Luxury Hammock for Any Pet Mammal

In this Instructable you will learn to make a nice, comfy place for your pet to sleep, rest and play. It is suitable for pretty much any mammal i can think of, the only limitations being the size of your pet (elephant hammock?). I have both ferrets and a cat and they both love their hammocks (especially the ferrets). Anyway, its easy to make very cheap and effective.

By the way, ignore my rediculous sewing and try to do it better than me. I really, really suck at it!

you will need:

1. An old t-shirt, sweatshirt, sheet or other scrap of material you have lying around (I used a t-shirt).

2. Scissors

3. String

4. (optional) needle and thread.

First, the material needs to be shaped.

If using a T-shirt, cut off the sleeves, then cut up both sides of the shirt. Then, open out the flap and you should have a rectangle with the neck hole in the middle.

If using just a sheet or peice of material just cut it into a rectangle, proportions depending on the animal(twice as long and thrice as wide as the animal).

If NOT using a t-shirt, ignore this step, it does not apply to you!

look at where the nec hole is. fold a flap of which was the back of the T-shirt over the hole and sew along the fold, closing the hole.

So you have a rectangular sheet of material, and by this point you should be feeling pretty proud of yourselves, for you have achieved very little of recognition.

At both ends, use a ruler/tape and mark on every inch. Then cut at each one of these marks about 5 inches in. you now have nice frilly ends for your hammock, but unfortunately you will have to wave a solemn goodbye to half of these as you now have to cut off alternating ones.

Turn the sheet over so that whichever side you think looks best (the side with the pattern?) is now facing the floor, and the uglier side is facing up.

This leaves you with the same frilly appearance as before, except now there are less of them. Fold over each 5inch flap onto the sheet of material so that it overlaps just one inch. then sew these overlapping frills to the sheet, leaving you many lovely loops at each end.

The side which you have stitched the overlaps to is the bottom of the hammock, so turn it back over again.

To erect your hammock, simply thread two pieces of string (you might want to use nylon for heavier pets) through the two rows of loops and secure it to a sturdy place where your pet can easily reach. You will probably find that your pet rarely sleeps anywhere else and so may want to make it his permanent bed. Simply fill with bedding and your pet will be content.

Another good point of the hammock is that it can be easily washed. just take out the strings, and throw in the washing machine!