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and the bedding

  • Posted on September 16, 2018 at 12:46 pm

time to get to work on bedding for the bed

first a mattress,
mattress
i wanted it to be fairly thin, so it didn’t take up too much space. i cut out two pieces of warm and natural time to start on bedding
cut two pieces of warm and natural, the exact size of the bed, then used it as a pattern to stitch the mattress

mattress 2
turned, stuffed and stitched closed. the lighting is off, the colors are a bit brighter and it has metallic gold accents. much closer to the picture below

mattress
and in place.

next the bedding
quilt take 1
i had this lovely soft rayon, which i bought just for this project. it had a printed pattern on it that kept changing, and i loved that particular rectangle. it had the right colors, and looked like striped piecework without having to sew seams. the fewer the seams, the better it drapes. to get the little piece i wanted, i had to buy .4m. luckily it was on sale and really cheap.

to keep the quilt/blanket drapey i made an unstuffed quilt. it looked like it would work nicely, but unfortunately once i put it on the bed, it was still too stiff. i still like how it drapes, so am sure i can use it somewhere else.

luckily there were three identical rectangles across, so i could try again.
quilt take 2
the good news was, that i got to try a technique that i’ve been wanting to try for ages. this time i stuffed the quilt with a single layer of warm and natural and one of tinfoil, folded over three times for sturdiness. i used spray adhesive to hold them together on the underside of the quilt, but left the top loose, except for the two rows of quilting. it worked perfectly! i can scrunch and bend the quilt to achieve whatever level of messiness my ‘pukis have left 🙂

lastly pillows!
pillows!
i pulled a bunch of fabics and cut little rectangles for pillows. since they take so little fabric i went a bit crazy….
they are stuffed with tiny glass beads to let them “plop” realistically. it is also possible to poke little “head dents” in them which will stay till i shake them out or move them.

pillows, the chosen ones
of course once i put them on the bed i realized i had way too many! so i selected just five. the rest will go in my box of spare props to be used in another project or sold.

bedding
and all the bedding in place. the purple blanket is a rectangle of silk velvet (much softer and a bit thinner than regular) i left it with unfinished edges and no lining to keep it soft.

stockings!

  • Posted on December 19, 2015 at 4:41 pm

Stockings!
made some stockings for my kids. there are too many to hang fro the fireplace, so we are going with the older tradition of hanging them on the end of the bed on christmas eve. the biggest ones are for my msd sized dolls, the littler ones for my pukifee/latiyellow/tinydelfs etc. the real tiny dolls are still waiting for appropriate sized ones.

i made a bunch of extras to list on my etsy store next year for christmas… if i remember in time 😉

bed for a 15cm princess- pillow

  • Posted on December 16, 2015 at 12:10 pm

now onto the pillow. a necessity for a comfy sleep. cut a rectangle of cotton and one of batting, make sure you add seam allowance on all the sides. fold in half and stitch together leaving a small opening to turn.
Pillow lined with batting
turn right side out and fill with “pellets”. i used glass sand blasting pellets just cause that’s what i have on hand. i bought a huge bag years ago, when i was still making bears and i still have tons left! but you can also use seed beads, play sand (clean please) or some miniature sites also say to use salt but you would have to be sure it would never get wet!
Turn and fill with "pellets"
because my pellets are so fine and i don’t want any leakage at the seam i put a fine line of fabric glue on the inner seam. it is flexible and doesn’t show especially under the batting. after gluing it together i close the seam with a ladder stitch as usual.
Glue inside edge to seal pellets in
now take a nap on your comfy new pillow.
Take a nap
liya approves and demonstrates just how soft and squishy her new pillow is.

bed for a 15cm princess- mattress

  • Posted on December 12, 2015 at 12:30 pm

coming back to this one for a bit, while once again waiting for paint to dry on another project. (it is taking a very long time) this time i am working starting on the bedding. first the mattresses. to begin i cut out the filler. the rectangular bed got 1″ thick memory foam. that was too thick for the other two and hid too much of the head board so instead they got three layers each of warm and natural quilt batting.
Mattress filler

the covers are simple, pillow cover like. i cut a rectangle a little bigger than the filling, stitched it 1/4″ wider on each side for the smaller mattresses. 1/2″ bigger for the larger then “boxed” each corner, turned it right side out and stuffed. the small opening is closed with a ladder stitch. i had originally planned to make tufted and piped mattresses – even got one mostly done, but then realized that would mean i’d have to make bottom sheets for these tiny beds 🙁 so i tossed it and made these simple ones instead!
Mattress covers

dollhouse rug

  • Posted on June 12, 2015 at 2:44 pm

i haven’t been doing a lot of crafting this year, i’m on a cleaning/purging binge instead trying to get my house, craft room and library in order after several years of neglect. but every now and then i take some time out to finish up a project or two.

once i have enough space cleared out i’m planning to make up room boxes for my dolls. hopefully at least one per size. i’ve been collecting stuff to decorate them with for quite a while and adding new things as i find times or the right supplies.
this little project is one i had marked on pinterest for quite a while. it will become a rug for the little girls room. i loved the colors in the chart, the actual colors not so much. since i have a huge box of thread (most of it 25 years old or older) it was easy to find the colors i wanted… or at least reasonably easy. the first sample was close to the chart, but just didn’t look right, so after completing the leaves i pulled new colors from my box and started over. the second try was much better so this time i finished it up. it is stitched on 22 count even weave with 2 strands of floss.
Dollhouse rug
and here it is with crystalorn, one of my pukifees so you can get an idea of the scale.Pukifee sized rug
now i just have to figure out how to finish the edges to make it look like a real rug instead of a piece of cross stitched fabric 😆

suggestions i have recieved on how to finsih it

-fold under the edges leaving one or two rows exposed and do a stitch around it so it would be enclosed like the real rugs. Either a whip stitch or buttonhole stitch close together.
-turn it under as close to your stitching as possible
-backing with felt and then binding the edges
-give it a border with a coordinating ribbon. either a nice sturdy solid-color grosgrain, or a brocade trim.
-trim the edges back a couple of rows from the stitching, turn them under and one row from the stitching and loop embroidery threads through at the very edge of the stitching to create a thread fringe If you think the white will show through between fringe treads, buttonhole stitch closely around the edge in the same colour as the fringe before adding the fringe.

next post will (hopefully) show which i chose and the finished rug!

couch tutorial part 8 where we finish it up!

