lindaschipper

I saw something on FaceBook about making small 18 x 24 inch pads (birth them ...no binding allowed) then these are donated to shelters for cats and dogs. No binding comes from the fact that if it is chewed up at least a binding strip won't end up in a dogs stomach. When the animals are adopted, their little "blankie" goes home with them. Wish I could remember the name of the organization. Does anyone know?

WMUTeach

My guild has been making "dog beds" AKA pet beds, kitties use them too, by using two fat quarters sewn together with french seams and filled with scraps of fabric and batting. Turn in the raw edge on the open end and stitch the closure twice. Ta-Da all done! A paper grocery bag of scraps makes 3 to 4 beds. We were cautioned to not over fill the beds. Fill to about 1/2 full and that is sufficient. Easy donation project and costs little. I have dumped some pretty ugly or unusable FQ's for a good cause. Just my 2 cents.

Jshep

Some shelters have specific sizes for pet beds. The shelter here has commercial washers and dryers. My understanding is if they are too stuffed they are very hard to get dry.

rjwilder

The shelter here does not take the pet beds made with scraps for stuffing unless we sew channels in it like a down comforter or quilted jacket. It keeps the stuffing from shifting to one big spot and becoming one big ball. That is a lot of work and hard to do. Sadly so many of us just throw our scraps away because no one wants them.

NoraB

I make my dog beds for 2nd Chance Animal Rescue. The foster parents can use all the help they can get. I have been making mine using the "channels"...they are a little bit harder to make because I always make the channels just a little bigger than my fist can fit into! I'll try to remember to make the channel a bit wider so I can stuff easier. I always cut the scraps smaller so there are no long strings of fabric, etc. But, hopefully, it's preventing stuff from going to the landfill and provides a little bit of comfort. I've wondered if a homeless shelter could use some sort of pillow made out of these. If anyone has any information on those, please post it...I'd be interested. Thanks!

Chasing Hawk

I made several dog cushions last year, only to have Sandy scatter the contents all over the front yard. She was rather proud of herself I might add. The covers were made from left over fleece, bad idea. So the new ones we put out in the winter are made with ticking fabric, the kind used for down pillows. She chewed one corner but didn't get to the scraps/ fiberfill inside.

We put two on the front porch so they don't have to lay on the cold concrete when they are out of their kennels. One fleece covered one stays in the garage during the winter.

maviskw

I also found out that St. Vinnie's will take rags. Old clothes and fabric scraps. They sell this by the pound to textile recyclers, I think, and get a little more money for their mission. I gave them a large bag of denim scraps from cutting squares for a denim quilt. Those seam-scraps are heavy.

Kelsie

I used to volunteer at a thrift store in Victoria, B.C. and all our clothing, fabric of any kind that was not saleable was bagged up and sent for recycling to Vancouver. The payment was not a lot but at least it was not going in the landfill. In Arizona last winter I asked at the Salvation Army store - what they don't/can't sell goes in the garbage.