 Hey there, my name is Allison. Welcome to the tiny herd where we talk about everyday pet care for guinea pigs, rabbits, and other small pets. If you are familiar with my channel, this is probably a very very different background than you are used to seeing in my videos. And that is because today is the first video in a five-part series teaching you step-by-step how to make a fleece cage set for your guinea pig cages. So I made a video during Vlogmas 2020 where I showed you guys how I make my cage sets and I got a lot of questions on those videos because they were more of an overview and didn't go too much in detail on the process. So I decided to make a full month-long five-part series to show you guys exactly how I do it. So let's break down what each video is going to cover so that you can follow along and make your own liners. All right, so let's do a video breakdown. Today's video is going to go over the tools and supplies that you're gonna need to sew your own liners. I'm gonna go in detail on all the different things you need including sewing machines and what materials you will need. The second video is going to cover everything you need to know about fleece from going to the store and buying it, where to get it from, how to buy it at the fabric store, what kind of fleece to get, and how fleece liners actually work. The third video is going to show you how to cut out the pieces you need for your set. In this video series, I'm going to be focusing mainly on liners, not beds. So I will be giving you dimensions, a cutting guide, all the things you need to know to cut out your fleece. Then in the fourth video, I'll show you how to sew your liners from start to finish, laying out your pieces, pinning, sewing, turning, cutting, all the different things that go into actually sewing your liners. And then in the fifth video, we're gonna go over the care of fleece. So how to wash it, prep it, wick it so that it can go into your cages, what all that means the entire process so that you can put your liners in your cages knowing they're gonna work great for your pets, and then how to take care of them going forward. So I hope you're excited for this series. I know I am. You can save a ton of money on your guinea pig bedding by making your own liners, and they're really not too difficult if you're a beginner. I also wanted to mention that I have an ebook to go along with this series. It is listed in my Etsy shop, and I will have it linked down below, but it will have even more guides, sizing, and reference for you guys if you want to pick that up. It goes hand in hand with this series, so you can use this series as a step-by-step tutorial and use the ebook as a guide as well. So make sure to pick that up. All right, so let's talk about the things you absolutely need to have to make your liners. First up is a sewing machine. And then to go along with that, you will also need sewing machine needles and some good quality thread. Then you'll need some good sharp scissors, some sewing pins, a measuring tape or ruler or yardstick, something you can measure out your fleece with, a marking pen to mark your fabric with, and then of course you will need your fleece, and then you will need an absorbent layer. So I did want to mention when it comes to the fleece and the absorbent layer, those obviously are required to make your liners, but if you are unfamiliar with how fleece works for guinea pigs, I will link a video down below that I made talking about how fleece works and how to use it properly. But I also will be covering that in the next video in this series, which will be up next Tuesday. So you can stay tuned for that or you can check out that other video, but I will be covering that in more detail later on. It won't really be included in this video. So let's talk a little bit more about all the things that you're going to need. First up is a sewing machine. I'm going to show you guys exactly what sewing machine I use and then also show you a couple other options in different price ranges. I do want to mention that you'll see my sewing machine in this video and I use a bit more expensive sewing machine because I do a lot of other sewing, but I do have a couple other options that I've used in the past and that I recommend that you guys can pick up as well that are a little bit more budget friendly. So let's go ahead over to my sewing table and I'll show you guys what I have. So this is a sewing machine that I normally use to make my liners. It is a Juki TL 2000 QI. Like I said, this is a much nicer sewing machine than you will need to sew your liners. If you are just starting out, this is a seven or $800 sewing machine. So definitely do not think you have to go out and get this. Like I said, I do a ton of other sewing, but I did want to go ahead and show you guys this because some people do ask me what machine I use and this is the one. Okay, so I do have these two other machines I wanted to show you guys. So these are much more budget friendly. I think these are normally in the $100 to $150 range, but these are both from the Singer Heavy Duty line. I will put the actual model numbers of these on the screen in case you guys want to check them out, but these are sewing machines that are meant to sew through heavy duty fabrics like fleece and so through multiple layers. So if you are brand new to sewing and need to buy a sewing machine, here are a couple things that you want to look for if you are wanting to make liners. So first off, these heavy duty ones are going to work better for sewing fleece. Fleece is a thick fabric, especially when you are sewing through a layer of fleece, a layer of U-Haul and another layer of fleece. So getting something that is a little more heavy duty is definitely something I would recommend. I would not recommend going to Walmart and buying a $50 to $100 sewing machine. That's going to be pretty low quality and it's not really going to give you a nice result on your project. And to be perfectly honest, it might break because fleece is pretty thick to sew through. So some things to look for when you're buying your sewing machine. You don't necessarily have to buy these Singer Heavy Duty ones, but some things you want to look for. So you can see here that this machine actually has all of these different stitch types. And this is not something you really need. You really just need a straight stitch. So as long as the sewing machine you're looking at has a straight stitch, it should work fine for you. The rest of these stitches are just decorative and kind of nice to have, but definitely, definitely not necessary for sewing liners. Something else you probably want is a reverse sewing feature. So you push this down while you're sewing and it back stitches. This is what I use to essentially like tie off or secure my seams. So that is something I highly recommend as well. And then if you are going to be sewing cozies, I'm only really showing how to make liners in this series. But if you are planning on making any type of beds or cozies in the future, it is really nice to have this that lifts off because it makes you able to put a, let's say a snuggle sack, you could put the entire snuggle sack around this if you needed to sew a seam around a circle. Again, I will link both of these machines down below as well as put the model number on the screen. If you want to pick one of these up for yourself. I have actually never used this machine, but it is in the same heavy duty line as this one. So I'm sure it will