upcycle from cardigan to cat bed

Time for a break.  It’s the weekend, it’s cold and wet (well here anyway).  I’m feeling not so much, “let’s get up and go” as “let’s stay by the fire and so something crafty, or read a book or just sleep, nodding off to the gentle rhythm of the snore of the newfie”.

Since the snore of the newfie would wake the undead let alone the dead, I went for one of the other options.  I have a bit of a thing for cashmere.  Once you have been enveloped in the delicious waftyness and snugglyness that is pure cashmere, pure 100% new wool is like wearing barbed wire.

Unfortunately I do not have the wallet that can run to cashmere on a daily basis so I stalk sales, and ebay, jumble sales and markets, charity shops and my mother’s wardrobe….  Once in my possession said cashmere is loved and cherished right up until the day it finally dies.  Whereupon I  bung it in a boil wash with some jeans and felt it.

I have made felted cashmere cushion covers, cuddly toys, wrist warmers, ear warmers, slippers, bags, Christmas decorations.  But until today I had never made a bed.  Well a cat bed.

Take one elderly, moth eaten cashmere cardigan.  Boil it.  Add one tapestry needle and some knitting wool.

• Lie the cardigan flat out on a table button side down (obviously if you are using a jumper you can lie it any way up you like).
• Sew the sleeve edge to the body edge to about half way down the sleeve.  I used blanket stitch.
• Repeat on the other side.

• Fold up the bottom of the cardigan and lay the loose ends of the cardigan arms over the folded portion.  Make sure the cuff edges overlap.

• Sew the top edge of the sleeve to the top edge of the folded up cardigan edge (again I used blanket stitch).

• Lay the cardigan out flat again and sew (I used running stitch but you could use backstitch if you wanted it to be firmer) an arc from armpit to armpit.  You have now created a channel all around the edge of your bed.

• Close the neck opening.
• Stuff the channel.  I used the contents of a number of horrible cushions, but you could use cut up rags, old clothes and dusters.   You will have to wriggle the stuffing around a bit to get the right balance.
• Ta da!  One cat bed.

If you have a small enough dog you could use it for a dog bed, but I think the newfie would require a jumper from the Jolly Green Giant 🙂