Almost all girls love to play with dolls, especially Barbie. For children, such games become the first experience of family life; passions boil in dollhouses, toy people communicate, and everyday situations are played out. Games will not be realistic without an appropriate interior. The furnishings of Barbie's home should be as similar as possible to a real home. If adult women want to have unique things in their wardrobe, then their daughters just need original and beautiful Barbie furniture to be happy. If parents decide to make furniture for Barbie with their own hands and involve their child, then the baby will have an interesting pastime for the evening and new elements for play.
What available tools and materials may be useful?
To create doll furniture and decorate the interior of a toy house, the following will be useful:
- matchboxes - they will become drawers of chests of drawers, desks, dressing tables, cabinets, chests of drawers for linen;
- cigarette packs – suitable for equipping Barbie’s dressing room and storing her boots;
- shoe boxes - these will make beds, tables, cabinets for large dolls;
- boxes of baby cereal, perfume, and other cosmetics;
- colored plastic bottles, yogurt cups;
- soft foam sponges, viscose napkins;
- pieces of plywood, fiberboard, wood cuts, boards;
- scraps of fabric, leather, gauze;
- plastic “eggs” from Kinder surprises;
- remnants of wire, chains, foil;
- sewing, knitting threads, laces;
- metal tin cans;
- paper, cardboard, wallpaper, PVA glue;
- tape, colored self-adhesive film;
- polystyrene foam, plasticine, polymer clay;
- gouache, acrylic, nail polish;
- beads, buttons, LED lights.
With minimal skills in wood carving, sewing by hand or on a machine, embroidery, it is easy to create incredible doll crafts.
Making a bed for a Barbie doll
Buying ready-made furniture for an entire house of dolls is an expensive undertaking. However, here you can do it on your own. You will need: multi-colored fabric, foam rubber and a sewing machine.
In general, in order to make a bed for Barbie in the simplest version, you need a little material and the ability to sew on a machine.
So, take an A4 sheet and place the doll on it. Did it fit? Great. Place the piece of paper on the brightly printed fabric folded in half and trace it. This will be the base of the bed. If the doll is larger than the sheet, then add the required number of cm.
Cut a rectangle of fabric and sew it along the edges on three sides. Then insert the foam inside and sew up the fourth side.
Now make the pillows for Barbie’s bed in the same way. For the inner filling of the blanket, use not foam rubber, but suitable pieces of fabric. For greater originality, you can make a double-sided duvet cover by first sewing a bag of multi-colored rectangles, and then a full-fledged blanket.
Master classes on making doll furniture
When creating a homemade dollhouse interior, you should start by arranging the main rooms - usually a kitchen, bedroom, dressing room. The most common furnishings:
- bed;
- chairs and table;
- armchair;
- nightstand;
- dresser;
- wardrobe, including a corner one;
- sofa and kitchen sofa;
- china cabinet;
- TV;
- fridge;
- table for the kitchen.
Furniture made from boxes
A furniture set made from matchboxes is the least labor-intensive way to create the interior design of a dollhouse. To make a mini chest of drawers or dressing table, you will need:
- six to ten match boxes;
- PVA glue or any other;
- colored paper or decoupage napkins;
- thick cardboard;
- scissors.
How it's done:
- matchboxes are glued together so that all the boxes slide out freely;
- a cardboard table top is glued on top;
- all visible surfaces are covered with paper, napkins, self-adhesive film, and painted with gouache;
- The legs of the table or chest of drawers will be four wooden beads in the shape of cones, the handles of the drawers will be round beads or small buttons.
A dressing table or desk with two cabinets is made in approximately the same way.
From plywood
To make something like a toy coffee table or dining table, you will need:
- a piece of plywood;
- jigsaw;
- PVA glue;
- acrylic paint;
- pencil;
- ruler;
- compass;
- paper.
What do we have to do:
- the drawing of the table parts is drawn on paper and then transferred to a plywood sheet;
- two circles are cut out of plywood - one larger, the other slightly smaller;
- then two arched parts are made, on one of which the slot is made from the top in the center, on the second - from the bottom;
- last of all, two rectangular parts are cut out, almost equal in length to the diameter of the smaller circle, and slots are also made in them in the center;
- the structure is smeared with glue, assembled, painted, and dried.
Stools are made from similar smaller parts.
