KITTY DAY BED

“Ticket for today’s Birdy movie, please.  I’ll take a front row seat.”

 

Cats can't resist a good birdy film

Bertie discovers YouTube

My life currently revolves around cats and sheds albeit shed is on the back burner since the weather turned colder and wetter.  Temperatures are not high enough to paint either the interior or exterior of the shed and in any case, it’s a bit tricky wielding a paint brush when you’re wearing a duvet to keep warm.

 

Brrr!  Too cold to go out and paint

I’m devoting my time to making cat beds although as every cat owner knows, the bugger’s never use them preferring instead to curl up on your old sweater or in a basket of freshly laundered clothing.  Cats never do anything other than what they want – what you want them to do is treated with polite disdain.  But as I have a rescue kitty then I’m making an effort to ensure its new life is as comfy as possible. 

Making kitty lounging pads seems remarkably easy even for people like me who hate sewing at the best of times.  (Give me knitting any day).  I’ve chopped up an old fleecy blanket and bought a metre of wadding (£5.50) from the local haberdashery shop to rustle up a snuggly bed for Bertie.  If you don’t have these things then you could always upcycle an old fleecy/woollen jumper for the outer cover and stuffing from an old pillow/cushion for the padding.

 

Upcycling an old fleece blanket into a cat bed

Here’s how I made my kitty bed.  Firstly, if you are using wadding dispensed by the metre then cut a rectangle or square shape large enough for your cat.  For those of you using stuffing, proceed to the next step. 

Take your fleecy fabric and either cut a long strip slightly larger than the width of your cat bed/wadding.  If your fabric isn’t long enough then cut 2 shapes slightly larger than the wadding.  You are going to sandwich the fabric round the padding a bit like making a cushion.

 

Cut fleece slightly larger than wadding

Fold the fabric in half with right sides facing each other if using a long strip or place your 2 pieces of fabric on top of each other with right sides facing. 

Using a sewing machine, sew up all side edges leaving one of them open so you can insert the wadding or fill with suitable stuffing. 

Turn the fabric inside out to hide your seams inside the kitty cushion.  Gently use a pencil or the end of a pair of scissors to poke out the corners from the inside to make them pointy. 

Fill your cushion cover with wadding or stuffing then sew up the last remaining edge to seal up the interior. 

Voila!  A wonderful snuggly lounging pad for your furry friend to ignore and at a fraction of the cost of buying one online.  My one metre of wadding has made 3 cat beds – 2 single thickness pads and 1 double thickness pad so well worth the effort.

 

Might take a nap on it myself

Needless to say, Bertie has completely ignored my wonderful little gift preferring to sleep under our bed on a random bit of fleece.  That’s catitude for you!

Cat bed?  I'm quite comfy as I am