I’ve added a few pieces of fabric to the stash lately. All necessary, of course 😉
These Riley Blake prints are from this great Aussie fabric store, Fabric2Go. They have a great range of fabrics at awesome prices + free shipping for orders over $50. Spots are always needed and mine were running low so a stock up was in order!
And some lovely flannel – maybe for some PJs? Plus a bit of pompom trim…I’ve been pinning a few cute scarves with pompom trim lately and want to try making one for myself.
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Also, a few weeks ago Spoonflower had a free International shipping day. I’ve been wanting to try some knits from Spoonflower for ages. There are so many amazing prints to choose from, I haven’t had a go at making my own yet but want to try it one day. The knits feel lovely – soooo super soft. The colours are more muted in real life than on the screen, and I’ve heard that the knits fade a lot but I still wanted to try them out. I’m going to cut a test swatch from a few of them and put them through the washing machine/dryer a few times to see how they hold up. I’ve got grand plans to make lots and lots of baby clothes this time around – onesies, suits, leggings…and these fabrics will look awesome. We are all hanging out for next Friday when we find out if we are having a boy or a girl. I’m especially excited because I’ve been itching to get some baby sewing done but don’t want to do anything until I know for sure what it is!
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And lastly, a few pretty Liberty prints. The black/grey fabric is to make myself a Washi Dress. I’m a bit apprehensive to start now that my tummy is much bigger as I want to make sure that it fits me after pregnancy too. Not sure if I should just risk it and make it to fit now or wait until after baby? The fabric is too special to waste!
I’ve showed you the dollhouse so far. We’ve got lots of big wall and floor spaces to play with and I’m flooded with ideas to get decorating with. The problem is, that I like too many different styles and designs! I’ve just got to settle on a basic colour scheme and get to work based on that I think.
Anyway, I wanted to share some of the cool dollhouses that I’ve come across in my research. The traditional hip roofed dollhouses are lovely, but there are some mega-cool, modern ones out there too that I can’t go past…here are some that have caught my attention:
The interior design of this house blows me away! Although the house is a lot more traditional looking than ours would be, I’d die to be able to decorate it as well as this lady has. The intricate detail she has included is amazing – check out the close-up photos of each room underneath…she even has a sewing room!!! (From Mousehouse.) I don’t think I’ll get close to that much detail in our house, but it has given me some great ideas.
This one is cute from Hilda Grahnat. Shows how the simple rectangle shape can still come to life when decorated and filled with furniture.
 I came across this amazing house on Etsy from Qubis Haus. This was our absolute very favourite and if it didn’t cost over $600 we would have snapped it up! See how the walls can move to different places using the slots in the floor and roof? I love it so much. This was probably the main source of inspiration for the rectangle, flat roof look we went for. This shop also sells really cool furniture that comes made from individual blocks with magnets on the sides so that you can pull them apart and create new pieces of furniture – ingenious and so much potential for creativity.
I always love the things that Made By Joel creates. They are modern and basic and achievable but never lacking in style.
He also shares some great furniture he has made himself using wire, wood, fabric and a hot glue gun – love it! Did you know that dollhouse furniture costs an absolute fortune and most of it is really ugly? We’ve decided to get the house painted and decorate the walls for Christmas with a few little bits of furniture for now, but leave the rest for other birthdays and Christmases and slowly build up the collection. Plus, I want to have a go at making a few things myself and don’t have the time to do everything before Christmas. The kids can use their imagination for now and make their own furniture! I think with a bit of time and imagination I can come up with some cool little pieces to include.
Also found on Mini Modern, this dollhouse made me smile. The family are perfect.
And check out their spectacular pool!! Once I saw it, I knew we had to include one too! The naked, skinny dipping family makes me laugh 🙂
This is sweet – looks as though it is made from a bookshelf. Very simple if you didn’t want to bother with building anything yourself.
This house from The Land of Nod was also high on my “would buy it if I didn’t care about how much I spent” list. Isn’t it cool? This shop probably has the best furniture that I’ve seen around so far so I might use it for inspiration to make my own or splurge and buy a set or two for Lil’s next birthday.
As for people to occupy the house…I’m going to leave that up to the kid’s imagination for now. We’ve got tonnes of wooden people below and I might paint a few like Jessica from Running with Scissors has done. The house is pretty big – each square room measures about 30cm x 30cm. So a barbie can just stand up in the house – but her head hits the roof! We also have a few Polly Pockets, Kimmi Dolls and Fisher Price Little People floating around so there will be plenty of people to live in the house for now and if I see anything else that I really like along the way, I’ll pick it up. I don’t want to rush into fully finishing and furnishing everything for the sake of having it done for Christmas because I know that I’ll discover other cool things along the way and want to be able to include them over time.
And, just incase we aren’t totally over dollhouses…I’m keeping this up my sleeve for a future Winter school holiday project – making dollhouses with popsicle sticks! This could be so much fun and I think the kids would really get stuck into completely handmaking the house, furniture and people to live inside.
