Dulling Paper Carpets: When I make rugs from glossy magazine cutouts, I coat the picture with a thin layer of Mod Podge, then lay a single ply of tissue across it, press into the glue, and let it dry. When dry you will be able to see the pattern through the tissue, and the carpet has a realistic fabric-like texture--"dull" like fabric, not shiny.

Celeste Ng

Padded Clothes Hangers: the latest Dolls House World had a simple idea for modern padded coat hangers that might work for you. For each one, you need a chenille stem (pipe cleaner), preferably a decorative color, and a pierced earring finding, the kind with an open wire hook-type hanger. Remove the jump ring intended to attach pendants to the hook and slip the chenille stem through the wire loop where the jump ring was. Center the loop in the middle of the stem and fold the ends to meet in the center -- trim ends to shorten if the stem is too long. Glue the ends to the center, and you have a padded hanger. Decorate with lace rosette, flower, etc., where hook and hanger meet if you want.

Loretta Sniarowski

Yarn for Mini Knitting: I have been surfing the net to find materials for my knitting and crochet and I found this very interesting site http://www.minknit.freeserve.co.uk There are lots of patterns to buy , sweet little dolls and lots of yarns to chose from.

Marianne

Crochet: "1/2 triple double"? It is mentioned in several places in the book by Carol Wikberg, so it's not a mistake. What does this women mean? You make a 1/2" triple crochet twice.

Marilyn, MI

Crochet: Triple Double: Here is a site that someone gave to me when I needed crochet help. It explains all stitches. This should help you with your triple double. It certainly helped me out of a jam http://crochet.about.com/hobbies/crochet/library/weekly/aa052398.htm

Jane

Flower Thread: Ginny Thompson Flower Thread is an excellent product. I've used it for years to stitch miniature oriental rugs. It produces a finished product that has very soft feel. Colors soft and muted. About same weight but far superior product to DMC, which has been discontinued. Source: The Counting House, Pawleys Island SC. http://www.crossstitchsamplings.com or crossstitchsampl@mindspring.com. They carry full selection of colors.

Betty M.

Flower Thread: I have stitched with Ginnie Thompson flower thread and like it a lot. Her web site is http://www.flowerthread.com Look under Conversion and Wholesale for info about the thread, and list of colors. If you want wool of a similar thickness, try Appleton's crewel wool (English company) or DMC Medici. I have used both for mini knitting. I like them better than cottons as wool has more "give" and I find it easier to work with. Between the two, there are lots of colors.

Kay in Ottawa

Crochet Threads: Someone asked earlier for a source for DMC thread for crocheting or embroidering - Herrschners has a large selection of all kinds of threads, in all colors. Their website: www.herrschners.com Address: 2800 Hoover Rd., Stevens Point, WI 54492-0001 They also carry tiny glass beads in lots of colors, and cheap prices.

Paulette in IN

Micro Stitchery: I was waiting patiently for Bobbie Schoonmaker's "Micro Stitchery" site to launch and the moment it did, I immediately went to the site to find something wonderful to order. It was not easy to choose! Both the kits and the finished products left me saying, "Oh my, oh wow...oh gee, which one?" I've yet to work on silk gauze so this was my prime opportunity to order a kit. I opted for a small project, a pillow kit, and decided on the Green Tartan with Crown motif. And, Bobbie takes PayPal, so right there she's become my best friend! The kit arrived in yesterday's mail and I am so impressed with the packaging.

First, the chart is practically the entire page of a 8 1/2 X 11 color printed sheet....big help right there for my little eyes. The instruction page, again in color, is well written with an image indicating how the stitches are worked on the silk gauze. Good preparation instructions are also included along with the process and the finishing instructions too. For this particular pillow, it's on 40 count gauze (teeny-tiny stitches!), so apart from the chart and instruction sheet, there is the silk gauze, 2 lovely needles, the DMC floss and red ultra suede for the pillow backing.

