George approves

Changing the Style of Tiny Chairs

Christmas came early this year, I must have been a very good girl! 😁

My brother-in-law surprised me with a massive dollhouse bundle: 1:12th scale furniture, light fixtures, and tiny accessories.

Everything is the just the right size for George. Well, the chairs might be a tiny bit high for him, but we can look past that. The real problem was George’s taste.

As a typical know-it-all, George had a lot of opinions. He looked at the brown, lacquered wooden furniture and he hated them. He especially could not stand the sofa and the armchairs.

So, what is a miniature maker to do? I decided to reupholster them! 🤷🏻‍♀️

The Big Trouble with Tiny Fabric

I know how to upholster real, human-sized furniture. I have done it before, and it is no problem at all. But have you ever tried to do it at a 1:12th scale? It is a whole different world! Well, a mini world, actually.

These pieces were not the cheap temu items. They were made of real wood and held together with tiny, proper nails. Just taking them apart took me ages and real force.

Then, I made a classic mistake. I chose a fabric that was way too thick for this scale. But the colour was just too beautiful to pass up! 🥹

Of course, that was not my only oops moment. I knew from the very start that I wanted to add custom embroidery to the fabric. Did I do that before putting the chair together? No, I did not!

I waited until the first chair was fully ready before trying to stitch it (bc I was in flow and totally forgot about the embroidery). It was a complete nightmare. My needle would not fit into the tight spaces. I could not do the stitches properly at all.

Well, I learnt my lesson by the time I started the second chair. This time, I did the embroidery first. Then, I cut out the fabric and covered the chair. It went much smoother!

Still, with all the fraying edges and bulky corners, it would have been much faster to build new chairs from scratch. But you know me. I am as stubborn as a mule.

George's Final Verdict

In the end, the hard work paid off. George inspected the chairs and declared that he absolutely loves his new seats!

We were planning to paint or at least, to sand the dark wood furniture next. However, George thinks the dark wood actually looks quite nice against the new fabric. He claims he might even like the brown lacquer now! That saves me a ton of extra work, which I will gladly accept.

Instead of refurbishing miniature furniture, I have a much bigger job to do now: I need to find George a lovely lady giraffe!

Finding a lady patient enough to put up with a know-it-all and all his nonsense might be my hardest challenge yet. So wish me luck or George will grow into a grumpy old butchelor. 😅