Snugglebug University: The Portable Dollhouse/Fire House Pattern and Miniature How-to's

Hi friends!

It's been a while since I've done a pattern, and I felt like it was about time for a new one! My family is obsessed with miniatures right now, and I couldn't help but make a dollhouse tote version of the house I made for Ellie a few months ago.

We made two versions, a firehouse and dollhouse version, and both are included in the pattern and which is now available in my shop. The tote itself is about 13.5 inches tall and 7 inches wide when finished. It has a zipper on one side, and is fully lined. It's a relatively straight forward pattern, so it doesn't require a lot of advanced skills. I actually think that Lu is going to make it with me as a sewing project! In this post though I'm going to show you how to make all the little dollhouse goodies that go inside that house--keep reading!!! Lots of tutorials coming your way!

I'm going to show you what I used to make all of these miniatures and how I made them today! (I'll also include a short appendix to the pattern with all of this info, but that part really isn't meant to be a pattern--more of an idea of furniture you could make.) I imagine that there will be lots of dolls used, so I didn't want to make a specifically sized bath tub for example.

What I love about all the things in this dollhouse is that everything can be neatly folded up and placed inside the dollhouse...It's the perfect toy for travel! Today I will show you how to make sleeping bags, a mattress, foot stools, a stove, a bathtub, a lamp, and cardboard portable walls. The small white table pictured was from the center of a pizza box. Don''t you love it when you can recycle things like that?

Who is ready to make some miniature-sized furniture? Ok, let's get started!

First, let's make a sleeping bag!

Begin by measuring 3 rectangles slightly larger than your dolls. You’ll want to allow for at least ¼ inch for seam allowance on all sides. Fold one of your pieces in half (A), and place it on top of one of the other pieces (B). Place the other piece face down on top of the other two pieces (C). Sew as shown in (D), leaving the base open for turning.

Fold under the raw edges of your sleeping bag and use the ladder stitch to sew up the base of your sleeping bag. All finished!

Now, let's make a bathtub:

Take two pieces of white vinyl, and sew around the edges by hand. When you get to the base of the bath tub, incorporate in two silver beads for the base of the tub.

Now let's talk about that stove:

Use a sharpie to draw burners on to a metal tin. Then store miscellaneous doll sized food, pots and pans inside.

Now let's talk about the mattress:

In order to make a mattress and stools, you will need some fabric scraps, some sponges, a glue gun, and some embroidery floss.

Now let's talk about the lamp:

The lamp is made from a small dowel, a toothpaste cap, and 5/8 inch mini candle cup (a wood piece found in the craft wood section at the craft store). It was glued together with a glue gun.

And finally, let's talk about those walls!

For the portable house, I took two pieces of cardboard that would fit in the dollhouse, and 1 slit in each piece, and then widened it a bit. I embellished with scrapbook paper. Together they fit to make four “rooms.”