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I don't know how many of my readers have children of the playing-with-dolls/dollhouses age and persuasion.
However, I've been hunting for a particular dolls & dollhouse furniture making book that I found in my local public library in the 1980s and have never found anywhere else since (Lots of suggestions for making really nice dollhouse furniture etc. with everyday materials.) I still haven't found it, but what I did find is this:
The Most Wonderful Dollhouse Book by Millie Hines. 1981. It's available in a bunch of libraries and can be bought 2nd-hand. The dolls in this book are 9" tall, about 1/8 scale, and their furniture is to scale-- these are not collectibles, but made to be made inexpensively and played with, even by younger children.
The dollhouses are made out of one or more cardboard shipping boxes, and the author gives many decorating suggestions. (My first dollhouse was a small 3-shelf bookcase. The 'window' in the living room was cut out of a Marlboro ad.) Tables, chairs and beds do betray a certain 70s influence (See the sock couches and chairs), especially in the color pictures, but truly would be perfectly adequate for modern play in modern patterns. The use of recycled materials for dollhouse furniture is outstanding, despite heavy reliance on quart milk containers, which few people buy any more. (One wonders if pint containers could also be used for some things.) She uses Sardine containers or soap dishes for sinks, and upside-down small two-prong hooks for faucets-- that's inspired in my book.
Where the book really shines, though, is in two areas: instructions for making food and other minature objects out of bread-crumb clay; and the dolls and their clothes. I'm sure you can find the bread-crumb clay and instructions for modelling on the Internet (though I would never have thought of making pots and pans from 3-ounce paper cups).
The dolls are cloth dolls (and a set of cloth bear family), and patterns for all the doll pieces and clothes can be traced or copied from the book. Both pre-dressed and dressable dolls (adults & baby) are covered. These dolls can easily be used in an SCA setting, especially with proper dress(es). These are items that could easily be made by the average 10-12 year old on their own -- no machine sewing is necessary. The author suggests certain projects that are easy enough for learn-to-sew, like a mobcap, apron (using bias tape for the string), felt vest, etc. Also there are patterns for dollhouse scale cats and dogs made from scraps of fun-fur.
All of the pieces can be made from leftover fabric from sewing or worn-out clothes-- no large pieces of fabric needed. For SCAdian and homesewing parents this is a plus. Those who have a lovely collection of single socks will find the patterns using socks/sock ribbing from adult and children's socks a great relief.
I am planning to use some of these patterns to make clothes for the 9-9.5" scale Sunshine family dolls (http://collectdolls.about.com/od/dollprofiles/p/sunshinefamily.htm) I have from my childhood-- of course I'll need to make them more narrow.
However, I've been hunting for a particular dolls & dollhouse furniture making book that I found in my local public library in the 1980s and have never found anywhere else since (Lots of suggestions for making really nice dollhouse furniture etc. with everyday materials.) I still haven't found it, but what I did find is this:
The Most Wonderful Dollhouse Book by Millie Hines. 1981. It's available in a bunch of libraries and can be bought 2nd-hand. The dolls in this book are 9" tall, about 1/8 scale, and their furniture is to scale-- these are not collectibles, but made to be made inexpensively and played with, even by younger children.
The dollhouses are made out of one or more cardboard shipping boxes, and the author gives many decorating suggestions. (My first dollhouse was a small 3-shelf bookcase. The 'window' in the living room was cut out of a Marlboro ad.) Tables, chairs and beds do betray a certain 70s influence (See the sock couches and chairs), especially in the color pictures, but truly would be perfectly adequate for modern play in modern patterns. The use of recycled materials for dollhouse furniture is outstanding, despite heavy reliance on quart milk containers, which few people buy any more. (One wonders if pint containers could also be used for some things.) She uses Sardine containers or soap dishes for sinks, and upside-down small two-prong hooks for faucets-- that's inspired in my book.
Where the book really shines, though, is in two areas: instructions for making food and other minature objects out of bread-crumb clay; and the dolls and their clothes. I'm sure you can find the bread-crumb clay and instructions for modelling on the Internet (though I would never have thought of making pots and pans from 3-ounce paper cups).
The dolls are cloth dolls (and a set of cloth bear family), and patterns for all the doll pieces and clothes can be traced or copied from the book. Both pre-dressed and dressable dolls (adults & baby) are covered. These dolls can easily be used in an SCA setting, especially with proper dress(es). These are items that could easily be made by the average 10-12 year old on their own -- no machine sewing is necessary. The author suggests certain projects that are easy enough for learn-to-sew, like a mobcap, apron (using bias tape for the string), felt vest, etc. Also there are patterns for dollhouse scale cats and dogs made from scraps of fun-fur.
All of the pieces can be made from leftover fabric from sewing or worn-out clothes-- no large pieces of fabric needed. For SCAdian and homesewing parents this is a plus. Those who have a lovely collection of single socks will find the patterns using socks/sock ribbing from adult and children's socks a great relief.
I am planning to use some of these patterns to make clothes for the 9-9.5" scale Sunshine family dolls (http://collectdolls.about.com/od/dollprofiles/p/sunshinefamily.htm) I have from my childhood-- of course I'll need to make them more narrow.
