Saturday, September 19, 2015

Dollhouse Miniature Precuts Tutorial


I recently participated in a small swap with some sewing friends. Stalking my recipients Pinterest board revealed a whole new world of miniature quilt shop supplies. She has a dollhouse, so I decided to make her some bundles. I looked around at various blogs for tutorials. I found several for fabric bolts and fat quarter bundles, but I wanted to make a few adjustments to size/fold. I tried to stay as close to 1:12 ratio as possible. While I saw pictures of super adorable miniature jelly rolls, I couldn't find a tutorial. I also didn't see any pics or tutorials for dollhouse size charm packs or layer cakes; they may be out there, but I missed them.

I wanted to make fat quarter bundles that look a bit like Moda's. Given the thickness of the fabric, it is not practical to make a full 40 fabric bundle. 7-8 fabrics seemed to be just the right height. I forgot to take pics of the individual fat quarters I folded on the long side, rolled up, and tied with perle cotton to store individually, but that is also a fun way to display individual fabrics.

Additionally, I wanted to make the bundles sturdy enough to be handled without coming undone, so I used glue to keep the pieces together. On the jelly rolls, the first one I made, I used only glue stick to glue as I rolled, and it was a horrible sticky mess that was slow to dry. I switched to glue gun for that part on subsequent ones, and I was really happy with the result. I am sharing here to refer back to later when I make more, and for anyone who is interested in making some like mine.

I have also included printables to print labels for charm packs and layer cakes. A link to the document is found in the supplies section below.

I don't have a dollhouse, but my daughter does, and these were such a fun scrap buster that I kept on making bundles. I'd love to show you a beautifully staged dollhouse quilt shop, but we aren't to that stage of the process. (Maybe in the next several years.....)

Supplies

Jelly Rolls:
Fabric: (8) .25" x 3.5" strips
Perle cotton or embroidery floss to tie bundle
Low temp glue gun and glue sticks
Water soluble glue stick (ex: Elmer's or Sewline)

Fat Quarter Bundles:
Fabric: (7 or 8) 1.25" x 1.50" rectangles
Perle cotton or embroidery floss to tie bundle
Water soluble glue stick (ex: Elmer's or Sewline)

Charm Packs:
Fabric: (8) .5" squares
Cardstock: (1) .5" square
Water soluble glue stick (ex: Elmer's or Sewline)
Labels - printable file download available here

Layer Cakes:
Fabric: (8) .875" squares
Cardstock: (1) .875" square
Water soluble glue stick (ex: Elmer's or Sewline)
Labels - printable file download available here

Fabric bolts:
Chipboard: Cut into .625" x 2" (or .875" x 2" if you prefer a bit wider than 1:12 scale)
Fabric: 3.5" T x 4" W (or wider if you prefer a fuller bolt)
Low temp glue gun and glue sticks - or -
Water soluble glue stick (ex: Elmer's or Sewline)
White acrylic paint

Folded yardage:
Fabric: Each yard approximately 3" x 3.625"
Fold as desired to fit doll cabinet space
Press well. If you want to stay folded, add a bit of glue to hold the fabric layers together

Assembly

Jelly Rolls:
1. Select 8 strips. Layout in preferred order.
2. Use glue stick on the wrong side of half of each fabric strip and fold in half with wrong sides together. Press with the iron to lay flat and heat set the glue.
3. Stack fabrics, matching raw edges, folded side of fabric on the same side. Using a glue stick, glue 1/3 of the strip from the raw edge between each strip and press with an iron to heat set. This holds the layers in place to minimize shifting when the fabric is rolled, however you do not want to glue the entire length of the fabric because they need to be free to roll and stagger on the folded end.
4. Using the glue gun, add a small bead of glue near the raw edge of the top fabric and on the bottom raw edge of the stacked fabric. Fold all of the strips of the raw end in just a tiny amount to stick to the fabric. (2nd row, pic 1)
Note: You will be rolling with the fabric you want to be the exterior on the bottom. Let's just pretend I was paying attention and had my fabrics stacked in the same order that I laid them out it in the first pic. As you roll, you roll onto the fabric you want to be the inside inside the jelly roll.
5. Using the glue gun, add a small bead of glue on about 3/4" inch of the inside fabric and roll the jelly roll a bit more. Try to keep the jelly roll in a round shape. I have a couple that I made that ended up a bit more oval shaped because I was not vigilant about keeping the shape round as I rolled/
6. Continue adding a small amount of glue to the inside fabric and roll. Add glue to the free edges in small amounts. gluing the inside fabric, then glue the fabric next to it, until you finally glue the top fabric in place. Each layer has a shorter amount to glue.
7. Add a label if you wish. Wrap and tie jelly roll with embroidery floss or perle cotton. (I used baker's twine here, but it was a bit too bulky for my taste)
8. Add fray check to keep the exposed raw edges of the fabric from fraying.