Made of wood
Natural wood and textiles will make a wonderful folding sofa, for the manufacture of which you will need:
- board about one centimeter thick;
- hacksaw or jigsaw;
- flat furniture hinges;
- glue;
- furniture fabric;
- foam;
- pattern paper;
- self-tapping screws;
- thread, needle.
Progress:
- two rectangular parts of the base, the bottom, and two armrests are cut out of the board;
- all details are traced on paper, then the patterns are transferred to fabric;
- the bottom is glued with its ends to the armrests;
- parts of the base are fastened to each other with hinges, attached to the armrests with screws;
- all parts are covered with fabric, and foam rubber is glued to the two main parts;
- A blanket with fringe is knitted onto the resulting folding structure, and small pillows are sewn.
At the bottom of the sofa there is sometimes a drawer made of plywood for storing bed linen.
From cardboard according to templates, diagrams
To make a miniature cabinet out of cardboard boxes or corrugated cardboard, first create a sketch and decide what parts the future product will consist of. Schemes of some products can be downloaded from the Internet, printed on a printer, and then transferred to thick cardboard. To make a modern cabinet that will fit the entire doll's wardrobe, you need:
- cardboard box;
- corrugated cardboard;
- self-adhesive film;
- scissors or stationery knife;
- ruler;
- pencil;
- metal rod;
- thin wire;
- foil;
- glue;
- beaded decorations.
Using pre-made templates, parts are cut out - sides, top and bottom of the cabinet, back wall, doors. The structure is assembled, covered with film, a metal rod is inserted between the sidewalls, onto which hangers made of wire are attached. Foil is glued to one of the doors - this will be a mirror. Door handles are made from two large beads; the front part of the product is decorated with smaller ones.
If desired, you can make a cabinet with sliding doors - the “rail” for them is also made of cardboard.
From paper
Thin paper tubes will make furniture that imitates rattan or wicker for a house in an ecological style. Materials and tools needed:
- thick cardboard;
- thin paper;
- thick needle or awl;
- paper knife;
- wooden sticks;
- PVA glue;
- acrylic paint;
- brush.
Two parts of the future tabletop are cut out of cardboard - holes for the legs are made in the corners of one with an awl, and holes for paper stands are made along the entire perimeter. Wooden legs are attached to the corners of the structure using glue, and paper stands are threaded into the remaining holes. The top of the second tabletop element is pasted over with colored squares, imitating oilcloth, and then glued to the first part. Weaving is done with paper tubes, by threading them from top to bottom, alternating in each row. The last row is braided, the finished product is painted in a light brown color. Chairs are made in much the same way.
Paper tubes are made from strips of paper tightly wound diagonally on a thin knitting needle and secured with glue.
From fabric
A textile bean bag chair is made of soft fabric and any padding - foam rubber, padding polyester, cotton wool. On textile material, one detail of the seat and bottom and two symmetrical side parts are outlined. The product is stitched, turned inside out, and stuffed tightly. To produce a round ottoman, two round parts are cut out of fabric, one is rectangular, slightly larger in length than the circumference of the bottom and top. The rectangular part is assembled, connected to the round ones, and stuffed with pieces of padding polyester. The resulting product is decorated with lace and beads.
How to make furniture from metal drink cans
This furniture is suitable for a luxurious setting in the Empire or Baroque style. To make a throne chair, a luxurious doll chair, the top of the can is cut off, the side parts are cut into strips three to four millimeters wide, and the structure is turned over. Some of the stripes remain at the bottom - the legs of the chair are twisted from them, the rest become lace armrests and a backrest. To make a product with a soft seat, a round cushion with soft padding is made and glued to the seat.
Knitted furniture
A crib with a canopy, a valance, and lace bed linen, reminiscent of an item for an ancient “palace” bedroom. To make such an item, a frame is made - a rectangular base on legs that turn into stands on which a lace canopy is attached. The base is made of a knitted mattress, padded with foam rubber, and the same pillows. Lace bed linen and valance are made separately. The stands are also crocheted in a spiral, their tops are decorated with lush bows. The decoration of the room is complemented by a cradle, the frame for which is made of wire or “muselet” - a structure that secures the cork in a champagne bottle. The cradle is tied with lace and decorated with bows, the color of which depends on the gender of the baby doll for whom it is intended. Here, a round knitted rug and a fireplace with knitted flames will fit the theme.
Chairs, tables, armchairs, and beds for Kinder Surprise toys will be plastic corks and matchboxes tied with thin threads.
