Little House in the Big Woods Dollshouse

Little House in the Big Woods

This is the most recent of my Buttercup houses. I got the idea when I was at the Glasgow Miniatura in 1998 and saw a stall of American country style furniture made by a company called In Some Small Way. The interior of the house is based on the book "Little House in the Big Woods" by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

"The attic was a lovely place to play. The large, round, coloured pumpkins made beautiful chairs and tables. The red peppers and the onions dangled overhead. The hams and venison hung in their paper wrappings, and all the bunches of dried herbs, the spicy herbs for cooking and the bitter herbs for medicine, gave the place a dusty-spicy smell.
Often the wind howled outside with a cold and lonesome sound. But in the attic Laura and Mary played house with the squashes and the pumpkins, and everything was snug and cosy.

Mary was bigger than Laura, and she had a rag doll named Nettie. Laura had only a corncob wrapped in a handkerchief, but is was a good doll. It was named Susan."

Upstairs Laura and Mary are playing with their dolls. There are baskets of corn, apples, carrots, bags of potatoes and salt, meat, onions and peppers hanging up, pumpkins and squashes. Ma is sewing downstairs and Pa has just come in from the snow. Baby Carrie is asleep in a basket. There is a bearskin rug on the floor.

I bought the doll which became Laura at Miniatura. I then based Mary on the same design, and I was very pleased with how she turned out. They are made from pegs with pipecleaners for arms, as are Ma and Pa.

Ma's china doll is sitting on a shelf. I made her from Fimo. Pa's bullet pouch is hanging from the shelf and his gun is hanging above the door. The cupboard contains cakes, cheeses and jars of preserves. There is a hurricane lamp. The furniture was very inexpensive and I painted, stencilled and antiqued it.

I recently added Black Susan the cat and have still to add Jack the brindle bulldog. My most recent purchase was a butter churn made by Duodecimus which I got at last year's Miniatura. Another addition since the photograph was taken was a bed - you can see that the quilt was just lying on the floor! I have still to make a trundle bed to go under the main bed.

On the outside of the house there is a birdhouse with a robin on it. There is snow on the roof and around the windows, made of cotton wadding and acrylic paint.

The house is on display in my bedroom, which is decorated in shaker style.

Sweetcorn

Mix yellow and white Fimo to make a pale yellow colour. Form a fat sausage shape, slightly smaller than a cardamom pod. Use a craft knife to make a criss-cross texture on the surface. Bake.

Slice a cardomom pod lengthwise along two sides and ease out the seed. Glue the Fimo sweetcorn in place.

Some of the cardomom pods can be left whole to represent unopened corn cobs.

Cotton reels

Cut 1/2 cm lengths of kebab skewer. Use the needle file to make a depression to hold the thread. Add a small amount of tacky glue to the depression and wind thread around.

Rag doll

Arms - Cut a piece of material 3cm x 1cm Spread tacky glue over the back and roll into a thin sausage shape.

Skirt - Cut another piece of material 2.5cm x 6cm Sew the short sides together to form a tube, then gather one of the remaining edges. Sew the centre of the arms to this. Fray the bottom of the skirt or spread glue on it to stop it fraying.

Head - Glue the bead on top, with the hole vertically.Using a permanent pen, draw a happy face on one side of the bead and a sad one on the other.

Hair - Plait together 3 strands of emboidery thread. Glue the centre of this over the hole in the top of the bead.

Baby

Cut a peg to about 5cm in length. Paint the head of the peg a pale flesh colour and add eyes and pink cheeks. Cut a circle of gingham 3cm in diameter. Use fray check around the edges. Use a running stitch about 1/2cm from the edge to gather then glue in place on the head. Glue some wadding around the body. Cut a piece of plain cotton 5 x 7 cm. Use fraycheck on one of the 7cm edges or fray the edge. Place the baby at the centre of this top edge, with its neck level with the edge. Fold up the bottom edge and glue in place. Fold in the bottom corners then fold the sides so that they overlap at the front and glue in place. Make a dummy out of Fimo.

	Sweetcorn Mix yellow and white Fimo to make a pale yellow colour. Form a fat sausage shape, slightly smaller than a cardamom pod. Use a craft knife to make a criss-cross texture on the surface. Bake. Slice a cardomom pod lengthwise along two sides and ease out the seed. Glue the Fimo sweetcorn in place. Some of the cardomom pods can be left whole to represent unopened corn cobs.
	Cotton reels Cut 1/2 cm lengths of kebab skewer. Use the needle file to make a depression to hold the thread. Add a small amount of tacky glue to the depression and wind thread around.
	Rag doll Arms - Cut a piece of material 3cm x 1cm Spread tacky glue over the back and roll into a thin sausage shape. Skirt - Cut another piece of material 2.5cm x 6cm Sew the short sides together to form a tube, then gather one of the remaining edges. Sew the centre of the arms to this. Fray the bottom of the skirt or spread glue on it to stop it fraying. Head - Glue the bead on top, with the hole vertically.Using a permanent pen, draw a happy face on one side of the bead and a sad one on the other. Hair - Plait together 3 strands of emboidery thread. Glue the centre of this over the hole in the top of the bead.
	Baby Cut a peg to about 5cm in length. Paint the head of the peg a pale flesh colour and add eyes and pink cheeks. Cut a circle of gingham 3cm in diameter. Use fray check around the edges. Use a running stitch about 1/2cm from the edge to gather then glue in place on the head. Glue some wadding around the body. Cut a piece of plain cotton 5 x 7 cm. Use fraycheck on one of the 7cm edges or fray the edge. Place the baby at the centre of this top edge, with its neck level with the edge. Fold up the bottom edge and glue in place. Fold in the bottom corners then fold the sides so that they overlap at the front and glue in place. Make a dummy out of Fimo.