Chenille Bedspreads: At your request for help in creating a chenille bedspread, I did some searching & was astounded at how many of them are up for auction on eBay. (Ideas!! Ideas!!) If I were making one, I would probably attach a cotton spread to the bed I was making and then add the "chenille" design with puff paint. Some cotton/poly materials have delicate designs printed on them that you could use for a chenille pattern. Good Luck.

Anita Myers

Chenille: Here's an address for miniature chenille bedspread kits: Victorian Arts Studio; PO Box 354; Taft, Ca. 93268. They have kits for rugs also and I completed one of their kits a few years ago and it is beautiful. They use a special type of "Yarn" that looks perfect. This kit was also easy and fun.

Elise Herbert Mueck

Chenille Bedspreads: I've started experimenting with using punch needle to replicate chenille. Using the smallest needle, and two strands of embroidery floss on a soft plain weave fabric seems to work pretty well. I haven't completed one yet to show you, that was on my list of ToDo's for 2000 <g> You can contact me privately for more information.

Bonni

Chenille Bedspread: Here is a time-consuming method for making a chenille bedspread. Mark out your pattern on plain cotton cloth in the color of your choice. Then use a needlepunch with a single thread of DMC embroidery floss to make the "tufted parts on the pattern". It will take a long time but you can get a realistic looking spread. If you need a needlepunch, go to: http://www.bright-star-promotions.com/dodie.htm

Here you will find info on the tool and on the books written by Dodie Claypool on making needlepunch mini rugs. I used to have a pattern for a chenille bedspread using this method, but unfortunately I looked for it and couldn't find it.

Paula Foerder

Chenille: Hey! I just checked out Michelle Mahler's website and her chenille is exactly what I was talking about. It is easy to glue on lightweight cotton fabric in any design you choose, and it looks like the real thing!! Her website is: http://www.minidolls.com

Kay Baughman

Crochet thread: I don't know how it would crochet but I gave a friend some overlocker floss (the one with lots of soft threads that you use on an overlock machine) and she knitted me a cute blanket with it. It is very soft when finished.

Roberta Pijper

Bonded Fabric: When Sue Atkinson talks about 'bonded fabric' in her book "Making & Dressing Dollshouse Dolls in 1/12th Scale" she usually means fabric which is backed by an iron-on stabilizer such as Wonder-Under, or Pellon (to name just a couple).

You could also use the fusible webbing to fuse two similar pieces of fabric together if the stabilizer would be out of place - for instance backing a very light weight fabric like silk organza.

All she is really doing is giving the fabric some added body, and making it unnecessary to treat the edges with Fray Check or nail polish..

Joy Parker

Pinking in smaller scale: Pink the edge once with your shears, then go back and pink it again with the points halfway in between where they were the first time. (I have an illustration of this as part of a pattern athttp://wingsnthings.tripod.com/draco.htm --it's down at the bottom of the page.) I suppose you could repeat the process for even smaller pinks, if your shears were sharp enough.

Lee Menconi

Scrim is a wonderful material used in theater sets and also theme parks for ghostly and see through effects, sort of like a super loose weave buckram. When wet it is limp and drapes, dry it is stiff. Stretch it over a doorway between two rooms and paint a scene on it with front lighting you see the painted scene but lower the front lighting and put on a stronger light in the back room and you will see through the scene into the back room. Your local theater guild will know where to get it in your area. I used to get mine from the Campus Bookstore at the local college but they no longer carry it.

Just a note of clarification. There are two kinds of scrim. One is available in fabric stores, generally in the curtain fabric area, which has NO stiffening agent in it. It is useful for lots of costuming details as long as the open weave is taken into account. The second is theatrical scrim, which has a stiffener already in it. The stiffener relaxes when the material is dampened, allowing you to drape it, then the scrim re-stiffens as it dries. Both kinds accept dyes and paints, even the wonderful natural dyes you can make from flowers and weeds from your garden. A note on tea and coffee dye baths. Remember that they are acidic and will add acid to the fabric which will eventually cause deterioration. Neutralize the acid before using the fabric and all will be well. I use those little litmus papers to check.

Sammy (I'm a girl) Smith

Scrim: A wonderful fabric. We have two fabric shops here in town one up scale and one discount. They both carry scrim. Look in the upholstery material section. It comes in pure cotton and a blend of cotton and polyester. I have seen it in white, cream, browns, greens and blue. But it dyes easily with any thing, including Koolaid! I use it for dressing my faeries and other fantasy characters. It has a delicate quality that lends itself well for shawls for elderly ladies. And it is wonderful for 'sacks' for vegetables. It glues easily and drapes beautifully.

Lyn Trenary

Bunka: Where to find metallic Bunka. The best website for needlework supplies is Stitchers Paradise. http://www.stitchers-paradise.com If you're a stitcher, you'll love this website!

Kay Baughman

Bunka: You might find these sites interesting....
http://nbstore.com/nb.htm
http://punchneedle.com/
http://www.lacis.com/

Mindy Skelton

Metallic Bunka: Check with Sandy Staker of Sandy's Lace and Trim. Or with Pam Kille of Et Cetera, Etc. I think I got my original batch from Sandy.

Mindy Skelton

Pleating: There is a product available here the US called "Stitch Witchery" made by Dritz. It is a fusible bonding web for making quick hems, attaching trims, and you can also use it to hold pleats while they set on your pleater. It comes on a roll like masking tape. You put the stitch witchery, cut to length, in between the fabric layers. Cover the fabric with a damp press cloth and press on each side with your iron. For pleats run a strip along the fabric with a cloth over it, between the iron and pleater. Run the iron over it lightly! You don't want to melt your pleater. That's it! You have a finished hem and stable pleats. It is washable. Its especially nice when you are using a light fabric and you don't want stitches bulking the hem. It comes in different weights. I use ultra light for minis.

Leslie

Knitting Needles: Sandy's Fabric and Trim has the knitting needles. A good thread for knitting or crochet is Sulky.

Jennie

Mini Knitting Needles: Joy Parker has mini knitting needles. I think they may even be at her website. She lives in Canada. She even has yarn. Go to Swallowhill Dolls

Carol Griffith

For leather stuff that is supple and soft as ice cream, find some Ultra Leather (found mine at JoAnne's). It is pricey so I only got 6" and can't wait to upholster with it. The woman at the store told me you can help form it to the shape you want by aiming a hair dryer at it and it will form right around as you want it.

For the silk, no one has a nicer supply than Pam Kille of Et Cetera, Etc.

Dottie

Silk & Leather: One good source for silk is Etcetera, ETC owned by Pam Kille in Roswell, NM. Her e-mail addy is rwk@rt66.com. She carries not only china silk, but many other lovely silk and cotton fabrics and does carry leather also. Ask for a catalog. You'll be pleased.

Doris McIntyre

Fabric for Stuffed Animal Toys: You could always try ultrasuede for your little toys - it's not real but it's the next best thing and very thin and supple.  Also, Pam Kille of Etcetera, Etc. sells a thin suede - don't know that it's as thin as ultrasuede though.

Mary Lynne

Sandy's Lace & Trim: Sandy Staker, 7417 N. Knoxville Avenue, Peoria, IL. 61614
(309) 689 1943   Fax (309) 689 1942 http://sandyslace.com

Rosemarie Torre