Ideas for making furniture from other materials
Furniture can be easily made from other scrap materials and unnecessary items:
- wooden spools of thread - two glued to one another, decorated with a round or square table top made of cardboard, plywood, glued on top. The stools are made in the same way, but each one will use one coil. Finished products are painted with gouache and nail polish;
- colored wire - depending on the thickness, you can completely weave armchairs, chairs, sideboards from it, or create frames that are later covered with textiles;
- from “iron construction sets” or Lego parts - such products become real “modular furniture”, which, if desired, can be easily assembled and disassembled, turning into something else. For each version of the assembled product, a suitable cover is sewn, which is put on and removed as needed;
- with the help of ice cream sticks, something similar to the now popular furniture made from Euro pallets, used for loft-style rooms, is created, believe me. Miniature pallets are glued together from sticks, from which tables, sofas, etc. are later assembled;
- Using colored polymer clay and plastic rulers cut into pieces, you can easily create furniture for a toy kitchen. Plastic parts are glued together using PVA or rubber glue, taps, door handles, gas burners are carefully sculpted from polymer clay in a suitable color;
- A set of wooden clothespins, previously removed from the metal connecting part, will help you create real garden furniture, reminiscent of decorated carvings, for a small doll. The parts are attached with wood glue, the finished structure is painted with stain or acrylic;
- very small sofas will come out of wine corks - for this, a base is glued together from two to four pieces, onto which a soft seat is later glued. Another cork is cut into circles, about five millimeters thick - these will be the back and armrests. For a rocking chair, the ends of the cork are cut off, the remaining part is cut lengthwise. The seat parts are connected at right angles and glued to the round armrests. A glamorous coffee table will come out if you take six corks, glue them two in height, make slits in the top and bottom, in which shiny CDs are secured with glue;
- A doll bathtub will come out of a plastic oval container, the kind in which herring is usually sold. To do this, you need to cut off all the unnecessary protruding parts from it, fashion intricate legs and taps from plastic, and decorate the sides;
- plastic eggs from Kinder Surprises, four bolts and a lid from a box of cotton swabs will make a dining table. From other similar colored eggs - several small chairs;
- two plastic containers placed on top of each other, if their front wall is cut off, will become a sofa - all that remains is to sew a cover or cushions. Another option is to make soft parts from multi-colored foam sponges.
Decoration
To decorate furniture for the house, you will need a variety of props: fabric scraps, unnecessary cream boxes, pieces of cardboard, broken pencils, empty pen pastes, jewelry torn from elastic bands, unpaired socks, torn buttons, and many more seemingly unnecessary little things.
- The soft parts of beds, sofas and armchairs are made from padding polyester. This is a cheap and accessible material. You can even find it at home if you rip open an unnecessary jacket;
- The pillows are stuffed with the same padding polyester. They can be sewn on a machine, but you will have to sew up the remaining hole for stuffing by hand, this makes the product much neater;
- Accessories and furniture are made from paper. This is where a set of colored paper can come in handy. It is better to use a double-sided option, this will help make the elements completely painted in one color;
- Buttons are needed to create handles on bedside tables and chests of drawers. Small buttons are used to create beautiful pillows, blankets, and tablecloths;
- All elements must be in the same style. This is ensured by using the same materials. Usually people do not store very small scraps of fabric at home, so this point will not cause difficulties;
- The adhesive film will help to imitate a wooden surface and will make it easy to turn cardboard furniture into almost wooden furniture. Beautiful tape with a pattern or lace saves time on decoration and helps not only to fasten elements, but also to decorate them. Using these tools at the same time, you can effortlessly create a beautiful element, especially if the lace tape is a contrasting color to the film.
To make
furniture for Barbie with your own hands, it will be convenient to purchase several meters of beautiful tape in advance.
It will cover unsightly joints, distract attention from glue smudges, and disguise the tape. All materials for decoration are prepared in advance, selected to match and stored for future use.
Dollhouse decor elements
The decor of the toy house is made from almost any available materials:
- The floor lamp is made from a stick, an empty refill from a ballpoint pen, firmly attached to the base. Colored beads are strung on the rod, a cork is fixed on the top, along the edge of which a lampshade is glued - lace or corrugated paper;
- A simple chandelier is attached to the ceiling of a doll's house. It is woven from beads and fishing line, made from a plastic egg with slots, and a small LED light bulb with a battery and a switch is inserted inside;
- from a large button or baby food cap you will get a real wall clock. The frame and stand for them are made of cardboard or polymer clay, the plane itself is decorated with colored paper and wire arrows;
- a wall mirror is made from foil, and nut shells are used to create flower pots, the plants for which can be made from dried flowers, moss or polymer clay of a suitable color.