What about you? Do you have a dollhouse in your family? Where did you get your furniture? What dolls do your kids use in it? Did you decorate it yourself – let me know what things you love the most!
Making a dollhouse has been top of my list of presents to give Lil for about a year. We were going to make one for her birthday, but ended up being in Queensland for it and were too busy to make something leading up to it anyway. So it has been on her Christmas list since then.Â
Yesterday we (well, mostly Jaron – he did all of the designing and I gave it the nod of approval!) bought and cut the wood and put together the framework for the house. We had originally intended to go with something a bit more traditional – with a hip roof and square body, but I had been doing some very extensive dollhouse studying and wanted to come up with something out of the ordinary. Something different to everyone else’s and that reflected our modern, style. It didn’t take much for Jaron to agree and his mind went to work designing something that was a little different and funky, whilst making sure that it would be really simple and hassle-free to build (remembering that it is just over 2 weeks until Christmas so wanted to get the main part of it over and done with in an afternoon!)Â The house includes four interior rooms with two undercover outdoor areas (one upstairs and one downstairs). These can easily act as regular indoor rooms or decks and outside play areas. Not having walls on two of the rooms will make it easier for little hands to get dolls and toys in and moving around. We are even including a pool on the overhanging flooring to the left-hand side. The whole thing is really simple and looks a bit boxy at the moment, but once we’ve finished decorating and filling it with furniture and bits and pieces then it will change the appearance altogether.
These photos don’t do justice to how cool it looks all made up. When I’ve finished with the decorating, I’ll take it to a better location where I can get some decent photos, but I was forced to settle for a quick garage pic without the kids seeing anything this afternoon!
So now the building is done, it’s time for me to get painting and decorating! I’m so excited about this! I know that deep down I wanted to make this dollhouse as a fun project for me to work on – I don’t really care if the kids end up playing with it much or not!! I can’t wait to get painting and cutting and sticking – my problem is that I can’t settle on WHAT to do…so many cool ideas floating around. I can see a dollhouse interior design reno taking place in a year or two so that I can try out some new things.
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I’ve found tonnes of awesome dollhouses online – heaps of great modern ones with a funky twist on the traditional dollhouse. I’ll gather the pictures and links up tomorrow and share them with you – please feel free to share any cool decorating ideas you have, I’ve got lots of walls to work with and want to pretty this baby up!
I was recently sent some fabric and washi tape from a very funky Japanese store – ModeS4U.
ModeS4U specalises in all things cute and Japanese – fabrics, bags, accessories, washi tapes, and stationary. All imported from Japan and the USA. They have free International shipping for orders over US$78! How good is that?
I’ve worked with both of these fabrics a lot before, so knew that I would love them. The cars fabric has already been made into a pair of shorts for Oscar. Not sure what the double gauze will end up as yet – perhaps a soft blanket for the baby?
I used my trusty Long Boards pattern for the shorts. The boys love these shorts and both have multiple pairs and it seems that is pretty much all they wear.
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The detail in these shorts are what really sets them apart from others, funky and practical knee patches, fake fly stitching and front pockets. The ribbed waistband makes them super comfy and easy to wear and pull on and off.
Along with the fabric, I was also sent a couple of rolls of washi tape. I love washi tape so have happily added this to my collection! IÂ use it mostly to wrap presents and stick things up around the house, but there are thousands of creative ideas for using washi tape out there.
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Thanks for my goodies, ModeS4U – and for introducing me to another cool online shop!
All good sewers love Liberty of London fabric, right? If you haven’t sewn with them before, save your pennies and choose a favourite pattern because I promise you will not regret it!
Liberty fabrics are more expensive than most other “common” fabrics. But they are worth every penny…135cm wide and luxuriously silky smooth. But still very easy to handle and sew with, they are perfect for all clothing sewing, have spectacular drape and feel amazing against your skin. Also great for sewing quilts and cushions or other homewares that you want to feel as good as they look.
 Shaukat, a fabric store based in the UK, sent me a selection of Liberty fabrics for my stash. They are just gorgeous, a little too small to make something for myself, but I plan on sewing a few light and cool skirts and tops for Lil before we go to Queensland in a few weeks time.
The best part is that Shaukat offers prices that are the cheapest I’ve been able to find (including postage!) which makes Liberty of London fabric and shopping even more affordable – maybe something to add to the Christmas list?Â
So, if you haven’t paid them a visit before, be sure to check out the lovelies at Shaukat and get a wish list started! I’ll be sure to share my projects when they are done and have plans to make myself a special Liberty of London dress which will (hopefullly) take me through most of this pregnancy and beyond!
 
So now the building is done, it’s time for me to get painting and decorating! I’m so excited about this! I know that deep down I wanted to make this dollhouse as a fun project for me to work on – I don’t really care if the kids end up playing with it much or not!! I can’t wait to get painting and cutting and sticking – my problem is that I can’t settle on WHAT to do…so many cool ideas floating around. I can see a dollhouse interior design reno taking place in a year or two so that I can try out some new things.
