I decided to turn this old shirt of my brother’s (doesn’t fit) into a dog bed for our littlest. The color matched well with my bedspread I have.

Also, I wanted to make a smaller bed for our littlest, Lucy (9lbs). The one I’ve shown on socials was a bigger one that I used for her, but was designed with one of the bigger dogs in mind. Cheyenne (13lbs) or Kendra (10lbs).

So I grabbed my shirt and figured out the bed size, then pinned.

Only trouble with this was after I was nearly done w sewing it (this is all hand sewn), I realized that turning it inside out? Can’t do! So lesson learned = if making a bed out of a shirt and wanting to use the entire shirt as is then pin it right side out and sew. No reason to turn it inside out. Don’t know why my brain didn’t think of it at the time, but no big. I simply left an inch space, then sewed another larger circle before cutting so I could keep the fabric in the round I needed it to be to attach to the finished pillow.

Then turned both inside out and used the invisible stitch to sew pieces together. Figured out how I wanted the sleeves to attach and fit, how big I wanted them to be so they’d sit alongside the bed, not on top (pillow was too little to lose more space from).

Then sewed it all and stuffed. Again, all hand sewn, no machine. I used stuffing from old pillows and dead dog toys.

Then asked Lucy if she would test to make sure she fit correctly.

Perfect fit!

Only she and Kona are small enough to fit right and comfy, lol. The outer sleeve area is plush and big to snuggle down into, or on, but the bed isn’t too large.

I washed it, finished her blanket I was working on, put her kitty inside, and she sleeps in it every night. And uses it during the day too. Currently it’s not cold enough to be under the blanket so she sleeps on top of it. In Winter she’ll be able to cuddle down into the bed. It’s deep enough she can tuck her face into it too and get all snuggy warm.

You can see my bedspread next to it. It’s a blue gray tone and cream. The black under her is her kitty she loves to snuggle. It’s a beanie baby type of thing.