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.

Jute Rug Tutorial

Step by step instructions on how to make a modern Jute Rug for your dollhouse.

What you will need:

- Thin cardboard (cereal box or similar) or thick scrapbooking paper ;

- Ruler;

- Jute rope;

- Double sided tape OR craft glue OR hot glue gun;

For the rug in this tutorial I used my glue gun - and now I have thrown it in the bin.  I don't know who thought a hot glue gun is a good idea but I personally think they are rubbish!  I thought  it might hold my super heavy duty Jute rope better (which I guess it did....) but they are just sooooooo messy, and you need to work very quickly as the glue drys way to fast, especially for this task which is a little tricky and you need a bit of time to make it look nice.

I have made jute rugs in the past and I think the easiest option is to use double sided tape, especially if you are using the thin Jute string.

Step 1

Start by measuring the space you want the rug to fit into so you can map this out on your cardboard.

Step 2

Draw a cross in the middle of your cardboard to give you a starting point and a guide to keep your circle even once you start glueing the Jute string down.  If you deicide to use double sided tape, which I would suggest as being the easiest way of doing this for first timers, start by laying the tape out on the cardboard in a asterisk (*) shape.

Place one end of the string across your centre +, you want the 'tail' to be a little long so that you can 'run it over' with your coil and this will hold and hide the end of the string in place.




Step 3

Start sticking the string down, wrapping it around itself.  If you are using double sided tape you can take your time to ensure you are keeping your circle even, and if you go a bit wonky it is easy to pull the string up and lay it back down again.











Step 4

Now if you have had enough of gluing and sticking string down you can simply stop at a simple circle shape.  (see step 5 on how I finish off the end to stop it unravelling).

But if you want to make it look a little more fancy, you can add smaller circles.  Start by laying one out to decide how big you want the decorative feature to be, then cut 10-15 strips of jute to the same size (you may require more or less).  Cutting lengths of jute for the smaller circles makes the jute easier to work with, as well as helping in getting similar sized circles.

Keep going all the way around, try to keep turning the rug so you are working on the space in front of you, adding the smaller circles around the boarder can be a little more fiddly but don't worry too much about the 'tail' ends and where they end up because if you do a 'boarder' you can 'run' them over and tuck them away.

You will see that some of my circles go in opposite directions, but just do what is easier for you as once you lay the boarder you can't really tell which way the circles are running.










Step 5 

To finish off it is best to try and tuck the 'end' back under the outside coil.  If you can get it tucked back in towards the middle of the rug you can just tape it to the under side of the rug.

Below are 3 different rugs which I have made, The first rug is made of 3 different types of string, Jute lace (found at the local junk shop) jute string, and cotton string.
Bottom rug is just thin jute string held down with double sided tape.  The big rug is made from jute rope and I just the hot glue gun as this string was far too heavy for double sided tape.

Keeping it together

Which glue should I use?

I have had a lot of people ask me about which glue to use for various aspects of your dollhouse renovation.

And the easy answer is that there is one glue which I use for everything!

I recently brought a hot glue gun thinking I should invest in a serious tool for the amount of crafting I do and I was extremely disappointed.  Its messy, and it does not hold very well at all.  So if you were thinking of spending money on a hot glue gun, forget it!

Head to your local hardware store (Bunnings) or craft shop (Spotlight or Lincraft).

The best glue to use is a premium craft glue.  These craft glues bond pretty much everything and anything, fabric, balsa wood, poster board, scrap pad paper....

Hanging Wallpaper

The best way to give your dollhouse some character is by hanging some wallpaper.  My best tips for wallpapering your dollhouse are to use scrapbooking paper, again you can buy a whole book of scrap paper from your local craft shop (Spotlight, Lincraft and even Big W and Kmart sell a great range as well).  If you are after a wall tile print don't forget to check out my etsy shop.  If you decide to use normal xerox paper for wall paper this is also fine as long as you don't try and use childrens paper glue.  If you try and use cheap paper glue it may make the toner ink run and it will not stay stuck for long!

You really only need to dap a few decent sized dots of glue in each corner and a few through the middle.  If you are using a good quality craft glue this will be more than enough to hold it on the walls and also will not cause too much damage if you change your mind and want to remove it.

My two favourite options:

450 quick dry glue (I have purchased from Spotlight)












Boyle Craft Glue from Bunnings.  Both retail under $10 and will be more than enough to get you through a basic dollhouse reno.

Malibu Beach Dollhouse Kit

After several attempts at trying to build my own modern dollhouse (and failing!), I decided to splurge on the Malibu Beach Dollhouse Kit from The Dollhouse Emporium in the UK.  The reason for choosing this house, pretty simple, it was on sale and they would actually ship it to Australia.  There are several other houses which I found and really loved the design of, but actually being able to buy one and have it delivered was another story.  My dream home would still be the Brinca Dada Emerson Dollhouse, but unfortunately I could not find one anywhere.

