Critter Geek

Here’s a cheap an easy dog bed you can make using parts from the hardware store and remnant fabric!

You’ll need these materials:

• 3/4″ and/or 1/2″ PVC pipe PVC pipe, enough to make the frame of your dog bed (size depends on the size of your dog and of the fittings you can find for the corners…see below for discussion of that.)
• 4 PVC corners or “Side Outlets”
• 4 PVC caps for the bottom of the legs
• Threaded-to-non-threaded PVC adapters, if needed for the corners
• Fabric: something strong, like denim; enough to cover twice the area of the bed, plus a generous seam allowance on all sides

For a 3/4″ PVC frame, it’s easiest if you can find PVC corners that are all 3/4″ non-threaded, but you might have to settle for ones that have two 3/4″ holes and one 1/2″ hole. That will work; just use the 1/2″ connection for the legs of the bed and get four 3/4″-to-1/2″ adapters as I’ve done here. For a great source of hard-to-find fittings, see FlexPVC.com.

If you have a small dog, you could use 1/2″ PVC for everything. My dog weighs about 46 lbs, and 1/2″ PVC wasn’t quite adequate.

The major tools you’ll need are:

• Hacksaw to cut the PVC pipe
• Sewing machine to sew the fabric

Decide how large you need the bed to be, and cut the PVC to fit. I decided to make a square bed, because my dog curls into a circle when she sleeps. If you make a rectangular bed, the long sides should support the fabric and the short sides will be open. In retrospect, I think the rectangular beds work a little better…the square bed has too much open area on the sides.

Here’s our test to see if I’ve cut the PVC to the right size:

You’ll need four short pieces of PVC for the legs of the bed. Here’s where I used the adapters to connect the legs to the threaded side of the corner pieces. It’s better to make the legs a little longer than you think you’ll need (you can always cut them down)…the bed needs to be high enough to prevent the fabric from sagging all the way to the floor, and it can be tricky to get the fabric tight enough on the frame.

It’s time to do some sewing to make the hammock! Thankfully, this is a very forgiving project, and you don’t need a lot of sewing skills to complete it.

Your fabric should be a little over twice the size of your bed; you’re going to construct a cloth tube that slips over two sides of the frame. Add a half-inch or so allowance for a hem on both sides. I just used the frame of the bed as a guide…and it does help to have good supervision for this step!

Fold each edge over about a half-inch, and sew it to finish the edges.

(That’s the cheap little sewing machine I use as described on the CRAFT blog…I have to admit that I’m a little envious of Arwen’s antique portable and am keeping an eye out for one of those!)

Now fit the fabric to the bed. Fold the fabric in half with the outside in, lay it on the floor, and placed the frame inside it. From the open edge, pull the fabric taught against the frame and mark it with a pin. Make sure you pull the fabric tightly…it will stretch when your dog lays on it, and it must be taut enough to support the dog without it sinking to the floor.

Then take the frame out of the folded fabric and lay it on top. Line it up with your pin mark on one side and your folded edge on the other, and use the edge to draw a straight line to mark your seam.

Then just sew along that line. I sewed this twice, since it will need a lot of strength. And I tend to sew crooked; it’s ok for this.

Turn the finished fabric piece inside out. Remove a side of the frame from the corner connectors and slip the hammock over it, then put the frame top back together and add the legs:

Now for the moment of truth…will your dog get on the bed?

Hurray! She loves it!

It’s best to let your dog try this on carpeting or other non-slip surface at first, since it’s less likely that the bed will move when the dog tries to get on it. If you’re making a bed that will go on a smooth floor, you might put a non-skid surface on the end caps that touch the floor…maybe PlastiDip.

As your dog uses this, the fabric will stretch. There’s two ways to accommodate that…you remove the fabric, and re-sew the main seam to bring it in a little bit. OR, you can replace the side pieces of the frame with longer pieces of PVC, or make the legs longer.

You can glue the frame together with PVC glue for extra strength if you like, but you may want to try it without glue so it’s easy to remove the fabric for laundering. (If you use glue, you can usually still knock the sides off with a hammer.)

There are lots of ways to hack this to customize the bed for your own dog. Maybe a bolster along one or more sides to add some pillowing? Or use bigger or smaller PVC pipe and fittings to suit the size of your pet. Using a couple of four-outlet corners, you could make a cat hammock with a rack of suspended toys…the possibilities are endless!