Fat Quarter Bundles:
1. Select 7 or 8 fabrics.
2. Fold 1.25" side of fabric into thirds. Press well with iron, reopen fabric, glue both folds, and press down again to heat set.
3. Fold fabric in thirds again on the long side. Press well with iron, reopen fabric, glue both folds, and press down again to heat set.
4. Stack fabrics in desired order. If you would like your fabric to keep from shifting in the bundle, add a small bead of glue between fabric layers with the glue gun.
5. Add a label if you wish. Wrap and tie bundle with embroidery floss or perle cotton.




Charm Packs and Layer Cakes:
1. Select 8 fabrics. Only the top fabric is immediately visible, but this is a great way to use up tiny bits of fabric that would otherwise be thrown away.
2. Layer cardstock on bottom with the fabric squares on top. To keep fabric from shifting, add a small bit of glue in the center of the cardstock and each fabric layer (do not glue the top fabric). Fray check edges to keep raw edges from fraying.
3. Print attached printable label sheet and cut on black lines. The charm pack label will need to be shortened before attaching.
4. Wrap label around the center of the bundle and glue both edges on the back of the cardstock.


Fabric Bolts:
1. Paint ends of the chipboard white.
2. Fold fabric 3.5" edge of fabric down in half and press. Optional: Glue the perimeter of wrong side of fabric and press back in place. This will help to keep the fabric from shifting. Fray check bottom raw edge of fabric.
3. Using glue gun, add a bead of glue down one side of chipboard and glue raw edge of fabric in place.
4. Wrap fabric around the chipboard, fold remaining raw edge under 1/4" and press. Glue into place on the fabric bolt.




21 comments:

  1. I may not be able to wait for my granddaughter to have a doll house... I think I NEED a miniature sewing room in my sewing room... Thank you for taking the time to write this post. These are sew cute!!!

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  2. These are adorable!! Thanks for the tutorial.

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  3. What is it about miniature doll house things? Especially tiny tiny little sewing supplies and fabric? I DIE. These are PERFECT. #noscrapleftbehind

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    1. Aren't they so fun? I always wanted to make a fancy dollhouse, but it seems kind of mean to make one my girls can't play with.

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  4. I saw these on IG and could not believe how cute they were! Amazing!

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  5. These are adorable! I am afraid to fall down the rabbit hole of miniatures, but every time I see a post like this I am so tempted.

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    1. I long ago fell down that rabbit hole, even before I became a quilter. I have a rotary cutter, cutting board, rulers, pincushion already; now I can work on fabrics.

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  6. Those are so amazing! I'm going to have to go through my tiny scraps and see what I could use for the dollhouse.

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  7. Thanks for all the lovely ideas for doll houses

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  8. I love these. I am 70 and still love miniatures. It all began when my brothers and I were very young and my mom would read The Borrowers to us which was serialized in the Woman's Day magazine. You have done a splendid job and thank you so much for sharing.

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  9. Thank you very much for showing how you did this! I will give it a try.
    KATRIN W.

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  10. I have an antique letter holder from a print shop. These would look adorable in that on my sewing room wall! Great share!

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  11. How do you come up with such amazing ideas? Love what you do but a bit too fiddly for me.

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  12. The ideal for this if you don't have room for a dolls house with its own sewing room - is to make a market stall and have bolts of fabric, these delightful pieces and lace or ribbons too!
    These are great!

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  13. I adore these - I don't sew/quilt, but I wonder if you could possibly connect me to someone who sells bundles of these tiny scraps for my daughter to outfit her little peg doll houses? She would love these!

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  14. I adore these -- I don't sew/quilt myself but my daughter would so enjoy some bundles of these tiny scraps to use for outfitting little peg dollhouses (not necessarily a sewing room, but rooms in general). Would you happen to know where I could purchase some of these? Any help is appreciated! kind thanks, Shelly

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    1. I don't think I have seen ones just like all of these for sale. I suggest commissioning someone crafty to make them for you. Maybe check Etsy. They aren't hard to make if you have bits of fabric and some glue.

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