Outdoor Dog Bed

As I now have an enclosed porch and it is starting to warm up here in Texas I have been trying to figure out what to put out there for Lily. I know this sounds strange but I don't really like for her to lay on concrete for long periods of time and I have high hopes of enjoying a glass of wine out there in the spring and summer. So I decided to make her another dog bed.

My mom had some outdoor fabric, the kind used for making cushions for patio furniture. It is pretty stiff and I think it might be water proof. I am not in love with the pattern but for an outdoor dog bed it is wonderful because it was free. I also had some left over foam from my couch in St. Louis, it was sagging something fierce so I bought some foam squares that went under the cushions and made it manageable. So so far I have spent nothing for this project... awesome.

Instead of taking exact measurements I laid the foam on top of the fabric and just eyeballed it. This was probably not a good idea so if I were you I would measure... my fabric is a little long. I then sewed up the two raw edges with the right sides together. I flipped it open and shoved the foam inside, so far so good right. Then it became time to sew up the last edge... unfortunately I could not get it close to the foot to sew it on the machine so I ended up sewing it by hand. This was super tedious and it doesn't really look that good but for what I intend to use this for it is fine.

This was a bit difficult but I got it in there

The hand stitched edging

Here is what I should have done: I should have sewed up two adjacent sides and still leaving the extra fabric (it looks kinda like a pillow case) and then sewed that edge up last.

I think during the summer Lily will enjoy having it if the concrete is hot. She was pretty skeptical about it and either stood her front paws on it (like the queen of the mountain) or would sit on there. I guess it doesn't really matter because I enjoyed making it. I am keeping it inside so that it doesn't get ruined by the elements or have ducks decide that they can roost in it.

She is looking out over the land and waiting for friends