Tag Archives: Dollhouse

Dollhouse Quiet Book – Cover & Assembly

My dollhouse quiet book is complete! It turned out so sweet and cute. I really enjoyed doing a girlie project! Click an link below to go to the other pages of the book for patterns and instructions.

There is no pattern for the cover, but I will go over everything I did. Leave a comment here or on the Facebook page if you have any questions!

Stack the three folded pages like a book. I did mine: kitchen, bed/bath, then the backyard.

Sew together the two center pages along three sides (top edge of book, outer edge and bottom edge.) Don’t go all the way to the center of the middle page with your stitching (see photo above), but leave a gap so the book can easily fold closed.

Another view of the center pages sewn.

Do one last step to prepare your pages to be covered. Cut a strip of felt to cover the spine of your book. I used pink, since many of my pages use that color.

  

Sew the spine along the top and bottom edges. I also added a couple stitches on either side of the spine in the center to hold it in place.

 

inside of cover – outside of cover

Cut two 8.5″ wide x 9″ high pieces of felt in your cover color. Overlap them so they fit perfect around your closed book. I pinned one to the front and one to the back, then overlapped them and pinned. Sew both sides of the overlap. I had the front side of my stitching on the outside of the cover, even though one of the overlaps is on the inside.

Take a 12″ x 6.5″ piece of felt in your roof color and fold it in half (to 6″ x 6.5″) The fold will be the part of the roof that hangs down over the door when folded over the top of the book. I sewed my Velcro on last, careful to go through one layer of felt, but you can do it before sewing the roof. Sew the sides of the roof closed and sew the third side down to the cover as shown above.

I added another closure – a little strap in my cover color  (2 layers of felt with Vecro) that wraps around the open pages and Velcros closed. Normally this kind of strap is attached to the back, but I didn’t want to have a square of Velcro on the front of my book. I pinned mine in place then sewed a door down over top of it. My door was 2.25″ wide x 5.5″ high to be the right scale for the doll. A vintage button works great as a door knob.

I made a wreath on the door by cutting little leaf shapes and sewing them down in a circle. I cut tiny pink trapezoids then folded the points in and sewed them down into rose buds. I added some periwinkle French knots.

To make a shuttered window, cut your window shape, then cut the shutter color twice as wide. Center the window on the shutter felt and sew through both to attach it to the cover. The shutters hang free. I back stitched the window panes and added a strip of white for the window sill.

I added a green blob to make a rose bush. Cut 1″ strips of felt about 1/4″  thick and tapered at both ends to make the roses. Stitch the point at one end down, then fold and twist it into a spiraling circle shape, stitching it down as you go.

Sew the cover to the first and last page similar to how you sewed the inner pages. Stop sewing along the top and bottom when you get to the spine. The cover will bubble out when the book is open, but fit snug when folded closed.

You could probably add a handle along the center of the roof piece if you wanted to. The cover turns the whole book into a sweet little house and holds the book snug and closed.

Welcome!

This quiet book is a lot of work (aren’t the all??) but SO worth it! You end up with hours of adorable, girly fun. I admit to having fun with it! A lot of the pieces are tiny, so this is for the 3 and up crowd, but it is a homemade treasure that will stay in the family for years.

I hand sewed this entire book with wool blend felt provided by American Felt and Craft. One a project like this that you want to stand up to many, many hours of playtime, it is absolutely worth the extra expense of wool felt. The colors I used for this cover are: white, wild blueberry, jade, forget me not, pink tutu, orchid and sweet pea. AF & C has some brand new delicious looking colors of felt in that I can’t wait to try!

If you sew this quiet book, I’d love to see photos! Email me or post them to our Facebook page. Happy sewing!

Jax’s Barn – Wooden Dollhouse Makeover

Jax’s Barn

Jax’s Christmas present is done! I started with an under $10 thrift store dollhouse and turned it into a sweet little barn for Jax to enjoy.

     

It took me about a month of stealing 30 minutes here and there to add more layers of paint. Lots of paint! On the floor of the upper level, there had been a pretty dark red stain. Let’s just call it paint, since the dollhouse didn’t appear to be haunted! I hid the stain and added to the barn feel by using Mod Podge to glue craft straw down and sealed it with a few layers of acrylic sealant. I may eventually do one of those acrylic water kits up there so the floor is smooth, but it works for now. Just a little bumpy for some of the animals. I also filled all the screw holes with wooden plugs I painted white. Once my million coats of paint (to get the edges just so) were dry, I sealed it all with Krylon spray. Right now, I’m just letting the house cure and air out for a few days before wrapping it up.

The animals I got Jax are by Plan Toys. They are so cute, and I love that they are wooden. I wish I could have afforded the horses/stable and the tractor (see Jax’s Wishlist), but at least he has a few friends to start out with. I did get him a farm train to go along with it.

If he plays with his barn a lot, I may sew him a farm play mat with roads for tractors, fields and pastures. What do you think of the makeover?

Thrift Store Gems

This week’s thrift store gems were mostly books, but I did get a cute olive green flannel for Jax.

For $6.25 we got: the shirt, Waddle! (which is super neat because the pictures move on each page), Goodnight Moon 123 Board Book: A Counting Book (Jax loves the balloon page), Who Am I? In the Dark (which is out of print), Counting (Touch, Look and Learn!) and All Asleep.

Here’s an update on the dollhouse I bought recently from a thrifting trip. It’s barn makeover is underway! I have a couple layers of paint down in most places. The wood is very thirsty so it will need more. I turned the upper floor into a hay loft with real hay I mixed with Mod Podge and then varnished with a clear coat. Once I am done all the painting, I’ll clear coat the whole thing. I’m thinking of sewing a play mat to look like the farm to go under the barn.