Household items
You can also come up with different options for toy products and household items. For example, mold fruits and vegetables from hardening soft plasticine. Make boxes of washing powder or oatmeal from thin cardboard and advertising clippings from magazines.
What would a house be without cleaning equipment? We invite you to try making a broom for Barbie's house.
The manufacturing technique is extremely simple:
- Take an old toothbrush and use pliers to separate the bristled head from the handle.
- Now sand the cut area to avoid damaging children's hands.
- Next, using a glue gun, attach a thin stick to the back of the cleaning head.
Voila, the broom for Barbie's house is ready!
About ready-made plywood construction sets
Ready-made plywood construction kits are cut out using a jigsaw according to design templates; buyers of such a kit assemble and glue them together themselves. In essence, this is a wooden blank for creativity, which not only needs to be assembled correctly in accordance with the instructions, but also painted and decorated in any convenient way. This product develops constructive thinking, becoming an entertaining puzzle for the whole family. Sometimes a set of collapsible furniture comes complete with the same plywood house or castle.
Clothes for dolls
Another important dowry item is clothes for Barbie. Little girls love to dress up their pets in beautiful outfits and different shoes. By playing dress-up and choosing clothes for the dolls, the young creature gets involved in the world of fashion and develops her own taste.
So, what can you make for Barbie with your own hands from wardrobe items? Almost everything, actually. With cutting and sewing skills, a needlewoman can sew almost any outfit. But not everyone has them, you say. Yes, that’s why we suggest making the simplest clothes for Barbie.
Take bright fabric and thin braid for decoration, as well as Velcro and scissors. And get started:
1. First of all, measure the circumference of the doll's chest. And also the length from the chest to the middle of the waist. Based on these data, you need to cut a rectangle from the fabric, adding 1.5 cm to the length and width.
2. Turn the edges under and stitch. Now fold the rectangle in half and sew to the middle. Sew Velcro onto each side.
3. Now it’s time for the skirt from the Barbie outfit. Measure the size you need and cut a semicircle from the fabric with a semicircular notch along the edge. Sew the edges and make light grabs along the waistband using thread. This will give the skirt a fuller look. Now bring it together and sew the two sides.
4. Attach to the top of the dress and sew these two elements together. Also sew a thin lace braid along the edge of the top and hem. And a bow on the belt. A simple dress is ready! All that remains is to try it on the doll.
Modular stool-table
Fold 154 green and 43 yellow modules.
Assembly diagram:
- Collect a strip: 2 green modules in odd rows, 1 yellow module in even rows. Total 23 yellow. and 26 green.
- Close the strip into a ring.
- Collect a circle: 6 green in rows 1 and 2, 12 in row 3.
- 4 – 18, 5 – 18, but on the other side.
- Glue the circle to the ring.
- Assemble 4 legs similar to the ring. Each one requires 12 green and 5 yellow.
- Glue the legs to the base.
- Turn the craft over.
Editor's voice Irakli The Lord of Paper Sheets You can place a small soft toy on such a stool or use it as a stand for various small things.
Chair in traditional technique:
Preparing everything you need
In order to make a doll room, you need to prepare:
- cardboard box;
- scrapbooking paper;
- glue;
- hot glue;
- cotton wool
To make the room look more realistic, you should ensure there are miniature chairs and a table. It is important to have toy pencils, books, stickers, notebooks and stickers available. You can order such miniatures online.
Sintepon and cotton wool are perfect for filling. For bed linen, you should prepare a piece of beautiful fabric. And instead of a glue stick, you can use PVA glue. For wallpaper and flooring, scrapbooking paper with appropriate dimensions will be used.
Interior arrangement
Before you make a room for dolls, you must think about the interior. At the next stage, you can begin to furnish the house with furniture. It is most convenient to place a crib in the corner, which is covered with bed linen. Pads are placed on top, you can put a toy for the doll. There are chairs and a table around the room.
