How-to: Make a Dog Bed from Reclaimed Bedding

Jenna on Her Dog Bed

My husband and I adopted a dog this year, and we have gone from zero to dog people in the seven months that we’ve had this sweet girl!

Her name is Jenna, and she is spoiled rotten. That means lots of treats and toys, that she refuses to lay down on the wood floor, and apparently that we have a dog bed for her in every room of the house. Dog beds from the pet store are cute, but environmentally they’re bad news. They’re usually made from polyester (aka plastic) or conventional cotton, stuffed with polyfill (more plastic), and sewn together in far off factories, possibly under questionable labor practices. They can also be pretty expensive.

Instead of buying your next dog bed at the store, you can sew your own using an old sheet set or one you find at the thrift store!

Materials

  • Reclaimed comforter, at least full sized, but queen or king would also work
  • Reclaimed flat sheets – you can use two contrasting colors or just one color. Your choice! I do recommend that for the top panel you use a darker, busy fabric, because it won’t show dog hair as much as a solid or light colors will.
  • Measuring tape
  • Iron
  • Sewing machine, thread, pins, fabric scissorss
  •  A tiny amount of math. Don’t panic!

Directions

1. Fold up your comforter until it’s a good size for your dog. You may have to unfold and refold a few times. Here’s how mine ended up.

folded comforter

2. Measure your folded comforter’s length and width. This is going to be the length and width of your top piece of fabric. Mine was 42″ X 22.5″. Cut one piece of the top sheet to these dimensions. No need to leave a seam allowance – you want your final cover to be quite snug, because this will prevent the comforter from bunching inside the dog bed.

3. Cut two more pieces from your reclaimed sheets. Each one should be 2/3 the length of the longer width you just measured by the shorter width. So, for my dog bed I cut two pieces that were each 28″ X 22.5″.

4. Iron all of your pieces, and finish one shorter edge on each of the smaller pieces, using about a 1/2 inseam.

finished edge
I swear to you that I ironed. This yellow sheet is vintage and wrinkling is its favorite pastime.

5. Place your larger piece of fabric right side up, then place one of your shorter pieces right side down on top of it, lining up the three unfinished edges with the unfinished edges on the right side of your large piece of fabric, like this:

right side pinned

6. Place the other short piece of fabric right side down, lining up the three unfinished edges with the unfinished edges on the left side of your large piece of fabric, like this:

left side pinned

7. Use your machine to stitch all the way around the unfinished edges, making sure to back stitch at the start and finish.

8. Turn your pillow cover right side out, stuff the comforter inside of it, and your pup is ready to snooze on her new bed! It might take a little finesse to get that comforter in there. Start by sliding one side in, making sure the corners of the folded blanket are snugly into the corners of the cover, then slide the other half in and do the same thing on the other two corners.

9 thoughts on “How-to: Make a Dog Bed from Reclaimed Bedding”

  1. Great tutorial! Reclaimed body pillows work well too! I need a HUGE dog bed and I love the idea of using old sheets for the cover. Thanks!

  2. I have used old pillows and covered them with old pillow shams. I have also covered them with homemade fleece covers.

  3. Genius! This is just what I needed to turn my 3 old comforters into beds for my dogs, which are the reason why I have 3 old comforters 🙂

  4. Pingback: Reuse Old Linens to Decorate Your Home | TUKUO.ORG

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