So a few weeks back, I was perusing the many blogs that I read on a daily basis, and one of them had a link to the most adorable little bed made out of an Altoid tin.
It had a little 'sheet' attached to the bottom, a pillow, a blanket, and a bear. Only it was all hand sewn and felt.
I don't sew. Not even little stuff like that. But I loved the idea so much that I became determined to re-create it somehow for my niece.
Once I had brainstormed, I went to Hobby Lobby and headed straight for the dollhouse section. Baby bears! Little tiny ones! And even tinier ones! Then I found a little package of flour and sugar sacks...pillows!
Then I hit up the fabric section. I went to the end of one of the aisles which is known as the 'remnant' section: the miscellaneous scraps that are, well, remnants. I picked out 4 different kinds and was then finished. (I highly suggest this....the remnants were perfect, and were priced between .47 - 5.00.)
Here's my supplies all laid out and ready to go:
The first thing I did was make a template to use for the 'sheet' on the bottom of the tin. Simple...I just traced the bottom of the tin on paper and then pinned it to the fabric and cut it out. It is very important to have good fabric sheers. Mine are Fiskars....I love them!
I cut one one sheet, and adhered it to the bottom of the large Altoid tin with adhesive called 'Liquid Stitch' (also found in the fabric area at Hobby Lobby). At first I wasn't sure it would work, because it's made to adhere fabric to fabric, not fabric to metal. But it worked perfectly!
I decided to do two layers of sheets though. One just seemed too thin and some parts were a little blotchy because of the adhesive. But two sheets worked well.
I looked at my assortment of flour and sugar sacks, and picked the smallest one.
Hmm.
Houston, we have a problem. The pillow worked fine when the tin was open, but it was too fluffy that I couldn't get the lid closed.
Fortunately, the pillows had a teeny tiny hole on one end where they had sewn the corners, so I got out my tweezers and took about 3/4 of the stuffing out. So the bears' pillow wasn't quite as fluffy now, but at least they didn't get their heads smashed in when the tin closed.
Now it was time for the blanket. I didn't get many pictures of this process, unfortunately I only got a picture of the final product:
There's not really an easy way to do this...I pretty much just eyeballed how much I would need, and then started cutting, folding, and using the Liquid Stitch to 'hem' the blanket.
Then it was time to tuck them in:
Awwwww!!
I pretty much did the same thing for the little tiny baby bear bed.
Except he didn't get a pillow. His bed was just too small. Babies aren't supposed to have pillows anyways.
"I want a blanket"
Okay.
His blanket is flannel.
Done!
I loved how they turned out. Sure, they aren't hand sewn, but I think they're better! The 'fancy' one that I found online was cute, but everything was attached. The pillow, the blanket. What fun is that? The only thing that is attached on mine is the bottom sheet. The pillow, blanket, and bears are all removable. (if my niece loses them, I will gladly make more. I have extra pillows and loads of extra material!) That's half the fun! I used to hate it when things were attached on my toys. (like a baby attached to the mama, etc.)
Hopefully my niece will have as much fun playing with them as I had making them. They are boxed up and I'm sending them out tomorrow!
