Getting Crafty

 

I finally got the BMR 1959 men.  Two of them came in their boxes, which are the perfect size and shape to be pedestal frame beds.  The twins started telling me they needed new beds and they weren't wrong.  

I wanted the bases to be wood, but nothing I had was woodgrain. I did find a couple patterns that could be carved wood.  The mattress (lid of the box) would be scrap fabric.

As I worked, I imagined these beds being built from repurposed pirate ships.  That's what the patterns brought to mind, anyway.  I think it was meant to be Victorian ceiling tiles.  There wasn't enough to cover the backs or bottoms of the bed, but since those will be against the wall or floor, I'm not fussed.  I basically cut the paper to fit and glued it on.  This left a visible seam, hidden by corner braces made of gold tape.  (Added later.)

I found some dead pillowcases, but they frayed badly as I tried to glue them into place.  And I could see the pattern on the box through them after all that work!  When a T-shirt gets too worn to be worn, they are turned into cleaning rags or work shirts for the dolls.  The edges don't fray!   No hemming required!

So I used a dead T-shirt.  I usually avoid solid colors when making work shirts for the dolls but for a couple bed sheets, why not? There's gonna be pillows and blankets and dolls on top of them! 

Waiting for the glue to dry, I looked at the front of the shirt to see if any of  the picture could be used for doll work shirts.  (It was too dark and too large to be a coherent pattern on their scale.)  And since I'm a big girl, there was a good bit of leftover fabric. Rather ironic that the little pile of cleaning rags there came from a shirt with Daryl Dixon on it.  

Finished product with my other crafted beds.  The one in the rear began life as the package for Barbie You Can Be Anything Surprise (Two career looks and a doll in her civvies.)  I just bent the front flap back to make a headboard (sideboard?) and turned it into a daybed.  Since I just used contact paper and no fabric, it reminds me of the stone slabs Klingons use.

The one in the front is a craft box from Michael's.  Pillowcase fabric worked for it because it had no pattern to hide.  The headboard on it is cardboard and wrapping paper.

Bonus storage space in three of them!  The twins will get the new beds, Mace will take the one in front, which was in the twins' room, and the Klingon bed will wait for a new home.