I've yet to see ultra suede before, it's so nice and so perfect to use for mini projects. Oh, also on the chart, the DMC floss numbers are marked which is good in case you run out of floss, you shouldn't I imagine if you're doing it correctly, but just in case, it's good to know exactly which DMC floss number you need. And of course must not forget the batting to stuff my little pillow with! Bobbie states on her site that her work is "museum quality petit point," well she also packages it in museum quality packaging.

A good-sized, clear plastic bag with a sealing label, again in color with some of her finished pieces on it and all the printed information about Micro Stitchery in case you need to get in touch with her by phone, e-mail or through her web site. I appreciate a vendor that makes themselves available to their clientele...just in case I run into a "petit" problem. If you've not yet seen Bobbie's site, nor her kits, get yourself over to: http://www.micro-stitchery.com and be prepared for a lovely visit. And if you've wondered about working with silk gauze, go for it, doesn't matter if you've not done it before. When you see the kit, ...well just the kit itself encourages you to want to do it.

Joy in Pointe Claire

Tassels: I've made really lovely tassels from 1 1/2"cotton brush fringe, the kind you can buy at Wal-Mart in basic colors--ecru, white, black, etc. Be sure you get the nice, full, kind; there's another kind that's pretty wimpy. Once you look at a piece you'll see exactly how to do it. Cut off one of the little looped bundles of threads from one end, wrap the top of it w/button & Carpet thread, embroidery thread, crewel wool, glue the loose end in, cut the tassel to desired length.

Then run a hanging thread through the loop at the top to tie it to your key or whatever. I did some beautiful ones in ecru fringe wrapped w/soft coral pink. You can make them as fat as you wish dep. on how many "bundles" you tie together. (But don't forget that your tassel will look much fuller after you clip it shorter. I generally use just one bundle per tassel.) A few inches of the fringe will keep you in tassels longer than you'll need them.

Hilda Hardcastle

Tassels: A good book on the subject is "Tassel Making for beginners" by Enid Taylor, a Guild of Master Craftsman Publication. The ISBN # is 1-86108-062-X. This book was first published in 1998 In the U.K. You should be able to borrow a copy from the Toronto Public Library. I bought mine at Chapters in Ottawa last year for about $25 Cdn.

Doris T

Tassel Maker: Williamson -Walton Marble email for the tassel maker is nmarble@sprynet.com. I also carry the tassel maker by Judee.

Jackie

Fringe & Tassels: Tiny fringe IS really hard to find! Sometimes you can find very fine fringe on trims that are too wide for what you are working on, or have a border of inappropriate colors, I simply get my tacky glue out (yes, again! lol) I draw a line if tacky on the part of the trim just above the fringe, let dry and cut the fringe, which now has a narrow border, off. If the fringe, itself, is too long, place it under a metal ruler, hold the ruler down VERY tightly and using a brand new single edge razor blade, trim the fringe to the desired length. Light colored fringe can be colored with permanent markers. Fringe can be made from silk fabric. Draw a straight line of tacky glue near an edge, let dry. Unravel the threads that run parallel to it from the edge up to the glue line. Trim as explained above!

The traditional method of making tassels: Cut a piece of cardboard about 2 inches long by 3/4" wide. Lay a 4" piece of thread (I like silk thread best) along the long side of the cardboard. Wind thread round the cardboard at least 10 times. This will determine the thickness of your tassel. (If you will want matching ones, keep track of how many times you wind.) Tie the long thread into a tight knot against one long edge. Remove cardboard. A bit below the knot, carefully glue and wind a piece of thread around tassel to hold its shape. Trim the ends.

"Instant" tassels: Using the fringe methods described above, cut a piece of fringe about an inch long. Lay a doubled piece of matching thread in a "T" to the base of the fringe, with the folded part of the thread overlapping the base part of the fringe. Glue it in place. Using glue sparingly, roll the fringe into the tassel and glue.

Alice Zinn

Fringing Grosgrain Ribbon: I first of all cut off one selvage edge. Then I take a needle or pin and poke it just above the cut-off edge and slide it down towards the edge. In doing so, the threads slide off too. Next I put the needle up a bit higher and slide the threads down once again -- and continue until I've fringed as much as I want. Doesn't take long.

