~ September Skies ~  

Making Things

This will be where I explain how I made some of the ratty decor for my ratty home. It will include hammocks, beanbags, ropes, tunnels and other things. I am busy writing some of the other pages at the moment, but please check back again later  :)   ~ Jess ~

Here are pictures of some of the things I've made, after looking at many examples from other websites and books.

                Tube Hammock                                   Pocket Hammock

A mouse-bag, modeled by Max and Pepsi :)            A cloth run-through tunnel.

All these things were made using polar fleece, which I bought on special in a few colours. You only need a quarter of a metre, because nothing's wider than that. Polar Fleece is usually about $6.00 a metre, so it's not too expensive to make your own things. You don't even need a sewing machine, if you have a lot of patience!

The thing I have made so far include: mouse-bags, cloth tunnels, tube hammocks, pocket hammocks, plain hammocks, bean-bags, sleeping mats, hanging pockets, ropes, and flooring for houses. Now I'll go into detail about each one...

Note: I pre-wash my material and cotton bindings to remove chemicals and to shrink the binding before I sew.

Mouse Bags:  I took a piece of polar fleece about 7cm by 20cm, and folded it in half so that it measured 7 x 10cm. I then stitched the sides up by hand, using blanket-stitch. Then I rolled the opening back twice, and stitched through this. This makes the opening more likely to stay a bit open so they can find their way in. I have also made them with a loop, to hold them open via a hook part-way up the side wall. This seems to work well. Rat bags would of course be bigger.

Cloth Tunnels:  I use scraps of polar fleece, and simply fold them in half so that they are long and skinny. Then I stitch a long seam by machine, and it's done! To make an accessible opening, you can either follow the method for the mouse bags, or put a toilet roll (or bigger tube for rats) into one end. I sometimes make them more complicated by cutting holes in the side of the tube, and adding more tubes, but it's fiddly and needs to be done by hand. 

Tube Hammocks:  I take a rectangle of cloth about 30 x 25 cm, 30cm being the length of the tube. Along the two 25cm ends I use cotton binding, about 2.5 cm wide, to cover the edges. I sew it onto one side (e.g. the "wrong" side)  first, and then turn it over and fold the binding over the raw edge, and stitch it down in this side. I'm not really neat about it, as long as it holds! I'm just naturally pretty messy ;-) 

Once both 25cm ends have been sewn with binding, I then fold it in half, so it measures 30 x 12.5 cm. I sew the long side together flat. This seam stays on the outside, and I strengthen it lengthways by sewing binding over it as for the openings. Then I sew four "loops" on, two at each end, about 5cm apart. I make the loops by folding the cotton binding in half so it's skinny, sewing it like that, and then cutting it into about 7cm lengths. This is then doubled over to make a loop, and sewn into the tube at the top. I usually sew it to the inside surface, with about four rows of stitching so that it's extra strong! And there you have it, one tube hammock, my ratties' favourite hangout. They even turn their noses up at their cosy nesting boxes for their tubes! You can of course increase the scale depending on the scale of your rats ;-)

Pocket Hammocks: I use polar fleece, but you can use old clothes, tea towels, etc... Take two rectangular pieces, the same size, one for the top and one for the bottom. For the top, fold about an inch of one shorter end under, and sew that down. That makes it shorter and seals the edge so it doesn't fray. Then put the two pieces on top of each other and pin them together. Then I simply sew the two shorter edges (one end has two layers, and one has a single layer) to stop them from fraying. For the longer edges, I use cotton binding. I sew it to one side, then fold it over and sew it down again on the other side, so it completely seals the edges of the hammock. I cut this binding about 10cm too long at each end, and these extra bits are then turned under to make loops, and sewn to the corners of the hammock, to become the loops for hanging. (See the picture below).

Bean Bags: I sew a simple sack out of spare material (strong cotton is good, like an old tea towel). Sometimes I use a firm cloth on the inside, then a second layer of softer cloth. This is just to help prevent holes, which then leak! It can be any size, depending on your number of rats or mice :-)  I leave a hole for filling, and fill the sack with whole wheat. You could use brown rice or uncooked beans as well. Then I sew the hole closed, a voila, a bean bag! Your rats can use this as a lounge, and it has special qualities: in winter you can warm it up a tiny bit in the microwave, and suddenly it's a cosy couch, and in winter you can put it in the freezer for a while, and now it's a lovely cool spot of lie. Warmed up, it is also a very useful item for when you have sick rats, you can put it in a box with them on the way to the vets, or when they're convalescing. Of course, always sit it on your inner arm for a while first, to make sure that it's not too hot. Only half a minute in the microwave can be enough. A sick rat may not be able to move away from the heat, and get distressed or maybe even burned.

To be continued....

                                    Created on the 13th Feb 2004.      Last updated 10/4/05.