How to Make a Hedgehog Carrying Pouch - The Bag

Here's a tutorial for how to make a hedgehog carrying pouch with a cute bow strap.  First, let's start with the bag itself without the straps. 

***Please note that these tutorials are for you to make things for your own personal use, not to sell.***

MATERIALS NEEDED

• Sewing machine
• Fleece fabric
• Flannel fabric
• Thread
• Needle
• Ruler

CUTTING & SEWING
Outside:  Measure out a rectangle of flannel fabric 12 x 8 inches in size.  Cut out two.  You can also use fleece only if you want.

Rim:  Measure out a rectangle of fleece fabric 12 x 5 inches in size.  Cut out two.

Place one fleece fabric on top of the flannel fabric with good sides facing each other.  Line up the top edge and sew in place.

 Lay the fleece and flannel piece on top of the inside fleece fabric and cut out two pieces.  This will give you two inside pieces that match the size of the outside pieces.

Lay one inside fleece on top of the flannel piece with good sides facing each other.  Line up the top edge and sew together.

Do the same thing with the other flannel section and the other new inside fleece piece.

*** If you would like a flat bottomed pouch, go to the flat bottomed pouch tutorial now. ***

 Place the two fleece and flannel pieces on top of each other with good sides facing each other.  Pin in place.

 Sew around the entire shape, but leave a 2 inch gap on the inside fleece side.  Make sure to backstitch around the gap.

 You can reinforce the corners by sewing diagonally across them.

 Turn the pouch inside out through the 2 inch gap.  Now you need to close the gap.  Tuck in the edges of the gap in and pinch the gap closed.

HIDDEN STITCH
Thread a needle and tie a knot.  Make a stitch overlapping the existing stitching around the edges of the gap a little.  Stitch on one side of the gap, go directly over sideways, make a stitch on the other side of the gap.  Go in a ladder stitch from side to side until the gap is closed.

When you are done, tie a secure knot.  Stitch into the pouch and pull the thread taut before snipping it.

Push the fleece side into the flannel side and match the corners up neatly.  You are done!

The pouch will measure about 10.5 inches x 10.5 inches.  If you only want a fleece pouch, you can stop here.  If you want to turn this into a carrying pouch, move on to the next tutorial on how to make the cute bow straps!

Don't forget to post your finished pictures in the Flickr group here.  I'd love to see what you make!

Don't want to make your own?  Email me at bluepandemonium (at) hotmail.com and maybe I can make one for you!  I also have some fleece pouches and hedgehog flannel fabric listed in my Etsy shop.

Happy Sewing!

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Read other hedgehog tutorials

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Summer Flannel Pita Pouch Tutorial for Hedgehogs, Guinea Pigs, etc

Poggy has not been sleeping inside of his fleece pouch lately.  He has been sleeping beside it.  I suspect that his pouch is too hot since it has been hot out lately.  In order to make him more comfortable I have designed a new pouch for him. 

***Please note that these tutorials are for you to make things for your own personal use, not to sell.***

I call it the Summer Flannel Pita Pouch.  It is shaped like a Pita, and it has flannel instead of fleece on the outside.  The interior is still fleece as that is softer.

MATERIALS NEEDED

Flannel fabric

Fleece fabric

Thread

Sewing Machine

Needle

Scissors 

Chalk Pencil

 First, fold your fabric in half.  Then place your dome onto the flannel fabric.  Trace the shape with a chalk pencil or a regular pencil.

Tip: if you measure 2.5 inches in from the opening side and straighten out those edges instead of curving them in, then you will have a round interior with a straight outer rim.  This makes the pouch deeper, while still keeping the entrance wide enough for a hedgehog to pass through.

 Cut out the shape.  You will need two of the flannel shapes.

 Place your flannel shape onto folded fleece.  Cut two fleece shapes out.

 If you were smart, you will have shifted your dome when you were tracing the fabric so that you had only 3/4 of the dome shape.  If you are not so smart (like I was when I made this), you will need to trim off 1/4 of the shape.

(If you followed the tip for how to alter the opening shape, then don't cut it off now.)

The goal is to create an opening wide enough for your hedgehog or other small animal to get in and out easily, but yet deep enough to provide warmth and shelter.  So trim off what you need depending on the size of your animal.

Place the flannel together with the good sides facing each other.  Line up the edges neatly and pin in place.  Sew around the curve.

Tip:  Backstitch to lock your stitches into place.

 Do the same for the two fleece pieces.  Remember, the good sides of the fabric should be facing each other (wrong side out).

 Now turn the flannel piece so that it is the right side out.  Do not turn the fleece one around yet.

 Slide it into the fleece half.  The good sides of the flannel and fleece should now face each other.

 It should look like this.  Wrong side of fleece facing out, wrong side of flannel facing in.

 Sew the joining straight edge, don't forget to backstitch to lock the stitches in.

 Leave a 2 inch gap.

 Turn the pouch inside out through the 2 inch gap.

