Tutorial - Sleeping bag hammock for a ferret, rat, chinchilla etc

A photo of Maxie in the very first sleeping bag hammock I ever made...Heck, its probably one of the first things I ever sewed, all those years ago...

A sleeping bag hammock - the perfect bed to keep you beloved ferret, rat, chinchilla, cat even, warm and snuggly!

 I also apologies about the quality of the lighting. Mid making I had to switch from window light to lamp light, and the only place not covered in either paint or material was a small section of my sewing desk.

You will need -
 - A patterned material. Anything can be used, preferably non-fraying and tightly woven (I like quilting cottons~)
 - Fleece (Non-pill is best)
 - A material for the straps (or you could just cut it from the pattern material)
 - Thread
- A sewing machine, or needle if you wish to hand sew

First off, cut 2 rectangles, one from the fleece and the other from your cotton. You want these to be however wide you want the hammock plus hem by however long you want the hammock to be plus about two thirds of the hammocks length.
So for example I have a 27cm X 27cm hammock, so I cut 2 29 X 47 rectangles (weird numbers, I know, but I honestly didnt measure xD).

Also cut 4 strips to use as the hangers.

 

Match up the two short sides of the rectangles, right sides together. Sew straight across on one, But on the other add one of the hanging strips to each corner.

Have the loop facing inwards, place the strip in between the two pieces of fabric.










Pin in place so they dont move =D










Now I couldnt quite get a picture to quite explain this next bit, so hopefully my crudely drawn Paint masterpiece will suffice~

Sew a square bracket shape ( [ ) along the short edge with the strips. The red represents the strips, the blue where you sew and the green is were you ultimately want your hammock to fold over to.

And if you managed to understand any of that (trust me, it isnt as hard as it probably sounds...), you should have something like this~

Next fold your rectangle over to where the short ends of your 'square bracket', patterned side together, creating a pouch. Dont worry if the edge doesnt sit flat.

And again, I shall use my superb paint skills to explain this next bit. Add the other hanging strips to each corner, in between the two patterned pieces. Then sew along the blue line.

Turn it back the right way, and walla! A cozy bed~

I hope you found this helpful, its my first tutorial and Im terrible at explaining so I hope it isnt too bad! Please link back if you do use this tutorial, and be sure to send me the link if you have any photos of it up anywhere =D