Moderncat reader Andrea really wanted a neko chigura after seeing it posted here last month, but since they don’t seem to be available in the US, she decided to make her own. She used 1/2 inch piping and 1 inch strips of calico fabric with a coil basket weaving method to create a shape similar to the traditional Japanese neko chigura cat beds. I love the photo above with her two cats testing the unfinished design with a hole in the top!
Andrea ran into a structural challenge, since her cats kept sitting on the top, causing the basket to cave in. She tried to reinforce the sides, but eventually gave up and dismantled it to create two separate beds, which seem to work quite nicely.
I hope that Andrea can figure out a way to reinforce the basket to achieve a similar structure to the original neko chigura. If she does, perhaps she will share her design with us.
Read all about Andrea’s project over on Craftster.