Cozies Making a "sleeping bag" cozy. (part 1) - Guinea Pig Cages, Care, Store, Photos of Guinea Pigs and More Forum!

**ferndalezoo** · #1 04-28-09, 10:00 am

You will need:

2 rectangles of fabric (I use fleece and a print) decide how wide you want the opening to be, and double that measurement for the width of the rectangle. Decide how deep you want the bag to be. That (plus an inch or so) will be your length.

EITHER a strip of 1" foam OR a strip of boning, an inch shorter than the longer measurement of your rectangle.

Sew the foam (or boning) to the wrong side of your print fabric, a few inches from the long side.

Fold each rectangle, seperately, in half, right sides together, and sew down the side. I use a straight stitch, and then reinforce with a zig-zag.

Turn the print right side out, and put it inside the fleece tube. Align the seams, and sew around the end closest to the boning/foam strip.

**ferndalezoo** · #2 04-28-09, 10:05 am

Turn the whole thing rightside out. Tuck the fleece layer inside the print layer, and sew around the edge closest to the boning from the outside, to reinforce.

Sew along the bottom of the fleece layer, to close it.

Fold the raw edges of the print layer inside, pin, and sew closed.

Here's Greyson showing off the finished product!

**theresaj** · #3 04-28-09, 12:01 pm

What a great thread! I've always wanted to try making a cozy myself!

**Skeetersmom** · #4 04-28-09, 03:06 pm

That's great! I have some of that foam from my husband making seats for our boat. Great idea!

**hilary** · #5 04-28-09, 03:50 pm

Thanks for posting this!

**Bambi5826** · #6 04-28-09, 09:41 pm

Looks like fun! Can't wait to try....

**ferndalezoo** · #7 04-29-09, 09:03 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skeetersmom

That's great! I have some of that foam from my husband making seats for our boat. Great idea!

Another thing you can do with the foam is to make the cuddle cups (I think it's a sticky at the top of this page) and use the foam instead of batting. Cut the foam an inch smaller all around than you do your fabric. It turns out nicely.

**blessedbeingmom** · #8 05-16-09, 01:20 am

Thanks for these great instructions! I just finished making one for our piggies. However, although I do have a sewing machine, I have had little practice, so I learned a lot from my mistakes today. (I also sewed bedding out of fleece and cut-up cotton rich mattress pads, another cozy and another bag that was supposed to be a cozy until mom sewed the wrong sides facing each other and was forced to get creative to salvage it for my child.)
The foam was kind of hard to sew through, and my machine didn't like it very much. Would you happen to have any tips for working with foam in the future? I still have a lot of it left, so I'm sure I'll have to find something to do with it.
Thanks again for all your great instructions!

**ferndalezoo** · #9 05-19-09, 08:51 am

When I make the cuddlecups and tunnels with the foam, I try not to sew through it at all. Rather, I cut the foam a bit smaller all around than the fabric, and just sew fabric to fabric. If you need to sew through it (like in this project), I put the foam on the bottom, the fabric on top, and flatten the foam with my hands nearest the pressure foot, so it sews more easily.

**blessedbeingmom** · #10 05-19-09, 10:53 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by ferndalezoo

When I make the cuddlecups and tunnels with the foam, I try not to sew through it at all. Rather, I cut the foam a bit smaller all around than the fabric, and just sew fabric to fabric. If you need to sew through it (like in this project), I put the foam on the bottom, the fabric on top, and flatten the foam with my hands nearest the pressure foot, so it sews more easily.

That is very helpful, thanks! I messed up the foam a good bit trying to do it first with the foam on top. After a while, I decided to try it upside down (foam down) and it did work better. I'm relatively new & inexperienced at sewing, so it can be a challenge at times. Speaking of sewing, I still have to finish sewing our second set of bedding (mattress pads and pads for the kitchen area and the hidey area). They are also thick and a bit of a challenge due to the thickness of the padding, but I'm managing okay. I'm learning a lot about threading and winding the bobbin and all that though, as I'm continually having to rethread because I messed up again, or maybe I forgot to put the pressor foot back down (easy to do when sewing something thick). I don't think I need to do any more sacks or cozies as we sadly only have one piggy now. Thanks again for your advice!

**rjramer06** · #11 07-05-09, 07:59 pm

If I could sew, I would definitely make one of these. >.<

**Heatherdu** · #12 07-07-09, 10:18 am

Hi. Thank you for posting this. We are preparing to bring home a piggie for my son and I would love to make one of these. Can you provide the approximate size of the rectangles that you used to make the cozy?

**GizzyandMe** · #13 09-15-09, 02:55 am

O Wow another great idea to keep my mom busy with! Thank you!!!!

**1frankie7** · #14 10-01-09, 07:45 am

I didnt even need foam to make my cozy and to opening stays open i hope my piggy will like it!

**ferndalezoo** · #15 10-02-09, 02:05 pm

This will work without the foam or boning, but I found that my pigs trample them, flattening the opening, more quickly that way.

MasterBlaster · #16 10-29-09, 09:06 pm

Thanks for the patterns for this sleeping bag and also the cuddle tunnel. I will be making one of each as I've noticed one of my guys, Darwin seems fond of tunneling and power napping under the sheet I put down at floortime. I will photo the results (no matter how wonky) and share with you here

Master Blaster

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