Thursday 26 January 2017

No Sew Bedding


How to make dollhouse bedding without a sewing machine

You will need:-

- Good Quality Craft Glue or Fabric Glue (See my post on glue options here)
- Different fabric scraps to use as your bedding
- thick cardboard or poster board

Cut your fabric slightly larger than the size of the bed you require it to fit.

To give the effect of a sheet folded over a blanket/duvet cover, you can fold a plain white strip of fabric over the top of your chosen patterned bed cover.

You can simply glue the edges together with fabric glue so that you do not need to use a sewing machine.
 Fold the white 'sheet' over the top edge of your patterned fabric to create the look of a turned down bed.

I placed a small amount of quilting filling between my sheet and the poster board so that the bed looks nice and comfy, but you could also just fold some more fabric under the top cover to make it look a little more 'plump' as well.





Cut a piece of cardboard to fit your bed like a mattress, (so that it sits neatly on the top of the bed).

Fold your fabric over the cardboard and tuck the ends in similar to wrapping a gift.  You do not need to make the underneath all too tidy as you can stick it directly onto your bed base as shown in the diagram below.

You can also make some cushions using fabric glue.  The black and white cushion below is just a length of fabric rolled in a cylinder shape and glued along one edge.






Hanging Mirror

How to make a miniature hanging mirror

You will need:

Round Mirror (best place to find one of these is inside your make up compact case)
Orange Power Glue remover (or similar product which dissolves glue)
Poster Board or craft cardboard
Fast setting glue.

If you plan on using the mirror from your make up compact, the best way to detach the mirror is with using Planet Ark Orange Power stick spot glue dissolver.

Start by placing a few drops of glue dissolver around the edges of the mirror.  Using a knife or box cutter very gently slide the blade between the mirror and the compact so that the glue dissolver and run under the mirror to reach the glue.  Keep adding drops of glue so that it can run underneath the mirror.  Be patient and give the glue dissolver time to work.

Keep using the knife to gently try and pry the mirror off.

Once you have the mirror free from the compact you can measure a length of cardboard to use as your mirror hanger.

Use fast setting glue to attach the length of cardboard to the edge of the mirror - in effect the cardboard is just for show.  Always attach the mirror directly to the dollhouse as it is heavy and should be secure from children prying it off.



Miniature Sofa

How to make a miniature sofa from the Ikea Flisat Box

The cardboard that forms part of the packaging for the Ikea Flisat Dollhouse is perfect size to make a quick sofa.

You will need:

- Cardboard Packaging
- Fabric Glue/good quality clear setting craft glue
- Fabric scraps

Using the thick cardboard that comes inside the box, cut out the following shapes which will form the base of your sofa.  It is best to use a box cutter and ruler to cut through the thick cardboard and use a ruler to make sure you cut straight lines.
All the pieces should fit together so that your sofa will look like this.  Do not throw away the left over cardboard just yet, as you can use the leftover for a bed and I also use another piece of card on the bottom to make the sofa a little bigger.
You need to wrap the cardboard in fabric, which is the tricky part!  I find the best way to cover the cardboard is using the following technique.  Cut a square of fabric large enough to fold over the entire piece of cardboard.  Make 2 cuts in the fabric as shown in the diagram on the left.  (Cut the fabric on each side).
You will need to fold the fabric up and 'wrap' it around the sides of the cardboard.  You will see the the remaining fabric is a rectangle shape and will fold over the top of the piece you have just stuck down.  You can trim off any excess fabric once the glue has dried.  I should have used a lighter fabric as the black does not show up the detail very well!
With the base of the couch you only need to cover one side nicely as I use another piece of card underneath to cover the messy side.  Essentially you are making a sandwich with all the messy ends stuck together in the middle.


When I finished making the top I realised it was a little small so I cut another rectangle to go underneath to make it higher. Use the same technique as the instructions set out above - and stick all the ugly messy pieces together in the middle.








One you have covered all the pieces in fabric glue them all together to form the sofa shape.  Once the glue has dried you can trim off any stray threads and tidy up any dried glue.

Decorate with some cushions.