~SLIPCOVERED DOG CRATE~

WARNING!  For those of you who may be reading this that can sew, please do not eat me alive!  LOL  This is my first attempt at sewing...I've never owned a sewing machine, much less threaded one or put thread on a bobbin until my mom gave me her old machine.

Last Valentines Day we surprised our three kiddos with a miniature Dachshund.  His name is Marley.  We should've called him Tigger cause he jumps straight up in the air to get our attention -- he's not a happy camper in this pic because he has his coat on.  It's COLD!

The dog cage we have is not very visually appealing so at only $9 for a drop cloth and a free sewing machine I really didn't think I had anything to lose {except time} if this didn't turn out well. 

Here's what I did...

  

1.  Washed/dried the drop cloth aka beautiful burlap!

2.  Ironed it.

3.  Laid it out on the floor and used a yard stick to measure the top/back & sides of the crate.  Transferred those measurements to the drop cloth and began cutting.

4.  Next I took all the pieces and laid them {good side facing down} on the crate to make sure my measurements were correct and then pinned it all together.

5.   Began sewing it all together.  I did have to rip some stuff out and re-sew, stuck myself multiple times and read and re-read the owners manual to this new {to me} sewing machine!

6.  After I got this all sewed up and slipped it back on the crate, it looked good but it was missing something and thought I'd add a little ruffle.

7.  For the ruffle all I did was cut off an already hemmed piece of drop cloth.  Laid it out on the ironing board and began to create individual ruffles then would iron it into place so I could sew it.  I did not measure these...just eyeballed them then ironed.

8.  To add the ruffle I turned the slipcover inside out, measured how long the whole piece would need to be from top to bottom {by adding the ruffle to the slipcover} then pinned the two pieces together and stitched them together.

I'm not great at explaining I know, but I'm sure I don't know all the correct sewing terminology and pretty much just winged this whole thing!  Here is how it turned out...

For my first time sewing, I think I did a good job.  Let me just tell ya that I was pretty excited that it turned out at all and made the entire family come in more than once to see my progress.  Oh, and just so you know I think Marley is really happy with his new digs!

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