I don't really consider myself a creative person. I am a pattern person instead. I like to do things that have complete instructions for me to follow. I am not one to visualize a crafty project and make it up as I go. With that said, this latest project has been a real stretch for me, and I think it came out ok, and is at least functional! In the last couple months, we've been working together on a new project for our girl. Logan designed and built the frame out of PVC pipe, 
and I sewed the house to go over the frame. We saw lots of different play houses online, and decided that most were too expensive for us, and that we could make our own. I really liked the idea of using felt for the walls, because then it is like a huge flannel board type situation. We were able to get the large bolt type felt for the big pieces, and used the little sheets for the details. I thought about putting velcro on some of the outside features, but it turns out the small felt pieces stick pretty good on the big felt structure, and big details could be sewn on pretty easily. We got one wall done, the back one. That is why the pictures are a bit sideways...it is against the wall. I haven't decided what to put on the other walls yet, but my girl is REALLY enjoying her play house. The kitchen set Elise received for Christmas, as well as her small couch and all her doll accessories fit inside the structure. 
One of her favorite activities is called "apple hiding". When she asks to do this she really means she wants to take all the small felt pieces off the wall, including her apples, fish, turtle, sun, rainbow, clouds, flowers, and Clifford the small red puppy, and put them in a basket. Then we take the pieces inside and lay them all out. We separate them all, then take them back out and put them on the house. Elise does this a lot. Sometimes she just picks the flowers and brings them inside to put in a vase on her kitchen counter. She is also enjoying having her own space to take care of her baby doll (that was another recent new thing...we'll talk about that later too). She loves being the mom and being in charge of her space. And she loves getting mail in her mailbox and ringing her door bell. 
Sometimes we pretend her house is a train we are riding on, or just her special place for us to have picnics. The windows out are another favorite feature, especially the heart shaped one on the door. I ended up reinforcing the door and heart window with a second layer to keep the felt from stretching (that's the one draw back to using felt, it stretches). 
All in all, it has been a lot of fun. I sometimes wonder what we'll do with this when the day comes that we move and no longer have this kind of space in our front room (it ended up being bigger than we thought it would. It measures 6 feet by 6 feet, and the roof peak is about 6 foot 10 inches high. Logan can stand up inside without hitting his head!), but for now, we're all enjoying it tremendously!
Hooray for a fun playhouse!!! Any suggestions for the other outside walls?
and I sewed the house to go over the frame. We saw lots of different play houses online, and decided that most were too expensive for us, and that we could make our own. I really liked the idea of using felt for the walls, because then it is like a huge flannel board type situation. We were able to get the large bolt type felt for the big pieces, and used the little sheets for the details. I thought about putting velcro on some of the outside features, but it turns out the small felt pieces stick pretty good on the big felt structure, and big details could be sewn on pretty easily. We got one wall done, the back one. That is why the pictures are a bit sideways...it is against the wall. I haven't decided what to put on the other walls yet, but my girl is REALLY enjoying her play house. The kitchen set Elise received for Christmas, as well as her small couch and all her doll accessories fit inside the structure. 
One of her favorite activities is called "apple hiding". When she asks to do this she really means she wants to take all the small felt pieces off the wall, including her apples, fish, turtle, sun, rainbow, clouds, flowers, and Clifford the small red puppy, and put them in a basket. Then we take the pieces inside and lay them all out. We separate them all, then take them back out and put them on the house. Elise does this a lot. Sometimes she just picks the flowers and brings them inside to put in a vase on her kitchen counter. She is also enjoying having her own space to take care of her baby doll (that was another recent new thing...we'll talk about that later too). She loves being the mom and being in charge of her space. And she loves getting mail in her mailbox and ringing her door bell. 
Sometimes we pretend her house is a train we are riding on, or just her special place for us to have picnics. The windows out are another favorite feature, especially the heart shaped one on the door. I ended up reinforcing the door and heart window with a second layer to keep the felt from stretching (that's the one draw back to using felt, it stretches). 
All in all, it has been a lot of fun. I sometimes wonder what we'll do with this when the day comes that we move and no longer have this kind of space in our front room (it ended up being bigger than we thought it would. It measures 6 feet by 6 feet, and the roof peak is about 6 foot 10 inches high. Logan can stand up inside without hitting his head!), but for now, we're all enjoying it tremendously!
Hooray for a fun playhouse!!! Any suggestions for the other outside walls?
1 comment:
WOW!!! I feel the same as you, I like to have a pattern to work with instead of making things up. But seriously, that is amazing! You did a great job on that! Has Elise started to play school yet? Maybe you could do something like that - I don't know if she'd be interested in it...just a thought.
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