Dog Bed: From Rough to Ruff!

Dogs need furniture, too!

As a special holiday treat, let’s take a look at how to replace a dilapidated dog bed cover. Many of you may have fur babies that would appreciate a gift from Santa like this!

A friend asked me to construct a new cover for her pup’s crash pad. As you can see, one of the side seams had separated. Buster’s buddy wanted to preserve the nonskid bottom of this bed but change to a new top fabric that better suited the home decor. Move over, Buster — it’s time for your bed makeover!

Step One: Deconstruction

As I’ve mentioned in prior posts, I take lots of pictures while I work on an item so I can put it back together correctly. Here, I’m trying to remind myself how the patterned fabric overlaps the zipper. In this pic, you can also see the navy nonskid bottom we wanted to keep.

Once I catalogue the construction techniques with my camera, I move on to separating the seams. I carefully pick apart each one so I can use the pieces as patterns to cut out the new fabric. In this case, I retained the zipper and the bottom grippy piece for reattachment.

Step Two: Reconstruction

Given the expected wear and tear, I used a durable cotton canvas to replace the top of the dog bed and the long strip that forms the side. The top seam featured a red decorative piping that wasn’t going to match the new fabric, so I made new trim.

Here’s an example from a recent project showing how to create bespoke piping. I cut a strip of fabric wide enough to wrap around the cord with extra for attaching within the seam allowance. Using the zipper foot on my machine, I sew the fabric together tightly against the cord to form the trim.

When I attached the top of the bed to the sides, I included the piping in the middle of the seam “sandwich”. Then I sewed the grippy fabric to the bottom of the sides to complete the project.