Glencroft trim

The next step to finish the exterior of my doll house was the trim. I painted it grey and I'm very happy with the way it looks. There's less contrast than with dark brown stained wood and I think it fits with a Tudor-style house rather than a historically authentic Tudor house.

Now I'm finishing up the extra bits like the flower box, chimney and brackets. Then I may start on the roof. After that it will be time to sort out the interior. With the roof on I can now finish the ceilings and if I'm going to add wallpaper, and I think that I am, I need to do that before installing the door and window trim (and therefore the doors and windows).

I'm thinking a lot about hinging the windows and doors and would love some tips on that. I'd rather not glue them all in a fixed position, but maybe that wouldn't be so bad for the windows at least. There are quite a few of them!

Happy New Year - house building!

As you've probably noticed, I was too busy for a few months to do much with my Glencroft kit. But I was tired of the half-finished house and clutter of tools and building supplies gathered around it. So over the holidays I stole a couple of days to finish the basic structure. It doesn't seem like much, but there are so many pieces and I couldn't put off doing the beams and those were a bit fussy to do as well.

So the roof is on, the walls are all up, and the next few steps are much less daunting. While there are numerous pieces of trim to put on the outside, in a way I like that step because it's more decoration than building. I'm going to horrify traditionalists, or perhaps Tudor afficionados by painting the trim grey. I just don't like the heaviness of dark brown trim. This is meant to be a contemporary house that looks the way I would decorate it. And I see lots of local Tudor style houses with painted trim and I like the way it looks.

Then there are other bits to do on the outside such as the roof shingles, the chimney, brackets, and flower boxes. I'm not planning to do a garden or the fence in front. I just want a freestanding house.

Then after all the doors and windows it will be time to finish the interior.  I can't wait for that part.

Right now I've been adding polyfilla to the gaps in the exterior and sanding it down because I don't like the tabs to show. It's extra effort of course but well worth the result.

Anyway, if feels good to be here, and not procrastinating with the furnishings. That will be my favourite part. Because to be honest this kit has roughly 4 million pieces in it, and each piece needed to be punched out of a sheet, sanded, and quite often trimmed more than once to fit in place properly before priming, painting and gluing in place. Definitely not something you can whip up in a few days!

Dollhouse doll update

These EFA dollhouse dolls were for the Yahoo vintage cloth doll making group, and the lady was rushed a bit to meet the deadline. I wasn't quite happy with her yet.

So I went back to add a few details and now she has a blouse and petticoat...

and a new hairstyle - my favourite style of braids worn up. Which incidentally was my favourite hairstyle when I was nine. Possibly the style I will return to in my old age?

She didn't exist two days ago and now I love her. I know, I know, I need to finish her house now. Believe me that is a long term project!

EFA dollhouse dolls

As promised, here are some Edith Flack Ackley dollhouse dolls that I just finished yesterday. The man has a brown knitted sweater with plaid trousers. The lady has a pink floral skirt and a top made from a bit of trim with a ribbon belt. They both have painted shoes, the cloth shoes just looked too bulky at this tiny size.

In case you didn't know, Edith Flack Ackley published a lovely book called Dolls to Make for Fun and Profit in the 1930s and her sweet designs have been popular ever since. In the book she has patterns for dollhouse dolls which I adapted so that they are a bit smaller. So the man is 6" tall (still a bit on the tall side) and the lady is 5 1/2" tall. I also made up my own clothes so they would be more up-to-date for my sort of up-to-date dollhouse.

Generally they are made exactly the same way as all her dolls, including the sewn joints, but it's just a bit more fiddly. The two tools that made sewing these little dolls possible: fray block to keep tiny seam allowances from coming apart and hemostat scissors for turning tiny legs and arms right side out.

Dollhouse bed updated

Dollhouse bed "after"

I had trouble finding a bed I liked and finally compromised on a new one from Ebay. It had a nice shape but I didn't like the reddish finish to the wood (it also clashed with everything I already had) and the mattress was a piece of yellow foam with the coverlet fabric glued to it. Ick.

 Dollhouse bed "before"

So I stripped it all down and washed off the glue (easier said than done). I painted it my new favourite colour, Martha Stewart's bone folder, a simple creamy white with a vintage look. Then I made a new mattress using some foam with a quilt batting sewn around it for extra cushioning. The best part is when you use thread to add the lovely tufting. I love the results! I even created a little free tutorial to share:

Just click on the image to see it full size and go ahead and print it out and make your own dollhouse mattress. My own EFA dollhouse doll (more on that next) and the pug have been lounging on it non-stop.

Dollhouse rugs

Upstairs rug - with a new bureau waiting to be finished

I've been meaning to do this for some time, and I'm glad I finally did because it was such an easy project but with such satisfying results. These are dollhouse rugs made using little sample pieces of fabric. I found these fabric pieces at the Textile museum sale and because they were so small they cost next to nothing.

Downstairs rug

If you'd like some nice rugs like this for your dollhouse it's so easy, here's how you do it. I used small pieces of woven fabric. It works nicely with a patterned fabric with texture, it doesn't have to be miniature scale since contemporary rugs often have large scale patterns. I wish I could make a full sized rug like this!

Because they were sample pieces the edges were already serged using clear thread. This means you can barely see the stitching at all but the edges won't unravel. An alternative to this would be to just use fray block or some watered down white glue dabbed along the edge.

I unravelled the serging on the two ends and squared them up by gently pulling the weft (crosswise) threads out and then trimming the edge straight. To make the fringe, continue to pull the weft threads until there is a fringe leftover of warp threads that's the length you want. If the fabric seems secure you can leave it like this, or use some fray block to make sure it won't unravel any further.

That's it! I love my new rugs, they make the rooms look so cosy.

Dollhouse doll dressed

I've finally wigged and dressed the dollhouse doll. Wigging was something I knew nothing about but I just finished my first Gail Wilson doll kit and so that taught me a nice way to do it with wool top. I even managed to use the leftover wool from the doll kit to make this miniature doll's wig.

The only concern in this case was that the head was a bit large as there was a molded hairdo, but I thinned out the wig as much as I could and I'm content with the results. The Gail Wilson kit also taught me about stuffing the doll more firmly, so I applied that to this doll and now the head is held up firmly (instead of flopping due to the heaviness and a soft cloth body) and the doll stands easily.

Working on clothes this tiny is pretty fiddly and kind of frustrating. I really wanted to make a proper dress that had sleeves and some detail. The sleeves were probably the trickiest but I just did each step the way I normally would but a bit more painstakingly if you know what I mean. In the end this dress turned out well, it even has a bias trim enclosed neckline.

I could use the sewing machine in some areas but it did require some handsewing. Also working this small you need to be careful about fraying so the gathers around the waist are lined on the inside. The dress is even removable.

The real treat was being able to use a little scrap of vintage fabric for the dress since it required so little. I love this print so much! It is one of many tiny hoarded scraps I have, so it was nice to finally have the perfect project for it. The pink and red floral print even works with her rose pink painted stockings. The petticoat is made from eyelet trim that was already ruffled and bound at the top.

Now that I have the first inhabitant ready, I really should finish the house...