Guinea Pig Cozies

Making guinea pig cozies is a fairly simply sewing project.  All it takes is a rectangle of fleece, a slightly larger rectangle of cotton fabric and a bit of stitching.  Less than 30 minutes of work can result in a happy, warm guinea pig.

My cozies tend to be 12-15 inches square.  They can be easily customize them based on the fabric on hand and the size of the guinea pig occupants.  This particular cozy was made from a piece of cotton material 12.5x25" and a piece of fleece 11.5x23".

Fold each piece in half, right sides together, so they're roughly square.  Sew up the two sides from the fold to the top of the cozy with a 1/4" to 3/8" seam allowances.

Turn the cotton square right-side-out; leave the fleece pouch with the wrong sides out.  Place the fleece inside the cotton pouch.  The raw edges of the cotton bag should extend about 1" farther than the open edge of the fleece (the fleece can be trimmed back, if necessary).  The shorter the fleece, the larger the overlap of cotton.  My example has a very narrow overlap.

The last step is to finish the opening, by folding the cotton fabric twice to make a clean edge.  First, fold the cotton edges down towards the fleece edges, wrong sides together.  The first fold should be about half an inch - enough so that the raw edges of the cotton fabric touch the raw edges of the fleece.  Then fold again the same way.  This should cover the raw edges of the fleece.  Pin in place, then stitch close to the bottom folded edge, about 1/2" from the top of the cozy.  And that's it!

As easy as it is to make cozies, it's even easier to order some of the nifty designs on CavyMadness.  (I also sometimes offer my extra cozies on Etsy.)  Regardless if they're hand made or purchased, my guinea pigs love their cozies!