Easy instructions for sewing a plastic bottle dog toy

Dear community,
in this blog post you can find easy instructions for sewing a plastic bottle dog toy.

Today we are opening the 9th window on the Advent calendar. The holidays are nearing and many of you probably have calendars full of activities and errands. It is hard to find time to craft elaborate gifts.
How lucky that the theme for this year’s BERNINA Advent Calendar is “Quick Christmas Sewing Projects”.

On this Advent Sunday I present to you a lightning-fast sewing project that will delight your four-legged friend. Because dogs enjoy nice little treats too.

Plastic bottle dog toy

To make this toy you will need only

• a clean PET bottle
• a piece of fleece fabric
• a piece of cord

Measure your bottle – you need just the circumference and the height of the bottle. By the way, rough measurements will work just fine for this project. No need to measure down to the millimeter.

Now we cut

Cut out the circumference measurement along the width of the material and the height of the bottle along the long part of the material + at least 15 cm.
The higher you cut, the longer the tassels will be later on. You will not need any extra seam allowances – the fleece is flexible and will adjust to fit your plastic bottle.

Fold the material, right side to right side, and pin the longitudinal seam and a narrow edge.

Now it’s time to start up the sewing machine. Naturally, you can sew this using the overlock machine. I opted, however, to use my BERNINA 570 QE and sewed with a chevron stitch.

Now to sew the bottom. To do this, fold the material as seen in the photo and then take in the corners

Now turn the cover and insert the plastic bottle bottom first.

With the cord, tie off the fleece cover directly above the bottle cap. Simply wrap the cord around a few times and knot it tightly.

You can cut tassles on the open end of the plastic bottle. 
I actually cut the fabric to be twice the height of the bottle because my little dachshund Aspe loves a little extra material on her plastic bottle. If you have a dog that chews off and possibly even eats tassels, then do not include them on this project. Simply cut the material on top with approx. 10 cm of surplus.

The bottle toy is all done!

I hope that you like the 9th  window of the BERNINA Advent Calendar and that you can give a pet a little joy with this toy. And if you don’t have a dog at home, then perhaps there are a few pet owners among your friends that would be delighted to have one of these.

Wishing you a heartfelt wonderful Christmas season!

Ute

An important note about this sewing project:

Do not let your pet play with the toy without supervision! Inspect it regularly to make sure no parts have come loose that may be swallowed or cause a choking hazard! Never leave your pet with a damaged toy that could pose a risk.