I knew the girls would love a play house and I spent many hours drooling over some pretty amazing ones courtesy of pintrest, but none would be affordable/practical/fit anywhere inside or outside of our home. I started to think of ideas that would be more tent-like that ended up paring down to this:
A hallway play house. An easily put up and taken down, single panel curtain, held in place with tension rods. When put in place, it closes off the laundry room and transforms it into a playhouse.
We surprised the girls with it on Christmas and they love it!
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This is how I made it:
Materials
1 yd duck cloth in light blue
1 1/2 yds buck cloth in brown
1/2 yd duck cloth in white
1 yd printed cotton material (36"x46")
coordinating thread
velcro
2 small tension rods (shower curtain rods)
The house:
Start by cutting blue duck cloth to a 36" x 60" piece and set aside.
Cut white duck cloth to a 13 1/3" x 36" piece. Sew the long edge to the edge of the printed fabric and press seam flat.
Place on top of blue duck cloth, right sides together, and sew the edges together ONLY where the printed cotton and blue duck cloth meet. Leave the side with the white duck cloth un-sewn. Turn right side out and press edges. The closed end is now your bottom.
Starting 5" in from the right on the bottom measure and cut a 16" x 36" rectangle. This will allow for a door.
Making the door:
From the brown duck cloth measure out 2- 18 1/2" x 37" panels and 2-2"x3" rectangles.
Starting with the smaller rectangles; place right sides together and round one of the shorter sides. Take one piece and sew in a 1" piece of velcro on the right side of the fabric, about 1/2" from the rounded edge. Lay back on top of second piece, right sides facing, and sew along the 2 long sides and the rounded end using a 1/4" seam allowance. Turn right side out and press seams flat.
Now take your 2 larger rectangles and lay them right sides together. Place them so the short sides are top/bottom and the longer the sides. Next, 17" from the top of the right side, slide your velcroed piece in, velcro side up, and line up the raw edges. Pin all layers in place and sew along the 2 short sides and the side with the velcro piece using a 1/4" seam allowance. Turn right side out and press.
Next sew a straight line with brown thread every 4" down the length of the door to give a paneled look.
Creating the window:
Measuring 6" down from the top of the door and 5" in from the right, cut a window measuring 5 1/2"x 7 1/2".
Cut brown duck cloth into 4- 1 1/2" x 7 1/2" strips, 4- 1 1/2" x 9 1/2", and 2- 7 1/2" x 9 1/2" cross bars, intersecting in the middle, to create the 'mouding' and cross panel to go around the window.
Turn the long edges under 1/4" on each side and press.
Line up the cross panels, pin and sew into place and sew the perimeter of the cross.
Next place and pin the moulding, turning edges under and trimming to create right angles where they meet. Lining up the angles, sew the outer side first, then inner. Making sure they stay lined up and no raw edges are exposed.
Attaching the door:
To attach the door, slide the open edge inside the opening in the house front on the left side, overlapping by 2 1/2" or so (until the door meets the edge of the right side). Sew in to place with a straight stitch 1" in from the opening.
Making the moulding:
Cut brown duck cloth into 4- 2 1/2"x 38" strips, 2- 2 1/2"x 20" strips, 1- 2 1/2" x 5 1/2", 1- 2 1/2" x 15 1/2", and 1- 3"x 36"
Staring with the 2 1/2" x 5 1/2" and the 2 1/2" x 15 1/2" pieces, turn all raw edges under 1/4" and press. Pin along the bottom of the inside of the house and sew into place along all edges.
Next take the 2- 2 1/2"x 20" strips and cut a 45 degree angle on each edge mirroring each other. Turn long edges under 1/4" and press. Pin together, sandwiching the fabric above the door, and sew into place along all edges.
Taking 2- 2 1/2" x 38" pieces, cut the top edge into angle, fitting the left side of top moulding. Turn edges under 1/4", press and pin into place along the sewn edge where the door attaches. Sew into place. Do the same with remaining 2 1/2" x 38"moulding, fitting it to opposite angle only this time ONLY sew the OUTSIDE edge into place. Line the door up as if to close it and make a mark where the velcro touches the moulding. Sew the other part of the velcro piece into place, then sew the rest of the edges together.
With the 3" x 36" moulding, fold in all edges 1/4" and press. Pin to the top edge of the printed cotton and sew into place, sewing through the blue duck cloth as well. Repeat along the topside. Turn the sides under the cotton and sew through only those. Turn the blue duck cloth into the pocket created and press. (this makes the first pocket for the tension rod)
Making the roof:
Taking the brown duck cloth, cut into 4 6" x 36" strips. Next using a bowl 5" in diameter trace along the edge of bowl and cut to make scalloped effect. (The bowl size made an uneven number of scallops, allowing me to measure starting from the opposite on 2 strips to make them off-set in the final product.) Using the utility stitch, sew along the scalloped edges to prevent fraying.
Starting with the bottom row, line up strip so that it covers the stitch creating the pocket and pin into place. Next place top strip and line up top edges. Center the remaining 2 strips and move until you get desired spacing, then pin into place.
Sew along the top edge of each 1/4" from edge, making sure not to sew any extra layers into it. Turn the raw edges under and press, repeat on the interior fabric (white duck cloth) line up edges and sew in place across the top edge. When sewing the sides leave a 3" gap at the top edge of each side. (This creates the second pocket for the tension rod)
I embellished with a house number, mailbox, and flowers.
*Due to the weight of the door I had to add a second velcro tab at the top to hold the door closed and keep the top corner from folding over. I sewed a 1"x2" rectangle into the interior moulding with the velcro attached and the piece of velcro to the top corner of the door
To hang simply insert tension rods into the pockets created and hang in hallway. Using two rods keeps it stable even with the opening and closing of the door by little hands (all that material is a little heavy) and it also allows for the roof to be sloped.
When it's not in use we roll it up around the rods and store it in the closet.
I never use patterns when I make things, I always just make it up as I go and scribble notes on random pieces of paper after to remember how I made things. It looks like this:
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This is darling! I am off to pin :)
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