A few Christmases ago, we got my daughter a Fisher-Price Loving Family Dollhouse. We've given her additional rooms over time for birthdays and such. Now it's almost Christmas again, and I recently went shopping for the bedroom for the parents and the little brother. It appears that they don't make a bedroom for the little brother. They make a dog house for the family dog, but not a room for the brother! So I thought I would take a stab at making some beds myself.
I browsed online and found some nice tutorials about how to make a wooden dollhouse bed, but I was looking for something simple I could make with materials on hand. So, I decided that with some foam, felt, fabric and a glue gun, I'd see what I could do to make one myself.
These are very basic and simple, which is just what I was looking for.
Necessary Materials:
Foam
utility knife or coping saw
hot glue gun
fabric scraps
craft felt
polyester fiberfill
MEASURE: First, I found a hunk of foam that's been lying around the house since I did a small repair on a couch cushion a while back. I put the dolls on top and made some general measurements. I wanted the beds to be almost the same size as the dolls, as the dollhouse rooms are very small.
CUT: To cut thick foam you'll need a sharp utility knife, or better yet a small hand saw. It's a MESSY job; I was covered in tiny hunks of foam and so was my work table, floor and little helper (that would be my 5 year old son). Once you have the pieces cut, you can use sandpaper to smooth them out. We tried this for a few minutes and decided we didn't mind that they were a little rough since they would be covered in fabric.
COVER: I used Eco-Fi Craft Felt to cover the beds. It's cheap and readily available (Walmart or Joann's Fabrics, and comes in a ton of colors). I used whole pieces as there was plenty of overlap to tuck around to the backside. I used a little bit of hot glue to secure the piece down to the foam. Then I turned the bed over and secured the ends with hot glue like wrapping a gift. Then I added a little bit of lace trim to the parents bed, and a blue ribbon to the boys bed.
PILLOWS/COVERS:
To make pillows, just cut a small scrap of fabric, turn it wrong side out, sew around 3 sides, turn it right side out, fill with a bit of polyester fiberfill and then sew the ends up. To make a bed cover, I used a small piece of fleece and I sewed a zigzag stitch around the outside so it didn't fray. For the boys bed, I used two small scraps of orange and blue striped fabric - cut the fabric, add a layer of cotton batting, and sew the pieces wrong sides together around 3 sides. Turn rightside out and sew up the open section. Make a matching pillow and your done!
Measuring for the Boys Bed:
Stuffing the wee Pillow with fiberfill:
Sewing the Bed cover:
Added the ribbon trim with more hot glue. Now the boy's cozy in his bed!
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