In order to diversify the interior, you can hang a board on the wall, which is previously decorated with stickers. The board can be made of thick fabric. An organizer with stationery is placed on the table; you can find all this and purchase it in online stores for children's dolls. There you will even find small books for toys. All these little things will allow you to create a single whole - a real room. You can hang stickers in the shape of donuts on the wall. The room should be decorated with flowers made of corrugated paper. You can make such crafts yourself. A basket of toys should be placed in the corner. The ideal house is ready.
How to decide on sizes
The dolls, their houses and furnishings are smaller copies of us and our homes. And the most reliable way to make doll furniture with your own hands and not make a mistake is to measure real objects, reduce them several times, and then work with the obtained values.
Furniture for dolls - copies of our furniture
How much to reduce the actual dimensions depends on how small or large the doll is, because they range from 7 cm to 60 cm or even higher. Accordingly, they need furniture of different sizes. To determine the number by which the actual dimensions should be divided, divide the average human height in centimeters (170 cm) by the height of the doll. Let's get some number. This is how you will need to divide the dimensions of real furniture.
For example, the height of the doll is 15 cm. We calculate: 170 cm / 15 cm = 11.3. It is by this number that we divide all the parameters of “human” furniture. It is also worth saying that 14-15 cm is the most popular size among the doll population. Therefore, most of the finished furniture is made in a ratio of 1:12. We can also use the existing dimensions, at least so that we can navigate the scale of the required parts and the amount of materials.
Approximate dimensions of furniture for doll children
So, the most common doll sizes are:
- male doll 150 mm;
- female doll - 140 mm;
- child doll - 75-100 mm;
- toy baby - 65-75 mm.
If you need furniture for dolls of similar sizes, its parameters will be as follows:
- Bed: double – 160*130 mm;
- single - 160*75 mm;
If the toys you have are slightly larger/smaller, you don’t have to adjust the sizes. If the difference is large, you will have to increase or decrease (or you can calculate it yourself).
Origami table
Prepare a square sheet of paper and follow the step-by-step instructions:
- Fold the square in half from left to right.
- Expand.
- Create a basic "door" shape.
- Bend the workpiece from top to bottom.
- Unfold the last fold.
- Fold the top and bottom parts towards the center.
- Expand.
- Fold the bottom right side diagonally to the right.
- Repeat on the left.
- Fold the bottom edge up and smooth it out.
- Repeat the steps with the top part of the workpiece.
- Rotate 180 degrees.
- Fold the upper right corner down diagonally.
- Open and straighten the element.
- Smooth the resulting square.
- Repeat with the remaining corners.
- Fold the sides of the square towards the middle from the center.
- Expand.
- Form an elongated diamond shape.
- Repeat with the remaining parts.
- Bend the protruding corners vertically.
- Turn the finished table over and place it on its legs.
The table can be decorated with self-adhesive furniture film to give it a more realistic look.
Requirements for paper for toy furniture
When considering the question of how to make paper furniture for dolls with your own hands, it is worth remembering that each manufacturing method has certain requirements for paper.
Almost all of the above methods require thick paper from 90 g/m2. It should bend well and not delaminate at the bend. However, for origami, paper is needed that is less dense, capable of withstanding repeated folding and maintaining a beautiful appearance.
The same requirements apply to cardboard. By the way, to make furniture from it, you can use both regular stationery cardboard and corrugated packaging cardboard.
If doll furniture will be made using papier-mâché or weaving, old newspapers or magazines are perfect as consumables.
How to determine size
Doll beds, wardrobes, chairs and sets are human furniture in miniature. Therefore, to determine its size, it is enough to take the dimensions of real furniture and reduce them several times. How long depends on the size of the doll itself.
Let's say the doll is 20 cm tall. The average height of a person is 170 cm. If you divide it by the height of the doll, you get 8.5 - that’s how many times you need to reduce real furniture.
Browse through the catalogs and choose a sofa that you like. Find out its dimensions and “adjust” them to your doll. As a result, you will get a beautiful, proportional sofa that looks like it came from the kingdom of the elves.
Barbie mobile
The second most popular dream of many girls after a house for their pets is Barbie’s personal car. However, the prices for cars are quite high, which means that few can afford them. But fortunately, there is nothing that cannot be done with your own hands at a minimum cost. This also applies to the car for Barbie dolls.
There are quite a few ways to create a personal car for a doll. But, as usual, we will consider the easiest one. Even a beginner can cope with a similar task.
