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| The ultimate vanity chair. |
Generally, there are no arms attached to dressing chairs or stools, and they should be carefully placed under or near the dressing table when not in use. The project here to make a vanity chair is a very old one.
Toy manufacturers now often suggest tabletops printed on the walls of dollhouses. Buy when they are produced for a doll to sit on, the dressing table and chair are usually made of plastic.
I made a dresser here for our family’s dollhouse using recycled materials – discarded cardboard and an outdated velveteen blouse. I prefer the soft texture and unique appeal found in handmade doll furniture.
Support list:
- Crumb box measures approximately 3 1/2″ wide (the size of a Barbie doll’s chair seat.)
- masking tape
- Upholstery foam
- The white glue is sticky
- Four matching buttons
- long needle
- Dental floss
- Velvet or some other upholstery fabric
- Hot glue gun and glue
Pictures of the step-by-step process:
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| The photo above is an example of a “how to” breadcrumb The box was cut to make a dressing table for Barbie. |
First, remove the label and clean the recycled tube container. I chose to use the crumb pan because it fits the smaller Barbie and Fashionista dolls. This tube has a circumference of 3 1/2 inches for the resulting seat and this is the size required for our standard play dolls.
Cut a long arc for the seat back of the chair. Measure from the bottom up approximately 1 1/2 inches for the “legs” and bottom of the seat. The seat height will be increased slightly by a foam cushion. Use the plastic flap to cover the seat cushion hole. paste it
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| To the left and right you can see how the upholstery foam measures up against the cardboard tube. |
Cut the foam to fit the front cushion and seat bottom. This may roughly be cut off; It will not appear at the end after the chair is over.
Cut out a cushion cover for the seat. Stuff it with foam and close the holes. Stitch on braid or lace trimmings if desired. Set the seat cushion aside as you stretch the front of the chair.
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| On the left, holes have been punched in the cardboard. Dental floss is sewn in the middle with the buttons in it The front side of the chair through the backside to make tufts. The tufts on the right are shown in the foreground. |
The shaft holes are in the back side of the chair where you would like to create the back tufts, see the photo above to understand where you put these. Heat up your glue gun, and cut a roughly sized piece of fabric from your favorite upholstery to wrap the front of the chair. Stick this on the back side that covers the front pillow. See photo above.
To sew the tufts, thread the needle with dental floss and then sew through the buttons and into a covered foam pad all the way to the back side of the chair through the pre-cut holes. Do this with each button wrapping the thread back to front and front to back. Use masking tape to secure the string in place to the back of the chair.
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| The back cover of the chair is now ready to be glued to the back cover on Packaging and cutting. You will need a hot glue gun and glue for this. |
To finish the upholstered chair, cover a backboard cut to the exact same measurement as the front from a separate piece of cardboard with the same fabric. Glue the fabric to this piece around the edges and on the inside where you won’t see the ends of the fabric. Now use your hot glue gun to adhere the finished back panel to cover the back of the chair. Glue the seat cushion and cut and finish lengths of the chair duster to hide the bottom half of the tube.
If you wish, you can stick three or four beads on the bottom of the chair for the legs. But I haven’t yet chosen to do that.
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| A dummy size comparison of this ultimate vanity chair. |
Above you can see the finished chair of our 11″ vanity table. See how its size compares to the ultimate chair. This vanity chair is a little smaller than a regular side chair which is used to pair with a sofa. It also does not have armrests. If you choose, I can make a similar chair with arms and legs that will fit on a Barbie-sized sofa. I might post something like this in the future and use a fabric that lends itself to a more textured, tailored look.