Saturday, July 24, 2010

Cozy Cat Cushion Craft

I'm amazed at myself for saying this, but it is totally true: I **like** a cat. I really do. Our new (old) cat. So, in this spirit of companionship I decided to make the cat some places to sleep and dream some funky cat dreams. Because he shouldn't have to sleep like this:
 He's not too happy about the blocks carefully stacked around him. The Munchkins goal behind this project was to stop his tail from moving. Hmmm. So, he definitely needs a designated sleep area for comfort and for boundaries....'cause then I can tell the Munchkin that when he's on the sleeping spots, he's off limits (yeah, that'll work). I made Danny a windowsill cushion and a bed.

So, here's what you need:

Thin Styrofoam Board
Lots of a fabric for cushion(depending on the # of projects)
Exacto knife
Sewing Machine and Thread
Velcro pieces
Alternate Fabric for Flower Paws
Glue Gun
Batting/Polyester filling

To Make the Cushions:
~A piece of styrofoam cut to fit for the windowseat (for the bed, you can pick whatever size you want). I don't do math and I don't like to measure so, I eye-balled it:
I just trimmed off the excess. 
~Next, you need to see how much fabric you require. I laid out the fabric, laid my styrofoam board on it, folded it over and gave about 3 inches of extra fabric for hemming and room for stuffing. I trimmed away the rest.
~Take the foam out. 
~Hem one of the short sides. Leave the other alone.
~Reverse the fabric (wrong side out) and stitch the longest sides together.
~Then, line up the fabric like this (picture below) and sew a straight line across the unhemmed, short side. It should look like this:
Hopefully, your stitches will be straighter than mine. **yeesh**
~Turn the whole thing right side out and poke the corners out. 
~Fit the board into it. 
~Fill it with batting/filling.
~Attach velcro to the inside hemmed edges and seal it up. I used adhesive velcro, which is going to get in the way of washing....but, I couldn't find any plain kind at the store I went to. You'd be better off getting the sewn on kind, I'm sure. 
~Add the fabric flowers (the shape of a paw, if you'd like) with the hot glue....I'm not going to give you directions on the flowers, but you can find them HERE at The Domestic Diva. I went with the hand rolled roses. :-) 
Here's a picture of the paw, close-up:
For the windowsill cushion, I attached it so the windowsill with some leftover velcro. That way the cat cat jump on and off without knocking it down all the time. We also put a bird feeder right next to the window, so he'll have some wildlife to scheme about. :-)
 Here they are, all put together:

Danny thinks it's Purr-fect. :-)

Here are the Linky Parties I Joined:
The Girl Creative
(Check them out and be inspired)












Get your craft on Thurs.
Blog+Button+to+size.jpg
Photobucket
Beyond The Picket Fence















Join  us Saturdays at tatertotsandjello.com for the weekend wrap up     party!














Funky Junk's Saturday Nite Special

















The DIY Show Off
Making
The Girl Creative
Sumo Sweet Stuff

All Thingz Related
Keeping It Simple

 http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/








NightOwlCrafting









giveaways




Get your craft on Thurs.

Favorite%2BThings%2BFridaybig%2Bbutton.jpg
Beyond The Picket Fence

Chic on a Shoestring Decorating


Punkin Seed Productions



12 comments:

  1. Using blocks to keep the cat's tail from moving seems like something my girls would do if they had a cat...too funny.

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a beautiful cat and a wonderful, simple project. Very nice!

    ReplyDelete
  3. He is gorgeous! Love this idea for my Mr Chestnut too. Thank you for sharing it.

    Blessings, ~Melissa :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a cute idea! Love the flower paw too! My daughter actually saw this before I did (the picture of Danny was so tempting she had to click your link first) and she's inspired to make some of these! Thanks for sharing your creativity in the DIY Project Parade!

    Roeshel

    ReplyDelete
  5. So, your kinds of a cat person now? Yup, they win you over everytime. I've got 2 that I love.
    ~ ~Ahrisha~ ~

    ReplyDelete
  6. OH THAT IS TOO CUTE! My cat is 16 years old. He was my one and only child until I had my daughter (Hubby and I tried for 5 years to get pregnant) So now Gizmo (grumpy old cat) is terribly neglected! I could make this for him as an "I still love you, now go lie down and stop tripping me present!!"

    Thanks for sharing! :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Such a beautiful cat...with a sweet place to lay!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love the cat coushion. It turned out nice.

    Thanks for joining Get Your Craft on Thursday at Life As Lori!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I bet your kitty just loves you even more now! Good luck with the "hands-off area"! lol!

    ReplyDelete
  10. How cute! I'd love to make one of these for my cats, though I have to admit they've already quite a few sleeping areas! I think I'd have to leave the flowers off two. Our cats would probably tear them off in no time! Great project!

    Thanks for linking up for Friday Favorites!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I'm featuring your post this week for Friday Favorites!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I think it is purr~fect as well! Thanks for linking up to Hoo's got talent!

    ReplyDelete

gimme dat comment.