Dolls bedding: how to guide

So a little while ago I made C’s baby a changing bag and accessories. She loved it and I had some of the fabric I used left over so had been planning on making something else with it for her but it had languished about in a box crumpled up for months (that may have partly been as I didn’t yet have a sewing room, but now I have the cabin so no excuse). Her doll has a bed from IKEA that I picked up for her on a rather disasterous trip there whilst looking at storage (I would never recommend anyone take their toddler there if they are actually planning to shop rather than chase a toddler). It’s a lovely looking wooden bed that was remarkably cheap (can’t actually remember the price) and C loves it. We had got it for her at about the same time as we were going to convert her cot to a bed so thought it was a really good thing to link to the idea of a big girls bed. Anyway, so although the dolls bed came with bedding it was rather thin and cheap looking. So I decided to make some nicer bedding for it. 

I didn’t have quite as much of the elephant fabric as I would have hoped so the dolls quilt had to be adapted somewhat from my original plan but I’m rather pleased with it. I’ve included some simple instructions below for what I did in case anyone fancies trying out a similar project.

Dolls Bedding how to guide

First measure the length and width of the inside of your dolls bed (this is where the mattress would sit).

Materials

• Mattress: 2 pieces of length add 1/2 inch x width add 1/2 inch; one piece of wadding the same size
• Pillow: 2 pieces of length x 5 inches; toy stuffing to fill
• Quilt: 2 pieces of length add one inch x width add 4 inches; one piece of wadding the same size

You can choose to have the same materials for the mattress and the pillow (as I have) or different for all three. I had planned to have the top of the quilt in the dark elephant fabric and the bottom in the pale elephant fabric but ended up having to adapt and sew some squares together to get the required size. My instructions below are for one piece of material on the front and one on the back. All fabric should be prewashed, pressed and cut to size. Seam allowance throughout is 1/4 inch. 

Instructions

1. Mattress: place the two pieces of fabric right sides together and lay the wadding on top. Sew around all four sides leaving a gap of about 3 inches on one side. Snip a triangle off at the corners and turn the right way out through the gape left in the same. Press well with a hot iron so that the wadding becomes firmer and more mattress like. Then hand stitch the gap in the seam closed. 

2. The pillow: put the two fabric pieces right side together and sew around all four sides leaving a gap of 3 inches. Snip the corners then turn the right way out through the gap in the seam and then press. Next begin stuffing, making sure to push the stuffing right into the corners (a chopstick can help with this), keep squishing it to ensure an even fill. Once filled so you are happy with it, handsew the gap in the seam closed. 

3. The quilt: now you could try to be quite fancy here and do a patchwork design or appliqué a picture on it, but my guide is for a simple plain quilt. Put your two pieces of fabric right sides together and then lay the wadding on top (I try to used the thickest wadding I have here). Sew around all four sides leaving a gap of about three inches for turning. Snip the corners and then turn right side out. Do not press here as you want your wadding nice and fluffy. Hand stitch the gap in the seam. You could do some quilting stitch here if you want but I haven’t. 

So there you go. Fairly simple, all you need to be able to do is to sew in a straight line, you could even hand stitch the whole thing if you want but it would take a lot longer. If using a machine then this is an easy project to complete in an evening. Next step is some clothes for her doll I think, maybe even matching. Has anyone else sewn anything exciting for children?