Mirror image

This week, I finished off the second Day Bed so now it's like seeing double in the living room.  I've placed it across from the first Day Bed, like a mirror image.

I painted the Day Bed with a few coats of Games Workshop Bleached Bone acrylic paint, which is the same colour used on the first Day Bed, then applied the artwork.  As before, I cut thin strips of the extra artwork and applied these along the side trims, in addition to the provided front trim strip which decorates the front.  There is also artwork for the tops of the arms, the front legs, and the decorative back.

The seat is a piece of stiff card provided in the kit, which is made up by gluing on layers of polyester batting/wadding, and covering with the provided printed fabric cover.

Making the cushions

The four back cushions come as pre-printed panels on fabric, and stuffing is provided in the kit.

Since my kit didn't have the right instruction sheet, it didn't have the instructions for these cushions, but luckily I remembered that I used my own method to make them up last time.

First of all, I folded over the fabric, printed sides together, and carefully lined up the printed squares by holding the fabric up to the light.  I pinned in place, and made pencil marks to show the edges of the printed areas.

Using this method, you will only get one pillow with a dog on it, but I was fine with that.

Then I set my sewing machine for a very short stitch length, and stitched around three sides of each square, just inside the pencil line.  Noticed that on the fourth side, I also stitched around the corner by a small amount, about 1/8".  This makes it easier to sew up the cushion afterwards with a neater result.

Then I carefully cut apart the cushions, leaving about a 3/16" seam allowance, and trimmed the corners at 45 degrees.  Using a blunt object, carefully turn through a cushion, and use a pin to pull out the corners as much as you can without shredding the fabric.

Notice that by sewing the fourth side a little, you have two corners already in place, and will only need to fold in the flaps to hand-sew the fourth side after stuffing.  I sewed it up with one strand of cotton and tiny stitches.

And here are the two Day Beds - the one I've just made is on the right.












Tiny Miss Lydia Pickett furniture

I was thrilled to discover on Judith's website (In Some Small Way) that the new line of Robin Betterley Secret Books included a tiny little Miss Lydia Pickett set of furniture.  These are roughly but not exactly 144th scale.  I couldn't resist ordering a set which I will make up as dollshouse furniture for my little girl's room.  There is a tiny bed and wardrobe, just like the Miss LP furniture, and a clock, day bed and chicken coop cabinet.

I will have to have a think about what kind of room box setting I can put these into, that won't look too big in the little girl's room.