How to Make a Thermo Cat/ Dog Bed from a Puffy Jacket

The weather has been turning a bit chilly lately. Sitting in front of the laptop with a warm cup of coffee, I am looking forward to checking the day’s news, sending e-mails, and blog. If only Skittles would move her behind from the keyboard. Well, here’s a fun DIY project to keep your heat-hogging friend warm and off your keyboard this winter. How would you like to make an awesome machine washable thermo cat/dog bed using materials you probably already have lying around the house? Here’s what’s cool about this design:

A) The pet bed has thermo lining (made of mylar, the same material used to make sunshade for your car and for insulating your house) so body heat is reflected, creating a self-warming effect.

B) The bed doubles as a heating pad that your pet could sit on during the day as well as hide inside at night

C) The two side pockets at the base can hold heated pads which can warm the inside lining.

D) If you sew the mylar sheet securely to the edge with some reinforcements to the side, the piece should be machine washable. You can even put the whole thing in the dryer to warm up.

All you need for this project are –

MATERIAL:

Puffy jacket (with or without sleeve)
Car Sunshade (or emergency thermal blanket, other mylar material)
Sewing needle, thread, pins, scissors

INSTRUCTION (See picture with labels) :

1. Cut the sleeves off the puffy jacket (for sleeveless jackets just cut around the opening)

2. Open up the whole piece with the outside (puffy side) facing up and the inside facing down

3. Measure distance from top (collar) to bottom edge of piece A(L) and along the length of collar A(W)

4. Cut a sheet with the above measurements – piece A

5. Measure the distance from zipper to zipper B(L) and from bottom edge of sleeve opening to bottom edge of piece B(W)

6. Cut a sheet with the above measurements – piece B

7. Slide the pieces into the jacket behind the soft inside lining of the jacket

8. Secure the sheets to the jacket with a few stitches to the edge (yellow dots)

9. Cut a slit on the sheet on each side where the pocket is (if there are pockets)

10. Pull the pocket through so that the pocket is directly in contact with the soft inside lining under the sunshade

11. Roll piece B into a cylinder along the length B(L)

12. Cut off the zipper and sew the edges together to form a tube (the sewed edges and two side pockets form the base of the opening)

13. Fold Piece A inwards and sew the collar to the soft inside lining of the tube (piece B) – > Piece B rolls into a tube forming the opening of the structure with the zipper midline and two pockets at the bottom. Piece A folds downward at the back forming the top and tail end of the structure.

14. Sew and close the remaining edges

15. If you have heating pads, you can stuff them inside the pockets to add extra warmth

Here’s what the finished product looks like. As you can see, Skittles liked it so much she stayed inside the whole night. Finally, I get my keyboard back and so everyone’s happy 🙂