Sunday 19 February 2012

A dust cover - hopefully a good thing

Since it came downstairs, my Fairfield has been impersonating a mummy, all wrapped up in bandages of cloth to keep the dust off.  I decided it was time to do something more attractive and less concealing.  So I bought 3 metres of vinyl tablecloth from the local bargain store.  This is 1m wide and cost £3.50 a metre. It's fairly flexible and really stinks of plastic which I hope is going to wear off.


I cut the 3m piece in half as I needed to make two dustcovers:  one for the Fairfield, and one for my Ratty's House that I made in a Rik Pierce workshop.

My working method was not very scientific.  I draped the piece of plastic over the Fairfield, tucked flaps under the base, and pinched together the excess at four corners.  I cut off the excess leaving about a one-inch seam allowance, and temporarily held the seam together with paperclips while I was working on the fitting.

Then I sewed the seam on a normal sewing machine using a long stitch length, leaving the seam allowances on the outside.  I didn't think they were going to look any better on the inside because it is all transparent, and it might have made the cover fit less well.  I tried to stitch the seams so they came down to 'ground' level, leaving a loose flap of plastic to tuck under the base.



However, I was concerned that making the cover too airtight might lead to problems, such as a microclimate inside that might encourage mould.  So I decided to stitch in 'air vents' by adding patches of needlepoint canvas.  I added two vents to each cover.


The end result is certainly a big improvement on the mummy-wrapping bandages.  I can see the house now and it won't be difficult to take the cover off.  Putting the cover back on is slightly fiddly as I have to tuck the bottom flaps under, but it doesn't take long.




I'm going to visit the Arnhem Poppenhuisstad dollshouse fair in The Netherlands next month, so I will look out for 1:24 accessories there.

2 comments:

  1. I was so excited to see that you had posted, because your Fairfield blog is one of my favorites. When you said the house was finished, I fussed - surely you could find something else to do! It is a great little house and your dust cover is clever!
    Jennifer

    http://halfscaledollhousegammagehouse.blogspot.com/

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  2. I agree with Jennifer - I love your Fairfield blog! I can never get over how much like the Pickett Hill house you have made your Fairfield. I am at present building my Pickett Hill and have nearly finished it - in quarter scale though - and most of the furniture too, and I keep thinking of how you have arranged your furniture, especially the way you have put the two daybeds opposite each other. So neat! I'm glad you can see your lovely cottage again, it is a shame to have it wrapped up and out of sight.
    Hugs
    Sandie (Snippets from my Studio)

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