Beginners Corner - The Miniature Sewing Room Table

Materials required

• 1/12th scale table of your choice
• 1/12th scale sewing machine
• Plasti-kote Crackle Glaze spray paints (gold base and top coat)
• 5mm Dowel
• 15mm cylinder beads
• Assortment of small scale fabrics
• Assortment of 1/12th scale braids
• Assortment of ribbons and lace
• Seed beads in various colours
• Lightweight card
• Glue
• Fray Check – if required

Tools Required

• Scissors
• Small saw
• 7mm round punch   

Step 1 - Preparation of the table

• Spray the table with a crackle glaze which will give it a shabby chic finish.
• Find a suitable place to spray your table, preferably outside where there is good ventilation.
• The crackle glaze is a two part paint application where the top coat reacts with the basecoat to give a cracked paint finish. Remember to always read the safety instructions before you start.
• Spray the gold base coat evenly to all areas of your table. You may need to do this in two applications, upper and underside.
• Allow the base coat to become tacky - this can be tested by lightly touching with your fingertip, if there isn’t any paint on your finger you are ready to apply the top coat.
• Spray the table with the top coat as evenly as you can. As it dries you will see the lovely crackle effect appear.

Step 2 - Dressing the table

Choose a selection of small scale fabrics which will complement each other. Pure silk is a good choice as it will drape really well. Following the instructions, make your individual rolls of fabric and lace. After completing put them to one side until we fix everything to the table.

• Cut a piece of the wooden dowel to a length of approximately 3-1/2”  
• Roll A - take a piece of your chosen fabric the same width as the dowel and 14” long, secure the end of the fabric to the dowel with a touch of glue and roll half of the remaining fabric around it. Add another dab of glue to keep it in place. Repeat as many times as you require.   
• Roll B - do the same with another piece of fabric, but as you roll it take the fabric downwards to create a loose effect, again glue this roll at the halfway point. As above, make as many as you feel you will need. 
• For the roll of lace fabric, cut a piece of card 1-3/4” x 3/4” and wrap the lace around it as we did with the fabric, but this time leave approximately 3” loose. Repeat with another piece of lace.     
• Make a few extra fabric rolls which will stand under the table. Depending on your choice of fabric, you may need to apply Fray Check to any cut edges.
• To make smaller rolls, take another piece of the dowel, cut to 1” length and wrap around some ribbon or lace.
• Make more rolls of fabric by wrapping fabric around cylinder beads or thicker wooden dowel.
• Punch some paper small circles preferably with some tiny writing on, then stick them to each end of the rolls. Use different sized rolls to give a nice variation on the table. 
• Add other smaller items to the table e.g. pattern instructions, paper patterns, tiny button cards (seed beads on cards available as a free printout from my website)

Step 3 – Dressing the Table

• Take roll A and glue it to the side of the table, gather the loose fabric into folds and fix to the table top. 
• Glue roll B in front of roll A and take the loose fabric across the top
• Fix the two carded rolls of lace at the other end of the table.
• Glue a reduced size paper pattern to a small piece of fabric and draw in pins with a fine pen.    
• Glue this fabric in front of the lace rolls, along with the smaller rolls fixed towards the rear of the table. 
• The final items to be added to the table are the loose paper patterns, the pattern instructions, the button cards, a small trinket box made from beads and a pair of dressmaking scissors. 
• The additional rolls of fabric have been left loose and are displayed under the table along with a sewing book.   

Step 4 - Dressing the sewing machine

• I have chosen an old fashioned treddle sewing machine. 
• For added realism, take some fine cotton/thread, dab a touch of glue to the cotton holder on the machine, secure the cotton to the holder and wrap the cotton around it. 
• Take the cotton across the top, add some glue to keep it in place and take the cotton down to the needle.         
• Take a piece of fabric, cut two pattern shapes and seal the edges with Fray Check. Fix the cut pieces onto the sewing machine at an angle as if they were being sewn.
• Fix another pattern instruction sheet close to the fabric and a paper pattern with some button card to the other side of the machine.    
•  More bolts of fabric are leaning to the side of the machine.

INFORMATION

www.dollshouseinterior.co.uk

Carol Carke’s website