 Use a hidden stitch to close the 2 inch gap:

Tuck in the fabric edges neatly and pinch closed.  Thread a needle, tie a knot, and start the first stitch to overlap existing stitching around the gap (for security). Stitch one stitch along the edge of the flannel, go directly over to fleece side and make a stitch along the edge of the fabric.  Keep going side to side like a ladder (not zig zag).

 When you pull the thread gently along the way, the gap will close.

Tip:  to avoid bunching, tug fabric gently side to side to straighten out the stitching once in a while.

 When you are finished overlapping the final stitches, tie a secure knot.  Hide the loose thread by sewing into the pouch and pulling the thread taut before snipping it.

 You should end up with a hidden seam like this.  It's not beautiful, but it will do the trick.

Ta da!  You're all finished your Flannel Pita Pouch!  My finished pouch was about 8 inches wide and 7.5 inches long.

It was Poggles testing time!  Poggles was not pleased as usual.

However, he took to it immediately.

Although he seemed confused as to why this pouch was so shallow.  He kept turning around like more space would suddenly appear.  Silly, the whole point was more air flow! 

And it fits your dome perfectly!

Happy sewing!

Don't forget to post your finished pictures in the Flickr group here.  I'd love to see what you make!

Don't want to make your own?  Email me at bluepandemonium (at) hotmail.com and maybe I can make one for you!  I also have some fleece pouches listed in my Etsy shop.

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Read other hedgehog tutorials

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Have the tutorials and information on this blog helped you? Then please consider supporting this blog with a generous donation!

Fleece Pouch Tutorial For Hedgehog, Hamster, Guinea Pig, Ferret, Sugar Glider, and Other Small Animals

Here's a tutorial on how to make a double-layered, seam-less fleece pouch for your little animals.  Please note that these tutorials are for you to make things for your own personal use, not to sell.

MATERIALS NEEDED

You will need the following supplies:

• Fleece fabric
• Ruler
• Thread
• Needle
• Sewing Machine
• Scissors

CUTTING
First, measure out the size of pouch that you want.  For my hedgehog, I needed something that would fit a large fist (or two now!).  Add one inch to your planned size to account for 1/2 inch seams.  For me, this was about 9.5 inches by 10.5.

Cut two pieces, one for front and one for the back.

Since I wanted a fancy looking top to my pouch, I sewed up some strips of different fleece together to make a design.  Refer to the Quilted Top Tutorial here.

 Now, place your sized fabric onto the fabric you want for the interior.  Cut the fabric so that it is about 2 inches longer than your sized fabric.  This will create the different coloured rim and makes the pouch a little longer.

Tip:  if you want to make your pouch reversible, check this variation.

You will need two pieces of interior fabric.

Note:  If you plan to make the pouch 3-layered, then cut out 4 pieces of interior fabric.  Sew the extra interior fabric to the original interior fabric ahead of time so that you don't have to worry about it later.  If you did some "quilting" ahead of time like I did with this pink pouch, don't add a third layer.  It will be too hot/thick.

Tip:  Fold the fabric so that you can cut two pieces at once.

SEWING 
Place one interior fabric over one exterior fabric with good sides facing each other.  Sew the joining edge.

  It should look like the picture above when you open it.

 Do the same for the the other interior and exterior fabric.

 Now place the two pieces on top of each other with good sides facing each other.  Pin in place.

Match up the middle so that it meets up exactly.

 Sew the outside as shown above.  Leave a 2 inch gap on the interior fabric side.  Make sure to backstitch to lock the stitches in place.

You can reinforce all the corners too.  Check to make sure that the fabric did not shift and that there are no holes to stitching too close to the edges.

Note:  The longer the interior fabric is compared to the exterior fabric, the longer the different coloured rim will be at the end.

 Flip the pouch inside out from the 2 inch gap.  Push all the corners out neatly.

Use a hidden stitch to close the gap. (Thread needle, tie knot at end. Pinch gap closed with edges folded neatly in. Stitch on one side, go directly across, make a stitch, go directly across, make a stitch, etc. Tie knot at end. Snip thread.)

Tip: Overlap the existing stitches on the gap sides to make the joint more secure.

 This is what you should have when you're done.  Push the interior fabric into the pouch and match the corners up.

Note: When you launder the pouch, it usually pulls out this way.  This allows for excellent cleaning, but beware of quills!

You should end up with a cute pouch with a different coloured rim at the opening.

The good thing about this pouch is that there are no loose threads that your little animal can get caught on.  It's also super cute and warm.  If you want extra warmth, add a middle layer of fleece on both sides.  

My hedgehog's favourite pouch is a 3-layer one: brown corduroy on the outside, fleece in the middle, and fleece on the inside.  The brown corduroy, however, is actually just a thin outer layer.

Don't forget to post what you've made to the Flickr group here.  I would love to see what you have made!

Don't want to make your own?  You can purchase them from me too.  View available pouches here or find some pre-made ones in my Etsy shop. Email me bluepandemonium (at) hotmail.com

Happy sewing!

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Read other hedgehog tutorials

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Have the tutorials and information on this blog helped you? Then please consider supporting this blog with a generous donation!