Dolls House in a Box

The Christmas presents for the girls that I sewed last year were dolls houses, in a box. Years and years ago, when I first joined Pinterest, I saw this awesome dolls house in a vintage suitcase that was just divine. So I pinned it and waited and waited and waited for the girls to be old enough for me to justify making one for them.

They are still a little young, but I did end up making them for Christmas last year because I knew they would get used. We go to evening church, which has no kids-church program at all. The girls have to sit with us through the whole service, which means we have always taken activities and toys for them. This is perfect for that because it all fits into one box and yet has lots of play options. Also, the boxes I got ended up being much deeper than I was anticipating, so we can actually fit even more things in there as well. Bonus.  

Inside each box is a felt doll, and two cardboard walls, that show rooms in the house. The rooms fit into the box lip, making the house. When the rooms need to be changed, there is a little ribbon tab to pull to pop it out.

There is also a little blanket that matches the bed, for when they get tired.

The two rooms are the entry to the house, and a bedroom. Both of the girls got pretty much identical layouts for their rooms, but with subtle differences. Rachel's has the bed on the left, while Sophie's is on the right. The pictures in Rachel's bedroom are of a bee and a butterfly, while Sophie's had a train. I would have liked to do more rooms (kitchen, bathroom etc) but didn't have time. The good thing is that I can always make them when I get the chance, and just pop them into the box too.

I was going to make other dolls for the girls, similar to their current dolls, but smaller (so the fit better in the box). And make a matching wardrobe (of course). But when it came to it, I was hard pressed for time. The girls are also a little obsessed with Thumbelina at the moment, so I knew they would love to have little felt Thumbelina and Prince Cornelius dolls.

I think Thumbelina has the most stupid hair, but I tried to be movie accurate. She starts the story without wings, but gets them at the end when she marries the fairy prince. So I made her wings detachable. Here I was thankful for her stupidly-long hair because it hides the snap to attach the wings.

The girls were delighted with them on Christmas morning.