I just learned how to sew last month, solely because I wanted to make the craft fair table cover by jessyratfink and how to make "green" swifter duster covers by craftknowitall.Thank you jesyratfink and craftknowitall, this is my 3rd little project and my first sewing instructable. I have been having lots of fun. So here it goes :)

This is my dog Charlie. She is a special little dog. I got her from the pound. She is super smart and does some cool tricks like fall to the ground and play dead when I say "BANG !!" She gives kisses and hugs on command. I really love having her in my life. Anyway she tends to get colder then my other dogs since she is small and has less fur. So I set out to make my baby warm.I used some material that I already had on hand and reused the stuffing from my old couch cushions. Here is how I did it...

Step 1: Items You Will Need

a sturdy material for the bottom
a material of your choice for the top
a nice warm and snuggly material for the blanket
I will explain the size of fabric you need in the next step

a needle and thread
Velcro
tape measure
scissors and/or rotary cutter(i call it my pizza cutter, lol)
pin cushion
pins
chalk
ruler and cutting mat (if you choose to use a rotary cutter)
sewing machine (or not but it would take alot longer)
some sort of filler (I happened to have the cushions from my old couch, so I took the stuffing from that) you can use old throw pillows from your house or yard sales or even from a thrift store. or you can buy polyester fill from craft stores or Walmart.

Step 2: To Get Started

Cut your fabric.
The size that you will need to cut your fabric will vary depending on the size of your dog. My dog is small she weighs about 10 pounds. So I made mine as follows.

22 x 25 for the top and bottom piece
27 x 23 for the blanket

You will have to measure how big you want it to be. You could even go to a pet store and measure their dog bed and don't forget to add at least 5 inches to your measurements to account for sewing and stuffing.

Lay the 2 fabrics right sides touching. Pin the top and bottom pieces together only on the long sides.

Step 3:

Sew the long sides where you pinned. Don't forget to backstich :) Then flip it right side out.

Now measure from the short end 5 inches and 4 inches from the longer end and mark it with chalk. Do that on all 4 corners. use your ruler to connect making a rectangle. However you want to keep an opening so that you can stuff the dog bed so leave about a 4-5 inch opening on one of the shorter ends.

Step 4:

Sew along your chalk line making sure to leave the opening. Fluff your filling. That means just kind of pull it apart so that it is not all clumped together. Stuff this middle section with the filling to your desired cushiness .(yes, that is a technical term :) ) Make sure to stuff the corners pretty well. Keep in mind that you will want the middle a little less firm then the surrounding part. Then sew up the small hole.

Step 5:

Ok, so now you have the 2 short ends open , you need to pin the them but you you need to leave a 4-5 inch opening once again. But this time you need to leave the opening on opposite sides. So when you are looking at it, the opening on the side closest to you will be on the right side and the other opening will be on the left side. This just makes it a little easier to stuff it.

When you are done pinning it, just sew it and then stuff it. Again be sure to stuff in the corners. It gets a little tight in there so if you want you can enlist the help of a handy dandy ruler or a small child to help get the stuffing all the way back. i used my sons grabber toy thing, it worked pretty good to push back the stuffing. now just fold back a seam and sew the ends closed. you are now done with the bed portion. YAY !!

Step 6:

I made my blanket from a super soft leopard print plush fabric. All I did was fold back a 1/2 inch seam and pinned it.(on all 4 sides) Then sew it. Now place the blanket on and decide where you want the blanket to be velcroed to the bed. Hand sew the velcro to the blanket and the bed.I recommend sewing the soft part of the velcro on the blanket and the stiffer more uncomfortable part of the velcro on the bottom of the bed.

*** As you can see in the pics I actually used sticky velcro. I don't recommend that. It happened to be all that I had on hand. It definitely wont stay as long.
Ok, so , dogs are not going to know how to use a blanket at first. So you are going to want to gently introduce it to your dog. Make it positive. You can also use treats to help them to get motivated to go under the blanket.

Feel free to ask any questions. i will do my best to answer them. Thank you for checking out my instructable, please vote for me in the sew warm contest.