. And I plan on getting some video next time! So check back for my second bed which will have surrounding pillows attached.
Enjoy! And feel free to ask any questions. I’ll do my best to answer.
3 comments
Great job…I love the material is it durable and washable?
It is washable and durable however Duke managed to get his claws through it so I’ll be doing another tutorial soon using an even thicker material.
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