The Malibu arrived from the UK within one week of ordering it, which was super impressive given the size and weight of the box.  After opening it, I was a little overwhelmed, I'm not going to lie, there were many, many pieces and a 20 something page instruction manual!

Take note, when the manual tells you to do a dry run first, as excited as you might be to put together your dream home, do the dry run first!!

My top tips for constructing this house:

1.  MOST IMPORTANT do the dry run first, leave all the sliding windows pinned to the frames as they don't all match.  Mark which windows fit which frames use any method that makes sense to you, but this is important to achieve a good end result.

2.  When you have the house sitting together (not glued) decide on a colour scheme for the facade.  I would have like to have kept some more of my facade with the natural wood showing (i.e.; the window frames).

3.  Note pieces that do not need to be painted, i.e. top and bottom edges that meet the floor or ceiling this will cut down the 3 or more coats of paint you are going to need.  

4.  I would recommend not painting the sliding window tracks or the windows themselves first off.  Once my house had its 3 coats of paint the sliding panels where not so 'slidey'!!!!

Next step.... paint, and sand, and paint and sand.... and continue painting and sanding until you are happy the walls are well finished.  You will be able to touch the walls up once it is constructed, but the majority of it will be easier to do while is is still in pieces.

As for paint, I had a lengthy discussion with the sales person at the paint desk at the local hardware store.  I was advised to use a semi-gloss, however it still has that chalky feeling and I am considering doing a final coat in a gloss finish.  Obviously if you plan to wallpaper every room the paint job will not matter as much, but I am after the crisp white wall effect.

Partial dry run of the build, windows and frames left unpainted- be sure to mark which window fits to which frame!

Progress shot with part of the facade taken removed.

Picture of how the exterior of the house currently looks.  I am still undecided as to how to finish the outside.  In trying to achieve a modern look, I wanted to paint the very inside of the window frames black.  I will add more photos of the house as the renovations continue.

Modern Miniature Bathroom Sink

 You will need 
- Balsa wood
- Cardboard tube
- Craft glue
- Box cutter

Cut two sides out of balsa wood approx 4cm x 4cm
Cut top and bottom out of balsa wood approx 8cm x 4cm

On this cabinet I tried to mitre the edges to that it fits together seamlessly on the corners.  I just rubbed the corners across sandpaper to get an angle on the edge.  But the cabinet can be joined easily without changes the corners.

Cut a small section from your cardboard tube.  My cardboard tube is the inner from a roll of garbage bags.

Glue your cabinet together using a good quality balsa/craft glue and allow to dry.

Once dry you can paint the cabinet.  I like to stain the balsa wood light brown.  I use just a tiny spot of brown acrylic paint and mix it with about 50ml of water.

 

Its best to paint some test wood first to see what colour you like.  Once the stain dries you can do another coat if you want to make it darker.

Paint the cardboard tube white to make a basin and add a tap.  (Details to make a tap can be found here)

How to make a miniature Refrigerator

You can use cardboard if you have it, but I prefer to use foam poster board as it is a lot stronger.  You can find poster board in craft shops, Kmart, Officeworks, Spotlight etc.  It has a thin layer of cardboard on the outside and is filled with foam, this makes it far easier to cut than using balsa wood of the same thickness.

 Start off by cutting out the door, 2 sides and a back to the fridge.
My fridge door is roughly 12cm x 6 cm, with the side being slightly smaller 12cm high by 3cm wide.

Glue the fridge together to form a box.

Next cut two squares out of very thin cardboard for the front of the fridge.  This will make it look like it has doors.

You can also use thin cardboard for the top and bottom of the fridge.

Using cardboard again cut some handles for the fridge.

My fridge is going to be black with silver handles so I painted the entire fridge black first.

I painted the handles silver and slightly 'curled' the cardboard to make the handles stick out.

How to make a miniature towel ladder

I started with a pair of chopsticks from the local sushi shop!

1.  Decide on the height of the ladder by measuring up the wall of the room it will be placed in.  Place another piece of furniture in the room, i.e. the bathtub or bathroom sink as a guide as to how high you want the ladder to sit on the wall.

2.  Cut the chopsticks to length.

3.  If there is enough chopstick left over you and use these pieces as the 'rungs' otherwise you can always use some spare dowel.

4.  Depending on the height of the ladder, this will determine how many rungs you can fit on.  I used 3 rungs as this helped with displaying the miniature towels.

5.  Use a good quality craft/balsa wood glue to glue the rungs to the uprights.

6.  Decorate with small pieces of fabric, I used calico.  If you pull a few strands from the bottom of the fabric it will give the effect of it being frayed like a towel.