Dog Blankets on the Sofa

Do you have pets who like the sofa more than their own bed? If so, I may be able to help with some of the issues that arise from pet-used furniture.

When we purchased our furniture from La-Z-Boy we were told the fabric was made for heavy use, including pets and children. What they failed to tell us is that they were lying. The fabric is so weak that the act of sitting on the sofa stretches the seat cushion. Sit on it for a year and a stretch mark occurs. Two and you’ve got rips and tears all over. Add dog to the equation and you’ve got a bigger problem on your hands.

When the first major tears in the fabric happened we decided the dog should sleep on her bed instead of the sofa. This lasted about a week as we had already spoiled our Lucy too much during her formative years. So then we decided to simply put a blanket over the seat cushions to cover up the unsightly scene, and this worked well for a few months until the blanket started showing signs of wear and tear. So then we decided to switch back and forth between the old discount store quilt that was starting to fall apart and a crappy comforter neither of us cared for all too much. Eventually the quilt was on its last leg and I had to come up with something fast, especially with company coming.

So after finishing my Moda Scrap Bag Quilt, I thought about what to do with the Charm pack of the same line I’d picked up at a recent trip to Country Manor fabric store in Battle Ground. It dawned on me that if I had the quilt draped over the back of the chair-and-a-half, it’d be nice to have something coordinating on the sofa. I knew that a dog blanket was in order, but didn’t know if I necessarily wanted a one piece unit, as the sofa is a recliner (hence, the reason we went with La-Z-Boy) with two separate reclining seats. This made me think that making two seat covers might just do the trick.

Of course, after I started quilting the pieces together and finished the first one, I thought that it would be too cute to simply use to prevent further damage to the sofa. They’d be better suited for baby blankets or small play quilts. However, I figured for the cost (about $6 in materials each) and relative ease of assembly I could always use these as a beta test, and use the data from how well they hold up to improve on them in the future. For now, they look pretty and coordinate with the quilt on the back of the chair-and-a-half and that is okay for now.