I bought Caz a new Dog-Proof couch cover in December. By this weekend, he'd already chewed/clawed his way through it, the slip cover underneath that, and the original (sad) upholstery.

Rather than get him a brand new toy, I decided to cannibalize the previous cover to repair this one.

Now, I know just enough about sewing to be dangerous - mostly to myself - but nearby objects like cloth, needles and pins are not safe, either.

So, a few words of warning, if you spread the victim out on the dining room table in order to pin things together, remove the table cloth first.

Keep repeating, "It will get easier after this seam." Those little bits of self-delusion are what keeps us going in a universe that's uncaring and unfeeling. (Unlike the finger you just pricked with another pin.)

In actual fact, the project was surprisingly painless. At least for me. The machine was less thrilled at sewing through 3 layers of thick, quilted, waterproof material with folds. We had some discussions about slipping belts and jammed needles.