  • Posted on December 10, 2014 at 10:14 am

sew back pieces together at 90 degree angle
i whip stitched the bottom and used a ladder stitch on the top where it would show.

the ladder stitch continues down the back but i didn’t do any stitching on the front. i liked the way it looked unstitched and it held firmly enough without any stitching. i was planning to put a line of glue between the two seats, but once i got it all together it turned out not to be necessary.

sew back to seat with a ladder stitch. a little bit time consuming but it gave a really nice finished edge so it was worth it. and the seats were really nice and sturdy once i was done. if you choose to glue instead of sew you would need to put another cover on the back and sides. a piece of matboard covered with fabric would probably work

sew all the way across the back. its hard to see in the picture but the stitching goes across the short ends of the seat backs all across the back and then just up the other short end. i left the front unstitched again. it held really well and i liked the look

and the finished couch. i’ll take some better pictures when i get a couple of throw pillows made, but i’m really pleased with how it came out :0)

of course the girls are now busily measuring the leftover foam to see if there is enough for a chair, an ottoman, and a fireplace like wovenflames! 😆

if you do use this tutorial, even as a jumping off point i’d love to see pics of what you come up with! you are welcome to sell finished pieces you make. design credit would be appreciated, but is not required, put please do not repost this tutorial/sell it or claim it as your own. i retain copyright to this tutorial and all it’s images. thank you

couch tutorial part 7 finish the seat backs

  • Posted on December 9, 2014 at 7:09 am

grade the overlapping edges
once the tufts are all sewn grade any overlapping edges to cut down on the bulk. i realized after i got all the back pieces covered that the only overlapped edges were on the long sections and i had graded the short ones too :p oh well, it actually wasn’t noticeable and i wasn’t going to redo it so i’ll have to live with it, but you might want to see which ones really need it before cutting! i did grade the correct ends at least by wrapping loosely around the foam, placing the backs on the seats then marking the end to be cut of with a tiny x on the inside -it got cut off anyway so didn’t show.

start at the bottom edge where you will want to finish, line up the padded seat portion and pin it on then wrap. i use lots of pins to keep everything flat and snug then trimmed off the fabric i didn’t need before sewing. my foam was thick enough that i could bury the pins without poking myself and leave them there till my stitching was done.

stitch with a flat whip stitch you want the fabric to be pulled snug but not super tight, and to be as flat as you can make it on the bottom. that will make attaching the backs easier.

close up of the finished seat back

next post we will attach the seat backs and the couches will be done 🙂

couch tutorial part 6 start the seat backs

  • Posted on December 8, 2014 at 5:21 pm

the seat backs do need the ends covered, since they will show. so i cut pieces of fabric big enough to wrap around like this. i glued where the foam is resting on the fabric on both sides, (hope that make sense, if not take a look at the next picture) but not the end since i didn’t want the glue to bleed through.

cut a rectangle out of each corner then glue those long flaps down

you will need to cover each piece of seat back, however many you choose. in my original picture i had 3 but i added an arm/end to the longer couch so now i have 4 🙂

now to make the covers while the glue dries
these are very similar tho the seat covers. 3 layers of warm and natural with an extra layer of the cover fabric to prevent show through since my fabric is fairly thin. you wouldn’t need that extra fabric if your fabric was darker or thicker. the difference is the placement since this time my seam will be on the narrow edge instead of in the middle of the back.

i decided to only do the tufting partway up the backs. looking at my clippings file, that was the style i preferred. but even so there are 62 more tufts to go!

couch tutorial part 5 a change of plans, and we add the feet

  • Posted on December 7, 2014 at 11:28 am

after i got the skirt sew on i decided the seats just looked too blocky the way they were. so i took off the bottom layer of foam (luckily the glue hadn’t completely hardened yet) and folded the skirt under instead. here it is pinned tight to glue

i cut pieces of posterboard a few millimeters smaller than the foam piece to cover the base (for those of you using inches that would be about 1/8″ on either end)
the posterboard glued in place. this was weighted down with my trusty stack of hardcover books to dry 🙂

sticking to my plan to only use what i already had on hand for this couch, i auditioned feet from the supply in my craft drawers, instead of following my initial impulse of running to michaels or the dollar store to get small wooden blocks. the ones on the left hand side won. both because i liked the style better and i had four more of them, so there were enough to put six feet on the each couch instead of only four

and the feet glued on…

couch tutorial part 4 skirting

  • Posted on December 6, 2014 at 9:26 am

the glue is all dry now it’s time to add the skirt. having cut a piece wide enough to go to the floor and also fold over quite aways, i press it the right length. the extra fold will be in the center back. the fabric i used had enough selvedge edge for both skirts so i didn’t have to hem it – bonus!

pinned all around to check the length. then unpinned on end and pressed under again to finish edge. i left it a bit long since a plan to add feet underneath which will take up the slack

flip up and sew…

back stitch along fold line to edge of seat. (to be continued when i finish this step)