Fleece and flannel warm our furry friends

Animals delight in fleece and flannel blankets.

The Riverbend Fiber Arts Guild will be supporting local animal care facilities and shelters by making fleece and flannel lap blankets at the January 5 guild meeting. The blankets and crate liners provide warmth and comfort to the cats and dogs awaiting adoption into loving homes.

Guild members are asked to bring the following supplies and tools:

• flannel fabric or flannel pillow cases
• old towels in any size (beach, bath, hand)
• scissors for cutting fabric
• rotary cutters, cutting mats, acrylic rotary rulers
• sewing machines or sergers and thread 

Fleece fabrics will be provided but donations are gladly accepted. If you would like to pre-cut any fabrics, the animal beds accommodate blankets that are approximately 24" x 36" and 12" x 17" in size.

This guild community service project is an easy and fun activity that everyone can do. Visitors are welcome and donations for the animal center will be accepted. It will all be going to the dogs... and cats!

Sewing for the love of animals

Five sewing machines + one serger + a passionate group of fiber art enthusiasts from the Riverbend Fiber Arts Guild = 31 dog and cat blankets and 9 pillows for animal care facilities in the Chattanooga area.

Riverbend Fiber Arts Guild members sewed fleece, flannel and terry towel
blankets and bed liners to provide warmth and comfort to animals and pets.

The February guild meeting began with a presentation and videos about rehabilitation services for animals that was given by Certified Canine Rehabilitation Practictioner, Cassy Englert. Many pets and service dogs have benefited from the underwater treadmill, neuromuscular electrical stimulation, athletic conditioning and other theraputic services available at RIVER and similar facilities.

Carbon, a flat coated retriever, uses the underwater treadmill.

After the presentation, guild members got to work cutting fleece, flannel and terry towels for the animal blankets.

Cutting terry towels for a dog blanket.

Measuring and trimming fleece fabric to size.

Flannel pillow cases were stuffed with knit and fleece trimmings to make dog beds and crate liners.

Stuffing pillow cases with trimmings and fabric scraps.

Sewing machines and servers were humming. Pillow cases that were stuffed with scraps were sewn closed.

Sewing the pillow cases closed to create dog beds.

Pieces of fleece, flannel and terry towels were sewn together to make cat and dog blankets. Old flannel shirts can also be cut and repurposed for these blankets. Step-by-step instructions for making dog blankets with flannel shirts can be found here.

Serging and sewing per blankets.

At this meeting, guild members completed 31 blankets of various sizes and 9 dog beds for their annual community service project. It all went to the dogs... and cats.

Show and Tell

Left: A year-long "Sky Scarf" knitting project inspired by
the changing colors of the sky.  Right: A quilted batik table topper.

Left: Neckwear woven on the triangle loom with bead embellishments.
Right: Knitted items with alpaca yarns.

Woven cotton dish towel.

Soft blankets for furry friends

Kitty Love.

Unconditional Love—this is what we get from the furry, four-legged friends in our lives, our pets. At the February 4 meeting of the Riverbend Fiber Arts Guild, we'll be spreading some "puppy (and kitty) love" with Certified Canine Rehabilitation Practitioner, Cassy Englert, who will give a short presentation on rehabilitation and wellness services for dogs and cats. She will also provide an overview of the emergency services and specialized care provided by the Regional Institute for Veterinary Emergencies and Referrals (RIVER) in Chattanooga.

In addition to the presentation, the guild will be making lap blankets and crate liners to support local animal care centers and shelters. The blankets provide warmth and comfort to our furry friends. Guild members are asked to bring the following supplies and tools to the meeting:

• old towels in any size (beach, bath, hand and facecloth size)
• flannel fabrics, old flannel shirts or flannel pillow cases
• scissors for cutting fabric
• rotary cutters, cutting mats and acrylic rulers

Fleece fabrics will be provided, but donations are gladly accepted.

"We've made these quick and easy fleece lap blankets in previous years and it's been an enjoyable activity for our guild members," says Veronica Hofman-Ortega, the guild Website Administrator. "Everyone chats and giggles while we assemble the blankets. It's very social."

Join us on Saturday, February 4, to partake in some Puppy and Kitty Love. New members and visitors are always welcome.

Fleece blankets, blue jean totes support community organizations

When everyone lends a helping hand, quick and easy sewing and fiber art projects are always fun and rewarding.

Riverbend Fiber Arts Guild members create tote bags for walkers and fleece blankets to support two community organizations.

Members of the Riverbend Fiber Arts Guild collaborated on two such projects at the March guild meeting to support local community organizations. Tote bags for walkers were made from blue jeans and lap blankets were made with soft, colorful, easy-care fleece fabrics.

Mary Lou shows options for walker  bags.

Guild member and Team Lead for the guild's Community Service Project, Mary Lou Scohier, researched the needs for a local seniors program (Alexian Brothers PACE) and set out to create a pattern for low-cost, easy-to-make tote bags that could be secured to walkers. Blue jeans, with their sturdy fabric construction and multiple pre-existing pockets seemed a most appropriate choice for the source material.

Old blue jeans in various sizes were collected and brought in by guild members. The legs of the blue jeans were cut off at the hip and the opening sewed closed to create the body of the tote bag. The bottom of the bag was boxed and handles for attaching the bag to a walker were made from the jeans legs.

The body of the walker totes.

A tote bag attached to the walker.

Guild members also revisited a project from a 2009 community service endeavor to create lap blankets from colorful fleece fabric. Instructions for creating these popular two-sided throws can be found at this September 2009 post. This is a no-sew project that is fast and fun to make.

Front and back fabrics are aligned with wrong sides together before cutting fringe.

Fringe is tied to create a soft, cuddly lap blankets.

In about two hours, 11 tote bags and 12 fleece blankets were close to completion. Recipients of the items are the Alexian Brothers PACE program and the Hatch's House of Hope program of the Austin Hatcher Foundation for pediatric cancer.

The guild Show and Tell included a bobbin-buster weaving and hand-knit dog sweaters.