Viola Williams

Crochet: To mini crochet you need to get Tatting Thread size 80 and size 14 hook. I buy these at Hobby Lobby or Joann Fabrics. If you want a smaller hook go to http://www.lacis.com/, they sell size 15 & 16 hooks.

Tayna

Cording: A couple of issues ago there was discussion on cording. For many years I have used DMC Pearl Cotton ... not the embroidery floss. It has a twist to it, a nice sheen (like real silk cording), is the perfect scale for 1/12th and comes in lots and lots of colors. It comes in a skein. I use it to finish off benches and stools that are not recessed into the furniture. It is a very nice touch. If you go to my web site ( http://www.micro-stitchery.com ) and click Go Shopping/Kits /Footstools, you can see what a nice finished look you get. You can usually buy it anywhere that sells DMC floss.

Bobbie Schoonmaker

Clothing: Oh... it's so easy! "Dolls and Miniatures" magazine has an issue that tells you how to make the dress, cape and hat. Please see my web page if you are interested: http://www.dollsminiatures.bigstep.com As to assembling the pieces.... easy! easy! easy! I'll try to explain here: I'm assuming that your doll has holes at the shoulders and that the torso is hollow (but porcelain to the waist or hips). Push a good quality pipe cleaner wire through the shoulder holes. Then push the ends of the wires into the hollow arms. The arms from shoulder to fingertip should measure approx. 2" each arm. Keep cutting the wire until you reach that measurement. Then glue the wires inside the arms. Now it's time to do the legs: Bend a pipe cleaner in half. That gives you two protruding wires (one for each leg). The bent portion fits inside the hollow torso. You'll see that the wire is too thin and will fall right out... so.... wrap strips of nylon stocking, cotton (or whatever) around the bent portion of the wire until it fits snugly inside the hollow torso. Then glue it inside. Now bend out the "leg wires" across the doll's hips and glue down. If she does not have porcelain hips, you will need to shape the remainder of her body by bending the wire. In other words, (I assume she is porcelain to the waist) so you will NOT need to shape a waist with the wire... but if she does not have porcelain hips, you will have to bend out both ends of the wire to shape the hips... then bend the remainder of the wire DOWN so those two pieces can be used for the legs. Slip the legs over the wires and measure. The doll should be approx. 5-1/2" tall. Cut the wire until you've reached that measurement; then glue the wire inside the legs. Dry over night. Then wrap strips of quilting filler, nylon stocking (anything that stretches) round and round the bare wires to "fatten them up" a bit. Be careful to not over-wrap unless you want a fat witch. After having done that, your doll is ready to dress.

Viola Williams

Canopy Bed: I made a canopy bed for my girl's room. I just used a Styrofoam block for the mattress, glued mini posts that you can get from various mail ordered catalogs to each corner. The frame for the top is made of balsa wood that I cut with an X-Acto, the sides are kind of bell shaped and the top slats and front & back slats are straight pieces. A single piece of fabric was glued on top and lace was glued around the sides. I think it would be easy to modify for curtains.

Michelle

Cleaning Old Lace: Old lace can generally be cleaned just by soaking it in clean warm water. Let it soak for 15 minutes or so, change water and repeat if the water looks dirty. Dab any dirty spots with a clean white cotton towel once it has been soaked for a while. I would use very mild detergent as the last resort if the lace is still dirty. Again let the lace soak in the solution, dab the obviously dirty spot with towel. If you used soap, make sure you rinse out all of the soap with warm water. Dry the lace by laying it flat, on top of white towel, roll up the towel and press gently to squeeze out some water, then unroll the towel, and let the lace dry (either on this towel or a drier one).

Vina

Cleaning Old Lace: To clean old lace , soak in solution of mild dish detergent and hot water, that will remove most of stain , rinse well, if any stain remains use a weak Clorox or Clorox2 solution. Remove lace when spots clear , rinse well again and wrap carefully around a glass jar or bottle, leave to dry, and won't need to iron. **If lace is really old it is sometimes frail, support when washing- put on cooling rack or screen or in strainer and swish up and down through solution. That's what I do with frail antique doll clothes and laces and old wigs.

Regina, Wilmington, Delaware