Seed Catcher

Harvey joined our family after I found him fighting for his life in a lake.  I have grown quite attached to this little guy and love having a bird as a pet. He sings us beautiful songs throughout the day and the kids and cats love to watch him. What I do not love about having a bird is the mess he creates around his cage from all the seed flinging that goes on in there.  That is no longer a problem thanks to the seed catcher I made for his cage, goodbye messy seeds!

This project cost me $0 since I already had everything on hand, yippee! If you have a messy bird and want to make one too, all you need is fabric, matching thread and elastic. I used about 2 yards of fabric but the amount you use depends on the size of your bird cage. 

The first thing I did was measure around the cage with my tape measure. It was about 70 inches around. Because I wanted it to fit snug and not slide down, I then cut my elastic about 3 inches shorter then the distance around the cage. I used 2 pieces of elastic to hold it in place, one on top and one on the bottom, so I cut 2 pieces of the elastic about 67 inches long. 

I used some bright farm fabric given to me from my grandma and cut one long piece. I wanted it to easily slip over the top of the cage and cover the bottom half, so I measured it to be about 6 inches longer then the distance around the cage. I then measured the distance from the bottom of the cage to the middle, then added 4 inches for seam allowance because I would be adding elastic. So I was left with a piece of material that was 76 inches long and 16 inches high.

I then folded the fabric over on top and bottom (the long ends) forming a fold that was about a fourth inch wider than the width of the elastic I used and sewed a straight stitch along the bottom of the fold. This will be the casing for your elastic.  

Then I slid my elastic through the casing, bunching it along the way and secured it at each end with a pin.

Once I had the elastic in, facing wrong sides together and making sure to catch both ends of the elastic, I sewed the ends together to create my finished piece.

I used the serger to finish the edges on the inside but it's not necessary.

Then I slid it over the top of the cage and into place. Now all the seed stays inside the cage and off the floor which means less vacuuming for me!

And whenever I need to change his food or water, I just slip the cover down to access them, very easy. Hope this comes in handy for someone else out there.