Small Animal Couch DIY

One thing all small critters seem to enjoy is a soft squishy place to snuggle up.
My family is planning to adopt a trio of rats next month if all goes as planned.
Nice thing is I allready have experience using fleece with our guinea pig, and with cloth diapers, so the plan is lots of fleece and absorbency underneath.


One thing rats like is busy cluttered cages. so I've been making many things to stuff our cage with in preparation.
Today I made a cute little couch for the cage top. It may not last long but at least it will be something fun while it does last!

You will need:

• fleece
• Scissors
• pins
• a sewing machine
• ribbon
• stuffing or fabric scraps to stuff with
• paper (to draw the pattern on)
• ruler or yardstick
• pen to write with
• Lighter

 Draw your pattern on your paper.  I measured in CM as I found it a bit easier to get the measurements I wanted. 

:Lay your pattern on your fleece, pin and cut out. 

Cut two peices out. I have solid blue and striped blue. 

Cut 4 pieces of  gross grain ribbon about 5 inches in length(I tie tiny bows, if you want these can be longer). melt ends with a lighter. In an effort to not set myself on fire I didn't photograph that part of the steps. 

Lay the ribbon in the top corner of the piece, between the layers on fabric. 

Repeat at the top corners, and other back corners. Leave a small tail of ribbon peaking out of each corner.

All corners pinned ready to sew! 

use your sewing machine on a straight stitch at medium length. Make sure to use a woven, universal, or heavy duty needle to sew fleece properly.

Sew around your project edges at about 1/2 inch seam allowance. 

When you get to a corner You need to stop with your needle DOWN, and lift the presser foot, then turn your project. Before continuing. Leave a small opening unsewn for turning...

You can see where I started and stopped at the bottom slightly off center. 

Next a little pro sewing tip. Clip your seam allowance all the way around at about 1/2-2/3 in increments. Snip the fleece almost to the sewn lines. Do not cut THROUGH the sewn lines. 

Pro tip 2. Clip your corners that do NOT have the ribbon tails like so. This makes them easier to turn and get a nice point. 

Pro tip 3. Clip into your corner that dip. Just to the sewn line. Not through it. 

Not sure if you can tell in this photo but finished clipping my curves, corners, and seam allowance.

Turn right side out. 

Stuff just the arms and back with stuffing, leave the center un-stuffed for the moment. 

Sew across the back and sides trapping the stuffing in those arms and back. 

Finished sewing it will look like this. 

Tie your ends off close to your project then snip. No tails of thread for fur babies to choke on or get caught on toes!
Next stuff the center. (I apparently forgot to photograph this. 

Tuck your raw edges in and using a hidden or ladder stitch close this opening up. 

Once that opening is closed tie your ribbons together into bows. This bring the couch back and arms up. To wash untie so it dries faster! 

Place in your cage. My ""Pillows" are scraps roughly 4 x 3 inches. I didn't bother to turn them right side out and left the edges raw. If you make yours slightly bigger you could snip around your seam allowance and make them fringed!
Make sure to tie off your tails and snip close to the project! 

To prevent redecorating, use a safety pin to fasten to your cage!

All done!