Holly&Fred
Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2009
- Posts
- 255
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2009
- Messages
- 255
A few days ago, I made my first of quite a few crafts for the pigs: first was an adorable fleece tunnel that I made with a brown inside fabric and a green monkey fabric on the outside:
I really like this tunnel because of how stiff it stays, even though there's no batting/foam/anything inside of it. My pigs won't run through anything that they cant see to the end of, so this is perfect for them. Unfortunately, it's not actually for them.... I got a great deal on Black Friday fleece so I'm making a bunch to sell instead.
After I made that, they liked it so much that I used some of their old bedding to make them one. It didn't come out quite as well because I tried to make it a big bigger and longer, both of which contributed to the rather floppy tunnel they received as a result.
Next, I made a little cuddle sack -- basically a tunnel, but wider, with one end sewn up. They didn't really like it (I don't think it was deep enough), but I bought them a cuddle cup a while back that I put inside of it (effectively putting a roof on their cuddle cup) and they love it.
I'm glad, because my goal of making them these toys was to give them something to keep warm in the winter. Mine don't really like cuddling or sharing houses, and they haven't gotten the concept of fleece being warm yet, so I have to make them better cloth hideys than their pigloos if I want them to actually use them to stay warm. My house stays pretty chilly in the winter, and I don't want them to be cold as a result.
I posted a sort of rough draft tutorial of the tunnel to my "real" blog for anyone who can follow a tutorial without any pictures. As soon as I make more, I'll be taking pictures along the way to make a better tutorial, which I'll then probably post on the forums here as well.
The most important things I've found when I was making the second tunnel for my own pigs were to make a big enough cuff (probably 2" long) with your contrast fabric, and to do that second row of topstitching, and make it about 1/8-1/4" away from your first row. This adds a lot of stability to the tunnel.
I hope at least someone can make use of that! I really enjoyed making them, because it only took me about half an hour to do, and required only, what, 6 lines of stitching. It really is a simple process. And if your topstitching isn't so pretty, your guinea pigs will love you anyway, and it won't even really show up once you get it in the cage.
I really like this tunnel because of how stiff it stays, even though there's no batting/foam/anything inside of it. My pigs won't run through anything that they cant see to the end of, so this is perfect for them. Unfortunately, it's not actually for them.... I got a great deal on Black Friday fleece so I'm making a bunch to sell instead.
After I made that, they liked it so much that I used some of their old bedding to make them one. It didn't come out quite as well because I tried to make it a big bigger and longer, both of which contributed to the rather floppy tunnel they received as a result.
Next, I made a little cuddle sack -- basically a tunnel, but wider, with one end sewn up. They didn't really like it (I don't think it was deep enough), but I bought them a cuddle cup a while back that I put inside of it (effectively putting a roof on their cuddle cup) and they love it.
I'm glad, because my goal of making them these toys was to give them something to keep warm in the winter. Mine don't really like cuddling or sharing houses, and they haven't gotten the concept of fleece being warm yet, so I have to make them better cloth hideys than their pigloos if I want them to actually use them to stay warm. My house stays pretty chilly in the winter, and I don't want them to be cold as a result.
I posted a sort of rough draft tutorial of the tunnel to my "real" blog for anyone who can follow a tutorial without any pictures. As soon as I make more, I'll be taking pictures along the way to make a better tutorial, which I'll then probably post on the forums here as well.
The most important things I've found when I was making the second tunnel for my own pigs were to make a big enough cuff (probably 2" long) with your contrast fabric, and to do that second row of topstitching, and make it about 1/8-1/4" away from your first row. This adds a lot of stability to the tunnel.
I hope at least someone can make use of that! I really enjoyed making them, because it only took me about half an hour to do, and required only, what, 6 lines of stitching. It really is a simple process. And if your topstitching isn't so pretty, your guinea pigs will love you anyway, and it won't even really show up once you get it in the cage.
