Briefcase Cat Bed

Treat your cat to a little piece of luxury with this cat bed fit for a king!

https://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/briefcase-cat-bed • Posted by Crafta La Vista

You cat will be having sweet dreams in this classy cat bed! You never know you might even get a lie in without them padding your face at 5am!!!

You will need

Stuffing 1 m black Ribbon 4 Cord Pull for the feet 4 blocks of Wood 1 Stanley Knife 1 Hot Glue Gun with glue 4 Screw(s) Sewing Machine ½ m Velvet depending on the size of your briefcace 1 Briefcase

Project Budget

Time

Difficulty

Description

You cat will be having sweet dreams in this classy cat bed! You never know you might even get a lie in without them padding your face at 5am!!!

Instructions

1. 

   head to your local charity shop (or ebay)and find a cheap briefcase or suitcase to use as the base for your bed. I got mine for an absolute bargain of £5 because they didn't know the combination for it. The guy gave me the strangest look when I said - "it doesn't matter, I'm cutting it open to make a cat bed"

2. 

   you may be lucky enough just to unhinge one half of your case but I had to cut the bottom off mine with a stanley knife

3. 

   tidy up all the edges either by cutting along the edge or ripping out material where possible

4. 

   To your hot glue gun and ribbon and glue it round all the edges so that it looks a bit more professionally finished

5. 

   so this is the point where your cat goes "YASSSSS A BOX" it's like Christmas with a toddler but you don't want to stop here so lure them out with a treat and keep crafting

6. 

   cut 4 cubes of wood (or buy something similar and one by one, hold them on the inside of the case in the corners

7. 

   then flip the case upside down whist holding one of the blocks and screw your cord pulls into the wood, through the case I used these brass cord pulls from remnant kings but there are lots of things you could use instead so see what you can get your hands on

8. 

   Now you have finished the base you can start on the cushion. Measure the inside your base and cut 2 pieces of material the same size. Flip them so that the back of the material is facing out the way on both sizes and sew them together, leaving a gap

9. 

   Turn the material inside out through the gap and stuff it, before sewing up your final bit

10. 

    Take one of your self cover buttons and a small piece of your material,then sew in and out round the edge of the material I knew what size to cut the material by using the back of the button package (see image below)

11. 

    Pull the thread so that it gathers and knot the thread, before cutting the remainder off. Then push the back on until it's tight. Repeat for another 6

12. 

    Sew your button from the front right through to the back of the cushion and pull tight, do this a couple of times before knotting off the end. Repeat for the rest of your buttons to get the padded effect. Your cushion should fit in with a little room around the side

13. 

    then you need to cut a piece of material that's long enough to go round 3 sides of your cat bed and wide enough that you can sew it into a tube shape. Fold over and stitch inside out so you can turn it in the right way when you are finished Cut two circles that have a slightly larger diameter than the ends of your tube

14. 

    Sew one circle onto the end (I used something like a mattress stitch to do this) Stuff the tube, bit leave a little wiggle room so you can bend the tube and then sew on the other end

15. 

    place the tube round the edge of your cushion. You could sew the two together but I haven't bothered as my cats seem to like pulling at it.

16. 

    Now the most difficult step - How do you get the cat in the bed?!?!?!

17. 

    Only joking...they will love it!!! Especially if you put it new to a radiator or somewhere else warm