Fabric Doll House & a Free Pattern to Make a Mini Doll

I've found the perfect project to use up all your little scraps of fabric, random buttons, lace and tiny seed beads!  Make a doll house and with all your random leftovers, create dolls and a wardrobe for those dolls. I feel like that book The Hundred Dresses, only instead of drawings, I've created about 60 articles of clothing so far. I decided to make four of these doll houses. One for each of my children's families. It reminds me of the time I made quiet books which were a lot of work but a lot of fun! Below are examples of some of those outfits and the adorableness of this fabric doll house and the mini doll I created along with the dolls created from the original pattern.

For this fabric doll house and my first group of dolls, I started with this 1973 McCall pattern:

I liked the portable house idea but I didn't like the handles on the side of the house so, I moved them to the roof of the house.  In the pattern, the clothes looked dated and the dolls hairstyles were so time consuming that after making two dolls, I figured out how to do the doll's hair another, quicker way (see below). Here's a view of the portable house's exterior:

Here's a few view of the interior of this fabric doll house:

Don't you just love how the bed was designed so that a doll can be tucked into it?  And that wardrobe on the other side of the bed, is just so great!  The wardrobe Velcros shut and holds all the doll's clothes which is one of the brilliant ideas of this fabric doll house. 

Notice the doll in the middle, this is the one I redesigned. I'm calling her the Livy doll.  On the original doll, the neck is just so chunky and her head seemed out of proportion to her body. I made four of the original dolls like the pattern directed and then I rebelled and redesigned this doll and I'm glad I did.

HERE is the pattern you'll need to make your own mini Livy doll. This doll has a smaller head and neck. I also added underwear to my pattern because a doll's bum shouldn't be exposed, right? At the last minute, I decided that the shoe pattern that came with the original pattern was ridiculously small and most children would just loose those shoes if I was crazy enough to make them. So, I created tiny shoes that are sewn right onto the doll and the best part is the child can't take them off. 

Make sure to print this pattern at the full image meaning the "fit to page" is not checked when printing this. Got it?  Print the pattern off & cut out the pattern from whatever ethnic color fabric you want your doll to be. Then, follow the directions below:

Are you ready to make a few dolls like this? HERE are the two free patterns and tutorials on how to make the mini tutu dress and the black and white sundress that are pictured in the tutorial above.  Have fun sewing this project with your scraps!  xoxo Grandma

I've linked this to Sew Mama Sew Softies Contest.  One doll house was completed to create this post & the other three were sewn after Feb. 23rd. On two of those doll houses, I  add embroidery to the outside of the doll house.  I love the spring feel this embroidery added along with texture and tiny details from the planter boxes and the wreath.

You also might like these softie patterns: 

HERE

HERE

Linked to: Threading My Way, Nap Time Creations, Sustaining the Powers, Sew Pretty So Free