I’m stuck at home…I don’t have my childcare income coming in. My dog, Rosie, is a little destructo. She is at about 6 months old right now and destroying her dog beds is her hobby. Seriously, she’d destroyed three at this point.

I, at the time, just bought another and set the destroyed ones aside. I always planned to “get to patching it” sometime. It was only $13 for another dog bed…I didn’t have time….I was working. Yes, I could just buy another dog bed. That is what I did.

Well…COVID-19 came around. I’m at home. I don’t have my childcare income. I’m cleaning and tackling tasks. So as I was cleaning the laundry room, I came to the dog beds. I need to either repair them or throw them out. Well with time on my hands from not working and a make do attitude, I decided that I could repair them.

Rosie destroys them all the same way. She flips them over, rips a hole in the bottom and pulls out the stuffing. I really think this could be avoided if manufacturers would put a stronger fabric on the underside…but they don’t so…here I am with three destroyed dog beds.

This is all a little trial and error. The first one I did I cut the entire bottom off. Then I added the denim fabric layer. Then I sewed it back on. It worked but I broke two needles and said a cuss word. That left me ready to throw the other two remaining beds away but I didn’t. If I’m going to take my life seriously with staying and spending little money, I needed to use the resources I have. I have the denim. I can fix this. I just needed to be smarter.

So I came up with this and it worked like a charm.

First take the dog bed and roughly stitch up the bottom hole. See how crude my stitches are? It isn’t for beauty. All of this will be covered when the new fabric is put on. The purpose is mostly just to make it easier to work with and to keep the stuffing on place.

Next lay the dog bed on your fabric. Use a heavier weight fabric. I used a denim. Make a rough cut around the bed just slightly bigger than the bed.

My dog beds had a straight line across the front and the the back part is more rounded. I pinned the front straight side in place as shown working to keep the pins close and keeping the fabric on the seam line area where there in not excess stuffing.Next wrangle the dog bed into the machine. The dog beds I was working with had a side seam that was sewn down. I could get the dog bed worked through and into the machine if I used that area. It’s quite a task but sew over the pins. Sew slow. I did sew over the pins…typically I don’t but I was going really slow and it was really hard to get the pins out.

I went a little way, stopped and repositioned. I could only sew an inch or two at a time. Be patient and remember this is the BOTTOM of the bed. No one will see your errors. You are sewing blindly. For me, I followed the center of the pins hoping I was staying on the seam.

Wrangle the bed out of the machine.

Then I flipped the fabric over to cover the bottom of the bed. Then I turned the edge under and pinned it in place. This was very unscientific. It was hard to work with as the bed is so floppy and doesn’t lay flat. But my main goal was to cover it and let it be used another day…not make it look as neat as the manufacturer.

Note the pins are placed about every inch.

I wrangled it into the sewing machine again and started stitching. Again I sewed over the pins. Again I went really slow and repositioned as I went.

I tried my best but ended up getting the underside of the bed caught in the seam. DARN.

I ripped it out and flipped it over again. I pinned again and got it sewn down. In the end I was very happy with it.

The first one took me well over an hour to fix- I broke needles, swore and was determined not to fix another one.

The second one took me 35 minutes to fix. I had to come up with a plan and I had to rip out my mistake.

The last one took my 15 minutes to fix. Here is how it looks finished: Rosie loves it and she has a comfy spot to sleep.

I’m so glad I have a plan and can easily fix them. I worked two hours-ish and saved $39 with not buying more beds. I’m calling it a win.

One might ask why so many beds. I’ve learned if I have a bed by where I am she’s likely to use it and not jump all over me. I was doing bookwork at the table and there was a bed there, she just laid on it. At the computer writing blog posts, I keep a bed and she’ll lay in it rather than jump up on me. I have several beds strategically all over the house. I’m so glad these are fixed again.