Seeneed to Sew: May 2020

Cat Hammock

I have volunteered at the Tri-Lakes Humane Society in Reeds Spring for the last 2 years. I take pictures of the animals and run their website and facebook page. I volunteered there for about 6 weeks before I adopted Nick and Nora. I was pretty impressed that I held out that long.

They were just 4 months old when I got them and they have my heart. They have made the quarantine so much better.

When I was at the shelter earlier this week, Ashlyn, the cat house manager, asked me if I could get some of my sewing friends to make some cat hammocks. They use them in the cages to give the cats a soft place to lounge that is off the cage floor. The cats love them and they add another level to the cat cage.
Ashlyn gave me an example so I could write up some instructions. This hammock has grommets in all 4 corners which they use to hook the hammock to the cage. As you can see below, These grommets can pull out even if you add some extra fabric to reinforce them.

You don't need grommets to make these hammocks and this tutorial is for a hammock where we make our own tabs so you can use what you have on hand. That is one of the great things about this project, just use what you've got around. Cats don't really care if the fabric is cute or if it matches, they just want a comfy place to lounge. This size works for the cages we use, but you could use these directions for other sizes.

Materials List:

2 Main Hammock - 21" X 29" fabric (at least one piece should be a woven to keep the hammock from stretching too much. 1 layer of fleece or flannel or some other soft fabric would be nice but not required.)
4 Tabs - 4" X 1 3/4" fabric
4 Tabs- 4" X 3/8" interfacing (the stronger the better, I used Peltex) OR 4" X 1 3/4" for thinner interfacing

The tab is the secret to this project. It is the failure point on the hammock so the sturdier you can make it the better.

If you are using thinner interfacing iron it to the tab fabric now. Take your Tab fabric to the ironing board and fold it in half lengthwise. Iron it.

Now fold the long edges into the middle and iron them.

Put one of the interfacing pieces inside one of the sides. (skip this step if you ironed thinner interfacing to fabric previously)

Fold it up and topstitch it down the long side.

Fold down the tab in half and sew it down to the corner. I stitched it several times. Remember cats don't care if it is pretty they just want functional.

Now sandwich your large pieces of fabric, right sides together. Make sure the tabs are between the two layers. Sew around all 4 sides using a half inch seam allowance, I found it was easier to sew each side separately rather than turning at the corners. I did stitch over each tab leg a couple of times. Leave a 3 inch opening to turn it right side out.