Sweet Dog Hammock

My wife and I were ambling around our local farmers market when we saw someone selling dog hammocks for $25. We thought it was a great idea but then we weren't going to spend that kind of money on pvc pipe and fabric.

The reason we need a dog hammock is pretty simple. Rufus and I love to sit on our balcony late into the night. Rufus sits on an old pillow and keeps an eye on the neighborhood. Often when it is time to go to bed, both Rufus, and I forget to bring his pillow inside. So it gets rained on, my wife scolds me and Rufus doesn't have a dry place to sit for a few days. Hence the need for a dog hammock that is raised off the ground and made of a quick drying material. Alright here we go.

Gathering of supplies.
Bought:
10ft piece of 3/4" pvc pipe
4 elbows
4 "T"'s
4 caps
All was purchased at Ace Hardware for $10

Had on hand:
Fosters flag
spray paint

Tools:
jigsaw
scissors
sewing machine
sharpie
measuring tape
paper bag (for making the pattern)

I was kinda flying by the seat of my pants through out the whole process. my initial length of the cross pieces was a bit too large. However it's much easier to cut more off than add more on. The final pieces were 22" for the long sides and 14" for the short sides. give or take. The legs ended up 4". Remember that you will need 4 small pieces to connect the "T's to the elbows. (second picture) I used 3/4" pipe and found that 1 1/4" was the perfect size for the small pieces.

I rough assembled the frame and laid it on a paper grocery bag that I disassembled. using a sharpie it traced the inside and outside of the frame. I made marks where the joints were. I then cut around the outside lines notching out the corners. After cutting out the pattern i laid the frame back on top to see if I needed to make any adjustments.

When making a pattern for sewing remember to allow for the seems. Generally 1/4" per side. I wanted a tight fit so I pretty much used the very outside edge. In retrospect I could have allowed for another 1/2". If you use a larger diameter pipe I would highly recommend making it a bit larger than the outside perimeter. You can always go back and make another stitch.

I work at a bar and had a Fosters beer flag/banner. I wanted something that would dry quickly and not have a lot of stretch to it, so it seemed like the perfect material to use... and it was free.

Using your pattern cut out two identical pieces of fabric. I double it up and cut them at the same time.

When going to sew it together put the two sides you want on the outside facing each other. You will see why in a minute. Now just sew the outside edges leaving the notched parts unsewn.

If you have ever made a pillow this is the same principle. Reach your hand into one of the holes, grab the opposite side and turn inside out. We are almost there.

Assemble the frame through the holes in the fabric. It was a very tight fit which is what I wanted. At the legs didn't seem to be very stable as they were slipping. This problem was fixed with the next step.

I had some spray paint so I decided to paint the frame. The color I used didn't do a good job of covering the print on the pipe so I used some white first to tone it down. I find that waiting for paint to dry is one of the more frustrating things in life. Luckily there is beer.

My lack of patients paid off. I assembled the hammock while the paint was slightly tacky. This made it kind of hard to put together but I found that the legs don't slip in the joints anymore. I was thinking that I might need to use some super glue, but the paint made for a nice tight fit.

So now instead of a wet old pillow, Rufus has a sweet new dog hammock! Now we can get back to watching the neighborhood. Rufus is a pretty small dog weighing in at a whopping 10 lbs. This hammock has more than enough strength to hold him. If your dog is larger (most are) you will have to adjust accordingly. Thanks for reading. If you have any questions please leave me a comment.
Cheers.