Liners Sewing Fleece Cage Liners? How to, cost, suggestions?

[Kimberly713]

Hi guys,

Right now my girls have a smallish 2x4 cage and every week we wash and reuse the same old fleece liner I bought from Jens CC's online about a year ago. I was using Uhaul blankets and fleece but the blankets shrank in the dryer too much and they didn't fit right after a few months.

Anywho, my next plan is to save up money and either invest in 2 or 3 piggy bedspreads (thoughts on those guys?) or go all out and sew my own for now on. I will need to buy a sewing machine, fabric, and some sort of absorbency material.

I know nothing about sewing machines or sewing in general either so I need some specifications on that. Will the cheapy ones sew through thick mattress pads since that is what I planned on using anyhow.

Any information you have on sewing, buying, or anything please please share!

 

[jacqueline]

i'm still a pretty new cavy slave. i have two boys in a 2x4 C&C cage as well. i bought fleece, on sale at Joanne's (but also found some nice fleece on sale at Amazon). i bought 3 yards, and followed the directions on this site for prepping it - washing it 4 times, etc. i cut the fleece big enough to hang over the edges of the coroplast liner, and i use binder clips to clip the fleece to the sides of the coroplast at the top. the extra fleece hangs over the sides of the coroplast and just looks pretty. i put two layers of towels underneath the fleece to absorb (also cheap from Walmart). the pigs love it - it cleans easy, and is cheap enough to buy a couple different sets of fleece and towels for changing - AND NO SEWING!! good luck!

 

[Kimberly713]

I should be more specific lol. I apologize I didn't cover everything I needed to.
I have done in the past year or so:
Fleece and Newspaper ( DO NOT recommend)
Fleece and Towels
Fleece and Uhaul blankets
Fleece and puppy pads
Fleece liners bought online
Plain old aspen/carefresh/or eco bedding

I want to sew a liner because it's so much quicker. Right now I am in college and living on campus, mom cares for the pigs (bless her!). Next year in fall they will be moving to an apartment with me and a friend. I hate looking at a dirty cage so every 4 days or so I want to clean it since it will be in my room as well. Without a liner I will need to go do laundry for roughly 2 hours (washers take 40 freaking minutes) and I dont have that kind of time. Plus im also a perfectionist. My issue with the towels and such is I have to measure it out on the floor and wrap the fleece edges over the ends to make it flush. If i sloppily put it down the girls pull up the corners and poo/pee on the coro, and it bothers me to look at
Little Calypso loves to chew on coroplast so thats why I like the idea of piggy bedspreads, plus I like how they are so thin, faster washing. But they wear out after like 8 or so months don't they? And $80 each is a bit steep for me considering I need 2 or more.

I am basically just looking for any advice, guides (with pics!), links to good machines that arent crazy expensive, material suggestions. Anything you got for me.

 

[pinky]

I experimented with fleece pads (fleece on two sides and an absorbent layer in the middle) with cotton batting, towels, polyester batting and uhaul padding in the middle. I don't recommend polyester batting (not absorbent) or towels (too heavy and doesn't dry all the way.) Cotton batting and uhaul padding were better because they're thinner and 100% cotton. 100% cotton mattress padding would work well in the middle, too. Uhaul padding sells for $7.95 for a piece that's about 80 x 68 so it's the cheapest so it's been my choice for my fleece pads. I buy my fleece off the remnant rack at Jo-Ann Fabrics. Remnants are 50% off the current price per yard of that brand of fleece. You can make them pretty inexpensively that way.

 

[CLV71]

Here is a video of a review of piggy bedspreads skinnypigs1's Channel - YouTube and for a sewing machine I would check craigslist you might find a great deal but be careful because you could also find a piece of junk.

 

[Kimberly713]

So does stitch count matter? My mom has been asking what I want for christmas and I've yet to give an answer. I am thinking about asking for a sewing machine now How can one tell by looking at the specs on a machine if it will be able to sew through multiple layers?

 

[bpatters]

I've got the same Brother machine that spy9doc has, and I'm very happy with mine. It will do two layers of fleece and mattress padding very well, and probably a couple of other layers. I haven't tried u-haul pads.

 

[Kimberly713]

Great! I'll be sending that link to my mom haha
Thanks guys!! I'm sure my first liner or two will be a mess but it's still cheaper

 

[CLV71]

I have a Brother sewing machine too. It's not that exact one but it's close. Mine is the project runway edition. My mom picked it out she says it's a good one.

 

[zaylea]

I had a brother sewing machine, but the problem with it is there's a lot of parts sort of sticking out the top, and if you accidentally knock it over or something, they can bend and the thing is ruined. Mine doesn't always stay in the same place and I have large dogs that run around etc so this might not matter as much for you. I have (broken link removed) now because more of the parts are internal and it comes with a hard shell case. Here is a less expensive version of that one.

 

[sewlittle]

I have a question about the liners. If i were to sew them together, how much bigger than the bottom of the cage should I make them. I am going to put fleece, 2 layers of cotton batting and then fleece. Any help would be nice...i just dont want to make them the size of the bottom and have them shrink.
thank you in advance!

 

[zaylea]

sewlittle, your best bet is to wash the fabric 2 or 3 times before you cut it. It is unlikely it will shrink again, and you'll be able to fit it exactly.

 

[bpatters]

Wash it all in hot water several times. Mine turned out about two inches too short in the length and an inch too short in the width.

 

[Sammiec4]

That is my problem as well... I can't decided on a fleece or two to get started. There are just too many choices out there... Maybe I should just start buying 6 yards of everything that catches my eye... Finish one, set it in THEN sit and decide... All the others I can give to the rescue.

I finally got the design for the cage DONE... no going back to re-vamp it. Nope. LOL