peppysis: Barbie Affliction

I swear y'all I think I have found my calling with this Barbie stuff. I promise I do have days when I don't make anything or even have time to think about the Barbie house... maybe just a couple of days. You would think this Barbie house has been in there forever instead of just a few weeks. I find myself remodeling all the time. The contact "wall" paper that I had on the bottom floor I was not happy with so yesterday I redid it in wood grain which I LOVE. I have moved the kitchen from the top floor to the middle floor. And now I want to redo the wallpaper on the top floor. I play in this house more than the kids at the day care do but that's ok right?? I don't really play so much as play "fix up" or "house" which was always mine and my friend Mandy's favorite part.

So one thing that has been bothering me is bedding. I have one little quilt that doesn't fit the beds (no offense to Mom who I think made it). It just lays there... doesn't drape down the sides, and even falls off when the Barbie is covered up. So I have wondered what to do to give my Barbie house bedrooms a more modern feel. I looked all over etsy yesterday (Wednesday) and found quite a lot. Some of them were expensive and some looked great but most of them fit the same way I am talking about. And the crochet ones... YUCK! Barbie houses were not meant for large loop crochet. I hate when things look too big for the houses... now that I am grown up that is. Used to we'd make beds out of wash rags and loved it. Lo, if I'd have had sewing skills back then... we'd have been dangerous. I took the two beds home with me Wednesday, went through my stash of fabric and made two comforters and throw pillows in under an hour and a half. I only quit because I was getting tired after a long day. But I had so much fun and it was seriously stress-free crafting for me. So enjoyable. I have made much more for this Barbie house that I will share soon. It just keeps getting better and better!

This first picture is "before bedding" but after new wallpaper. There is a light socket that is covered up in the top right corner, hence the bubble. Some things you can't help. Also I made the windows, picture on the left, standing pictures on the dresser, rug and plant. The plant is the top off of a Downy bottle. The sea horse is out of that tea I posted about a few weeks ago that has the prizes in it and the bed is just... blah.

And this is "after" with bedding. I used some outdoor fabric that I made pillow out of for our porch six years ago and drop cloth for the sides.

I fringed the pillows, just by pulling threads of fabric out after it was sewn, which I think gives it a more "size appropriate" look. Rather than human sized trim or fringe... which a lot of people use.

And this is the other bed. It is a hard, pink plastic bed with no character really so I decided to cover it totally too. I used fabric that we cut off the bottom of my craft room curtains when they turned out too long. It was already stitched on two sides with a backing so I stitched up the other side, put some polyfill in it and sewed over the top to give it some coosh and comfort, like a quilt. The blue jean pillow, that I added lace to, is my favorite I think. Maybe because it was cut from my rainy day jeans that I finally let go of and knew I'd wear again with my toosh hanging out if I didn't cut them up. I love the fringe on it too. The chicken is a Christmas ornament I found in my sewing stash but it fits perfectly in here!

I do plan to put a small hand stitch in the top corners of the bottom of the bed to make them lay down better.

Too cute huh?!?!

This wardrobe and dressing room is on the bottom floor also. I made the wardrobe from a youtube tutorial. It's not my best work and may not last long with four years olds and it wasn't easy to do. It works though! I made the coat hangers from large paper clips... also from youtube.

I have got to tape those lights up! I made the peace rug, and the multi colored one from the other picture, out of that plastic cross-stitch stuff that I found in Mrs. Brust's sewing stash that I got. I cut the pictures from magazines and made the frames from cardstock. I'm not real happy with the white rug so something else will probably be there soon. It's just a piece of felt. Oh I made the jewelry too. Necklaces and bracelets with beads that I have had forever and tiny elastic string that I bought at Walmart. There's a bunch of it in the top drawer there. Too much fun!