Ellie's New Bed, Pt. 2

Earlier this week, I posted the first part of my most recent big project, a new bed for our beagle, Ellie (see pt. 1 here). To recap, we started with a nasty pile of dog bed and blanket on the floor, and a cute vintage suitcase found at a local antique shop.

So far, I told you how I tore out the old lining in the suitcase, found an awesome fabric for new lining, and attached little legs to it.



After that came the hard part: getting all that fabric made into some kind of lining and in the suitcase so that it looked halfway decent! I started on the bottom, because I knew if I messed up, it would be covered by the cushion anyway.

I cut out a piece big enough to cover the bottom and come up the sides just a little and hot glued it in.

Then I measured the sides and cut two strips of fabric wide enough to cover the side, plus an inch for a hem. I used two strips because one wasn't long enough to go clear around the sides.

I used iron-on adhesive tape instead of hemming. 'Cause I'm lazy like that :) I hemmed top and bottom on both strips, and the ends on one, since they would overlap once I attached them. I hot glued each strip around the sides. Warning: I can't even count how many glue sticks I used for this project, so I you try it, have lots on hand!

Then I repeated the process for the top, with one exception. The fabric is a little thin and I wasn't sure it would look substantial enough (it didn't matter on the bottom since it won't be seen often). So before putting in the fabric, I hot glued two layers of batting in first. It turned out just right!

And the finished product, in it's spot in our room:

I had to throw in that last one....just seconds before she jumped on me and tried to lick my camera, then pulled the blanket out of her bed and dragged it around the house. Ah, the calm before the storm :) So there's Ellie's new bed!