Fleece Cage Liner Tutorial

Here are instructions for how to sew fleece cage liners.

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

Tip: use fleece instead of flannel. It will hold its shape better, last longer, wash and wear better, (and it's a lot easier to sew!)

MATERIALS NEEDED

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

CUTTING
Measure the cage bottom with a tape measure and add about an inch or half an inch to each side for seam allowance. 

Cut out the fabric and put it into the cage to check if it is about right. Put it down onto your fleece fabric and cut out a matching piece.

Tip: for subsequent cage liners, you can use the first liner you made and add seam allowance.

SEWING
Put both pieces with the wrong side facing out and sew one long side and one short side. Flip it inside out and check if it still looks like it will sew to the right size when you put it into the cage. If you find that it is too long or too short, then you can sew the other two sides with more or less seam allowance. 

Once you have three sides sewn up (two long, one short side), sew the last short side halfway from one side and then halfway from the other side, leaving a hole (so you can flip it inside out later)

Rounded Corners
Then do the corners. Sew a straight or curved line across each corner. When you turn this inside out, it will become a curved corner.  
Flip the whole thing inside out and check if it fits right in the cage (and that you like the curved corners you have made). Then use a hidden stitch to close the opening.

Inner border
Pin down the fleece flat and sew an inner stitch around the whole thing. It's up to you how wide you want the rim to be. This keeps the liner from coming open like a balloon and it looks nice. It also makes the edges thicker.  
 
Let me know if you have any questions.

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.

Happy Sewing!

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The Baby Hedgie Is Home!

It was a long drive there and back, but the baby hedgehog is finally home. Hurray!

In nothing fancier than a small box for a desk lamp, my new little friend made the trip to his snazzy new lodgings.

The first thing he did after he got put into his new cage was to start attacking the tree house. I was certain at that moment that he was going to try and eat it. "Oh god," I thought. "I'm going to have to remove it because he'll ingest bits of corduroy."

However, after chomping and pulling at the edge of the doorway for a bit, he began to annoint. I had just laundered his tree house the day before so I guess it smells like laundry detergent and a hint of fabric softener. Perhaps he wants to smell like that too?

Well, he had a bit of water and food, explored the rest of his cage, and then went into his tree house and took a nap.

While he napped, I sewed him a fleece pouch to put into his house. It ended up being too narrow and thick (I was a bit too ambitious with layering...), so now he sleeps on top of it instead of inside of it. He doesn't seem to mind. I think he rather likes it.

For the rest of the evening, he would take turns between poking around and taking naps. I would occasionally take him out with his new mattress (?) to look at him and to just hold him and walk around with him.

He seems to prefer to sleep while I'm around and to explore and play when I'm not there. If I walk away for a while and come back, I'll find him tumbling from the edge of the cage basin where he'd been climbing. He'll put on a defensive pose ("I wasn't doing anything!") and hold that pose until he feel safe. Then, when the coast is clear, he takes off for his beloved tree house, curls up, and falls fast asleep. It's either magical or he's avoiding me. Veeery clever...

He's usually climbing towards the side of the cage closest to the Carolina Storm Wheel. I wonder if he's trying to get to the wheel? I figured I'd let him settle in with his house and other belongings before I introduced the wheel. Also, I'm still trying to figure out if there's a way I can modify the wheel so it can fit into the cage all of the time.

Well, end of day one. Time for sleep!

Cheerio!

Living World Dome Modification Into a Tree

I am delighted to show you what I have been slaving over for the past two days :) A modification of the Living World Dome into a short, fat tree!

So, this lovely dome-shaped tree is actually the equivalent of a tea cosy. It sits on top of the dome house and it can be removed at any time to be washed.

It was made with brown corduroy for the sides and green fleece for the top. I wanted to use brown fleece, but apparently no one uses brown fleece because the fabric store didn't bother to carry any. Instead I found this brown corduroy on clearance - score!

Because corduroy is rather thin, I have hidden a layer of blue fleece in between the two layers of the brown corduroy. This makes the tree warmer and also gives the sides more thickness.

Here are some pics from construction:

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

I sewed a tall vertical tube around the dome, and gathered in the excess fabric to make ridges for the tree trunk.  It wasn't an exact science.  I pinned them and sewed diagonal vertical lines (so the inside of the dome has no gathering).  I constantly replaced it onto the dome to make sure it was going to fit.  I then flattened each ridge and sewed that down.

Then I cut a slit for the door, and rolled up the edges to make it thicker and to match the dome.

I pinned the doorway into a shape that I liked, and sewed around the doorway.

 To make the top of the house more neat, I zig-zag sewed it over and over until all the seams were neatly sewn together.

After that, I cut out two layers of fleece in a wavy round shape (they have to be facing opposite sides) to make the tree top.  It didn't look tree-like enough, so I made leaves and sewed them to the top, facing outwards.

Then I sewed the tree top to the base.

It looks super cute in the cage :)

The only downside is that the medium sized dome is rather large. It takes up quite a bit of space in the cage.

So when I add the very awesome Carolina Storm Wheel... well... you can't. It has to be either the wheel or the house.

When I asked my dad about this dilemma, he suggested that I put the dome in during the day when the hedgehog sleeps, and to put the wheel in during the night when the hedgehog plays.

I think this is a pretty good suggestion. So, during the night, I will take out his tree house and put in an alternate fleece pouch. If he needs to take a nap or hide, that will be a good replacement.

Well, I'm picking up my hedgehog tomorrow. I hope he likes his newly modified dome house and the cage set up.

Cheers!
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UPDATE!
We solved the space issue by removing the wheel from the stand and attaching it directly to the cage wall.  It worked out perfectly!  Thanks, LarryT, for the suggestion.  All I needed were BIG washers to replace the little ones it came with.
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UPDATE 07/16/2012

Custom dome covers are now available for sale in my shop.  They will be made to order.  You can also request a customized dome cover.  Email me at bluepandemonium (at) hotmail (dot) com for more information.

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Countdown To Hedgie Time!

If all goes well, it will be Hedgie Time as early as this Friday! In anticipation of the big day, I have been busily constructing toys and other lovely things for my new little friend.

No hedgehog home would be complete without a toilet paper roll!

I read that hedgie faces could get stuck in the roll and cause the hedgehog great distress so I have cut the toilet paper down the middle and rounded the corners. He can't get stuck now!
My sweetie and I picked out some nice fleece the other day in a pale green and a pale blue. With a little extra time after work today, I sewed up a custom fleece liner for the bottom of his cage.

This blue liner fits the base of the cage exactly. Well, it does now anyways. I wasn't actually successful with this at first so I had to rip all the stitching out of two sides to make it bigger. When I was done, the liner seemed kind of floppy so I sewed an extra inner line to give it a thick, fluffy edging. It looks pretty pro now.

I wanted a back up liner for when one liner was in the wash so I sewed a second fleece liner in the pale green colour. I made this one bigger so that I could actually create a lip around the entire liner. It was a little tricky to make the edges form proper corners, but the end result is pretty good.

Between the two, my dad likes the perfect fit one better and my mom likes the extra lip one better. Which one do you like better?

My mother said to me, "If this is what you do when you get a baby hedgehog, you'll never sleep with all the things you can make for your REAL baby one day." I think she wants grandkids. What do you think :P