Create a cozy bed for your doll and a closet to store her clothing.
If you are a parent with a child who loves dolls, or a doll enthusiast yourself, you may have the dilemma of storing all of your doll's clothing neatly. If you are building a room or house for a doll, you will also need a bed for her to sleep in (which also a good place to store her when she isn't being played with). You can make your doll a custom made bed and a closet out of cheap materials that you can find at the craft store, or lying around your house.
Instructions
Doll Bed
1. Measure the height of your doll if you don't already know how tall she is and add 2 inches to that height--this is how long the bed will be. Measure your doll across and add 3 inches to determine the width of the bed. You can add as much extra room as you want.
2. Cut four of the 1/2-inch-thick wooden dowels with a saw to make the frame. Two of the dowels should be cut at the measurement you determined for the length of the bed, and the other two at the width. Glue all four together at the corners and wait about 4 hours for it to dry. Use a drill to screw the corners together to make it stable.
3. Make the headboard. Cut a flat piece of wood that is about 1/4 inch thick, 5 or 6 inches long and the width of the frame you just made. Attach it to the frame by gluing it about 1 1/2 inches from one end short end of the headboard, and letting it dry. Secure it by drilling screws through the headboard to the frame. Use this same process to make the footboard, but it should be shorter than the headboard.
4. Tie pieces of yarn across the width of the bed from one dowel to the other and double-knot to make them secure. Space them apart every 1/2 inch or so. This is what will hold the mattress up.
5. Make the mattress. If the frame is small enough, you can use a sponge. If your doll needs a bigger mattress, you can cut a piece of foam to the appropriate size. Cover the bare mattress with cotton fabric for a sheet but cutting it to size and sewing the corners together with needle and thread.
Doll Closet
6. Buy or reuse an old vinyl or cardboard under bed storage box with a hinged lid. Cover it with contact paper with a color or pattern that you like. Apply a decorate contact paper on the inside especially, to make it look like the inside of a closet with wallpaper. If an under-bed storage box is too large for your dolls, you can use a cardboard box instead.
7. Cut the straight section of a wire coat hanger at the width of the closet with a pair of bolt cutters, and add 2 inches of extra length. Poke a hole through both sides of the closet with a needle at the level you would like the close-hanger rod to be.
8. Feed the coat hanger wire through both holes and bend the ends down with a pair of pliers to keep them from sliding out of the holes. Stick tiny hooks to the inside of the door to hang your doll's accessories.
Tags: your doll, closet with, coat hanger, contact paper, corners together
