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Sunday, June 16, 2013

Dollhouse Miniature Pillows


This week I am showing you one way to make pillows for your dollhouse that will act a bit more like the real thing. I know we have made pillows that are stuffed with cotton before and I do use those most of the time. However, there are times when we want a pillow that looks a like it has been around a bit longer. You know that pillow, the one that no matter how much you try to fluff it up it still looks flat. The one that after the cat jumps down off the couch the pillow still has the dent in it from being laid on. The secret in mini is to leave out the cotton filling and use some sand instead. The sand will allow you to shape your pillow and because of the weight of the sand the pillow will act a bit more like the real thing.

These are also nice if you want to make a pillow and have a mini pet laying on it. The sand will allow the pet to actually sit down into the pillow not look like it is floating on top.

A few cautions with this project. First off, use a piece of fabric with a tight weave. The tighter the weave of the fabric the less apt the sand is to leak out. Also use the smallest stitch possible with your sewing machine. This also helps to minimize leakage. If you want to use this method and place the pillows on a nicer piece of mini furniture I would recommend making the pillow from a plain fabric and then using your decorative fabric to cover the base pillow, by having 2 layers of fabric and 2 seams you will minimize the leaking of the sand.

I've been making pillows this way for a long time, and yes over time they will leak some of the sand. I feel this is still a good method to use in spite of the leaking and having to clean up the sand because of the way the pillows look in the finished scene.

A couple of years ago I did notice someone had posted a video making a similar pillow except they used salt to fill the pillow. I would caution you to not use salt to fill them. First off the salt will attract both bugs and rodents to your dollhouse neither of which you want to have as mini house guests. Secondly the salt will draw moisture from the air and ruin both the fabric and whatever it is sitting on. Sand is really the better option here.

Sorry this post is kind of short, this has been an incredibly busy week for me so I just didn't have the time to write more.

Talk to you all later!







4 comments:

  1. Hi Joanne! You are so right about the salt and I learned this the Hard Way! I had a full-loaded dolls house stored in my uninsulated garage for over 12 years and over the course of time the salt filled pillows attracted the moisture from the air and became a soggy mess as well as attracted rust to things that they were up against or even nearby. The results were that a whole lot of stuff became worthless and un-saveable and needed to be thrown out! I now use bird gravel to stuff my pillows and cushions and it works better than the salt with out all the worry!

    elizabeth

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  2. thanks for the tip, I will never use salt for my pillows :)


    marisa

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  3. I saw this idea before and will certain use it. I also heard of using bird seed. I dont know how that would work???

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  4. Glad to know about the salt, thank you!. I'm reluctant to use sand; I have a fabric lizard that's stuffed with sand, and the leaking sand has discolored the fabric. I was thinking about using salt until I read your post. I've seen instructions that use small seed beads; I think I'll go with that option. They have a nice weight but won't sift out.

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