The last time you thought of a dollhouse furniture, carpets, and other accessories, it might have been when you were a kid.
However, dollhouses are really popular with adults, and making miniatures is a fun craft for all ages.
Making the accessories like carpets and rugs for doll’s houses can be as simple or complex as you like.
So, how do you make a dollhouse carpet?
Making dollhouse carpets and rugs can be as simple as cutting pieces of fabric into the size that you want, or as complex as creating miniature needlework pieces that replicate the patterns of genuine Persian rugs.
Some methods include printing out carpets and making them out of paper, or painting them directly onto the dollhouse floor. For the most realistic versions, dollhouse carpet kits that can be needlepointed are available.
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Making paper dollhouse carpets.
The simplest way to make a dollhouse carpet is to print one out using a photo of a real carpet, then to glue the paper rug to a piece of cardboard to make it more sturdy. The advantage of this method is that it’s quick and relatively easy, but it’s also less realistic than other methods because the carpet will be flat and won’t have a texture.
Images for carpets and flooring can be found online, or you can use pictures from the pages of old books.
Images that you find online may not be free for commercial use, though, so be careful not to sell anything that you make from downloaded photos unless you own the copyright for them.
You can also make your own carpet images using photo editing software, then print those out. That way, you can edit the colors and patterns to fit the decor of your dollhouse rooms.
Print the rug images on regular copy paper, or use heavier paper or light cardstock for a sturdier carpet.
Making fabric dollhouse carpets.
To make a fabric dollhouse carpet, simply cut a piece of fabric to the size that you need, and finish the edges so that they won’t fray. Some types of fabrics are better suited for this than others, including heavier upholstery fabrics and fabrics that have a tight weave and will lay flat when cut into a small piece.
Some fabrics can just be cut into shapes and left unfinished, like faux furs that have a leather-like backing. The fake leather won’t unravel, so this kind of fabric can be used to make shag carpets.
Fabrics that are 100% synthetic can be melted, so to finish the edges you can run the cut edges against the flame of a lit candle to quickly melt the edge.
This will melt the fibers together and will prevent it from fraying. Be very careful if you do this so that you don’t melt too much of the fabric or burn yourself!
If you don’t want to take a chance on overmelting the edges, or if the fabric has too much cotton and will burn instead of melting, you’ll need to hem the edges or serge them to keep them from fraying.
A thin handkerchief hem will be enough to keep the carpet from unraveling.
If you want to make a fringe, you can run a straight stay stitch about 1/4″ from the cut edge, then unravel the fabric up to that point.
Needlepoint dollhouse carpet kits.
The simplest way to make a needlepoint dollhouse carpet is to buy a kit that fits the interior decor of your doll’s house. Miniature needlepoint carpet kits are available online, and come in many patterns that you can customize. You can also draft your own needlework patterns if you’re familiar with how to do that, but kits are usually easier.
There are a few businesses that create miniature dollhouse carpets, and some that also create patterns and kits for DIY projects.
You can find a lot of sellers on Etsy who make kits for dollhouse needlepoint to create rugs and other dollhouse accessories.
Some of them sell vintage kits, some sell patterns, and some have finished pieces in their shops.
Making dollhouse carpets out of old sweaters.
To make a dollhouse carpet our of an old sweater, you’ll need an old sweater to start with (obviously.) It’s best if it’s a really tight knit with small stitches, or if it has a small pattern on it.
For a 1:12 scale carpet, you can make what would be mini version by cutting a piece of the sweater that corresponds to the size of the carpet in feet vs inches. For example, and 8’x12′ carpet would be 8″x12″ when it’s scaled down to a 1:12 scale.
For a 1:6 scale, the carpet would be 2″ for every 1 foot of the regular size carpet.
The good thing about dollhouse carpets, though, is that there’s no reason that you have to make the miniature carpet any specific size. You can cut it so that the mini carpet fills the size that you need it to fill, and there’s no need to match a specific size.
Cut the piece of sweater to the size that you want it to be when it’s finished. Also cut a piece of iron-on fusible interfacing to use as the backing for the carpet.
Iron the interfacing to the sweater to make it stiff. If you need to add a second piece of interfacing to make it stiffer you can add another layer.
Another way to do it would be to iron the interfacing on first, then trim the sweater around the edges of the interfacing. That can keep the sweater from fraying around the edges.
You can also cut the sweater a little larger around the edge of the interfacing and either hem the sweater or serge it if you have a serger.
Another way to fix the edge of the carpet would be to use white glue or mod podge to seal the edges of the carpet so that it won’t unravel.
Another way to keep the sweater from fraying would be to used felted sweaters, or actual pieces of felt, to make the carpet. Felted sweaters don’t fray the same way that unfelted ones do, and the knitted stitches look smaller, too.