work just fine. This machine here, I used for several years to sew my fleece before getting my Juki machine. So I know that it works beautifully for sewing liners. So I would highly recommend either of these. If you are getting your first machine, again, I think they're in the 100 to $150 range, which is a lot more budget friendly than my big expensive fancy Juki that I have. All right. So once you have the sewing machine sorted out, you're going to need some needles for it. I like to have an extra pack of needles on hand, just in case because they do get dull over time and they can break. So what I usually use for sewing fleece is a 90-14 size or an 80-12. Both of those will work fine for you for sewing fleece. Going along with needles, you're also going to need some thread. This is an important step because it holds everything together. You want your liners to last a long time. So this is actually something I recommend investing a little bit of money in. I usually use Arafill 50 weight cotton thread. That's what I use for quilting because I do so other things. And I find it works really well for guinea pig fleece as well. It holds up over time. It's strong and it sews really nicely and looks really nice. When it comes to thread, you can either just get a standard white that will kind of go with everything, or you could also get thread in different colors to match your fleece. I've used blue thread on blue liners before. It's really up to you, but that's also something that I like about the Arafill thread. It comes in a ton of different colors and it's really great quality. If you don't want to pay for the Arafill brand, just look for any 50 weight 100% cotton thread. There's lots of other brands out there that are a little bit cheaper and will do the job just fine. Something else you're going to need is a good sharp pair of fabric scissors. If you have never sewn or cut any fabric or anything like that, I actually do recommend buying a new pair of fabric scissors from the fabric store or Walmart, whatever specifically to use for cutting your fabric. It makes a huge difference having a nice sharp pair that you only use for fabric. Don't use them to cut other things, just fabric. Keep them with your sewing stuff. Then you'll need some type of measuring tape or ruler, just a regular measuring tape that you would use for measuring wood will work fine. You can also use a yardstick or a ruler works. It's just nice to have something a little bit bigger when you're measuring outliners, but just have some sort of measuring tool. Then you do want to have some sort of marking pen. You can use a marker or just a regular ballpoint pen. You also can get fabric marking pens that are specific to marking fabric. So kind of whatever you want to spend there, but you really can just use a pen you find in your house as long as it will write on the fabric. And then finally, you will need some sewing pins. These are used to hold all of the layers together. I'll show you guys how that all works throughout this process, but you can pick these up at Walmart usually or any fabric or craft store. They're pretty inexpensive and you're going to need quite a few of them for holding your liners together. So just go ahead and pick up a big pack of them. Like I said, they're usually pretty inexpensive. And then like I mentioned, I will be going over this in more detail in the next video, but you will of course need your fleece and your absorbent layer. So make sure to check out that video, like I said, on how fleece works and how to use it properly. If you want a really good explanation of that, but I usually use a patterned fleece and then a solid colored fleece for my cage sets. In this video, you're going to see me make liners that have patterns on both sides because it just saves space to make patterned liners because you know liners take up so much space. So I like to use the big actual cage liners for the floor of the cages and make those a pattern on either side. But when I make beds and smaller pads, I do use a solid that corresponds with the patterned fleece on the inside and on the backside of those just to kind of be more aesthetically pleasing than having double prints everywhere. So you guys will see that in this video. And then I do also have an absorbent layer. This is needed to go in between the fleece layers. And I usually use u-haul padding. Some other things you can use are towels or like crib mattress pads. But like I said, we'll go way more in depth on this in the next video. So just to give you guys a quick overview on that. So those are all the things that you're absolutely going to need. Now let's talk a little bit more about some of the things that are just nice to have and that I have and use in sewing my liners because I use them for other sewing projects as well. So if you're planning on making more liners or doing other sewing projects, these might be some things that you want to pick up. So the first thing is a rotary cutter. This makes it a little bit easier to cut out pieces than scissors. And it really just works like a rolling blade. And you use it along with a rotary cutting ruler and a rotary cutting mat, which we'll talk about in a second. But it just makes it much easier to cut out your pieces, especially the smaller pieces. Then you can just cut them on a tabletop and not have to worry about using scissors. And it gives you a little bit cleaner of a cut going along with the rotary cutter. If you choose to pick one of those up, you will need a rotary cutting mat, which is usually called a rotary cutter mat or a self healing mat, something to that effect. This is what you put on your tabletop to protect it while you're using the rotary cutter. So it keeps your tabletop from getting ruined and gives the rotary cutter a nice smooth surface to glide on. If you're using a rotary cutter, you're also going to need a rotary ruler. This is what you lay down on your fleece. You can use it to help you measure, but you line it up with your mat lines and it helps you make a perfectly straight cut. And this is what you use to roll your rotary cutter along the edge of to get a nice, clean straight cut. So all of the things having to do with rotary cutting, you can get at a fabric store or a craft store. My Walmart even has them in the craft section. So if you're planning on going to a fabric store to get your fleece and your other sewing materials, you can usually find these and pick them up as well. And one other thing that might be nice to have is a seam ripper. This is used to pull out stitches you've already made. If you make a mistake, I always have one of these on hand because sometimes I just get going and not paying attention to what I'm doing. So this makes it much, much easier to undo your stitches and undo your seams than a pair of scissors. So these are really cheap. If you want to just grab one while you're at the fabric store, go ahead and do that. They're usually like a dollar or two. So this is something that's super nice to have, but totally not required or necessary to make your liners. Alright guys, so we're going to leave this video here for today. Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next video. It's going to be all about fleece, how to buy it, what kinds you need and how it works. So thank you guys so much for watching. I hope you enjoyed this video and found it helpful. If you did, please give it a thumbs up. That really helps out my channel and I will see you guys in the next video. Bye.