From shoebox to roombox

I love shoeboxes; I save them all!  Though I haven't actually done anything with them (same with those round oatmeal containers).  So it seemed  time to do something with one of them :-)

Trying one on for size, it looked like a good fit for a tiny cloth doll.  Jane Noelle is six inches tall, and fits very nicely inside a shoebox for a pair of walking shoes.  And it looks like a Celestial Seasonings tea box will make a nice wardrobe.

All of the printed papers were scavenged from the internet and printed on card stock on my printer.  The picture on the wall is a painting by Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830) that was reduced to fit a 2"x3" wooden plaque.

The outside of the box is papered as well as the inside; using a mix of paintings that I liked for the outside.  Jane has a couple of comfy upholstered chairs that were very easy to make: there is a picture tutorial on flickr here.

The rug is a crocheted doily, and her knitting needles are a pair of toothpicks.  She's making a garter stitch scarf :-)

The quilt in the hoop and the thread caddy are both Gail Wilson kits I made a long time ago, and little wood findings make up the tables.

Jane has a small wardrobe made from vintage hankies.  The sundress at the upper left and the nightgown at the lower right are made essentially the same way.  Two squares are sewn up the side seam, leaving the upper 1 1/4 " unsewn.  Hem the unsewn part back, then fold over 3/8" at the top edge on both side to create a casing.  Thread a piece of ribbon (silk ribbon works best) through the casing and gather up the neck edge.  Her arms fit through the opening left on both sides.

I cut the nightgown on the corner for the front, as this hankie had such a pretty edgeing on one corner.  For the sundress, make four rows of gathering stitches 1/8" apart below the casing on both the front and the back and pull up to gather the bodice (this is called shirring).  The neck edge is gathered up with the ribbon same as the nightgown.

Upper right are simple smallclothes made from a linen hankie, and lower left is a pinafore cut from a pretty corner portion of another hankie.  All of these vintage, slightly flawed hankies came from LinsAntiques on Etsy.

I'm sure your tiny dolls would love a home of their own!

Happy Stitching :-)